Warm winter quilts in alpaca, silk or bamboo

With the coming of winter now’s the time to think of these light but warm quilts, either alpaca, silk or bamboo.

Alpaca fleece is very soft to the hand due to its unique fibre surface. Under a microscope, alpaca fleece has a very smooth surface with very low cuticle-scales which are one quarter of those of wool. This means that alpaca fleece feels "slippery" and beautifully soft when compared to a similar micron (thickness) wool fibre. The luxurious softness is one of the fleece's outstanding features. With experienced preparation and processing, pure alpaca quilts are dramatically softer than any other natural fibre.

Softness is important as it feels good over your body but also it is important for its warmth. Ideally your quilt should "snuggle" or wrap around your body to trap air that is naturally heated to keep you warm. A stiff quilt filling or quilt casing can create larger air pockets around your body which take time and energy to heat to keep warm.

Silk-filled Quilts

• Luxurious
• Cocoons your body, soft, tactile & drapery
• Naturally hypoallergenic - dust mite don't like to live in silk so beneficial to allergy sufferers
• Very light weight - excellent for arthritis sufferers and those who don't like heavy bedding.
• Naturally thermostatic - Warm in winter, cool in summer
• Thin, neat profile on the bed - easy to make
• No chemicals used in the production of the silk
• Easy care - just hang on the line to air occasionally

Bamboo Quilts

• Ecologically friendly - One of the "Greenest" plants on the planet
• Anti-bacterial & anti-microbial - used in surgical dressings
• Naturally deodorizing - Used in socks & underwear
• Dust mite & mould resistant - Great for allergy and asthma sufferers
• Three times more absorbent than cotton - Used in towels
• Made using world patented technology - our product is authenticated 100% bamboo
• OekoTex accredited - contains no harmful chemicals
• Bamboo requires no fertilisers, pesticides, irrigation or fungicides to grow.
• Produces 35% more oxygen than an equivalent stand of trees

Throw out or recover?

I find my clients often face a dilemma when their sofas or armchairs start to look tired and worn and the springs are sagging.  They wonder whether to throw out and buy new or rejuvenate and update a well-loved piece.


My advice is that if an armchair or sofa is well built and comfortable then it is worth recovering.  Often to replace the piece to the same standard will cost more than to reupholster. 


One just has to drive around our suburbs on household rubbish collection days to see the folly of purchasing cheap furniture.  It may seem cheap at the time but it doesn't last.  (I won't get onto the topic of wasted resources and our throw away society!)


Here is a chair which was comfortable but dated:

And here is the chair recovered.  It is covered in a raw linen and the cushion fabric matches a Roman blind in the room.  The fabric is also linen, hand blocked from Galbraith & Paul.

Here is another armchair in a quite different style.  It sat in a corner of an apartment which was flooded with early morning sun and had faded badly.  My solution was to use a fabric designed for outdoor furniture:  fade resistant, tough and washable.

The old faded fabric

The recovered chair

This old chair was a much loved family heirloom which was recovered in a beautiful JAB cut velvet.  My client wanted the buttoned chair back changed and the result is a smarter look.

The recovered chair

Fig & pear jam

Figs are plentiful in the shops at the moment so I dug out a delicious recipe which I made for the first time last year.  White fig and pear jam is my favourite at the moment on a thick slice of Sonoma sourdough with unsalted butter - Yum!

white fig, pear and anise jam

Steve Manfredi recipe

Twitter.com/manfredistefano

1tsp aniseed (whole seeds)

1.1kg sugar

1kg white figs

500g green pears such as Williams or Bartlett

Juice of 1 lemon, strained

Place aniseed and 1 tbsp sugar in mortar and pound to a powder.  Wrap in square of muslin and tie securely in a bundle.  Wash figs gently and pat dry with clean towel.  Cut into quarters and place in a large ceramic or stainless steel bowl.  Peel and core pears and cut into 2cm dice.  Add to figs along with remaining sugar, lemon juice and bundle of aniseed.  Mix well, cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.  Pour into heavy saucepan and bring to boil.  Turn down to simmer for 2 minutes then return to ceramic bowl.  Cover and refrigerate for 6-8 hours.  Pour contents back into heavy saucepan and bring to boil.  Skim off any scum on surface and continue boiling 10-12 minutes until thick.  Remove anice bundle, fill sterilised jars while jam is hot and seal.

Makes about 2.5 litres.

Some 50s retro

The 50s and 60s retro style has been very popular for some time now, and original pieces of furniture from that era are fetching good prices, and copies of the style are readily available.  Here are some examples:

An English company has reintroduced a range of fabrics and wallpapers which was first released in the 1950s.

This is a detail of the fabric on the chair above

An upholstery fabric, also as wallpaper below

Wallpaper

Fabric

Fabric

I can see this fresh and cheerful fabric in a kitchen blind

This print was inspired by Poole Pottery

The colours on this fabric are embroidered on a linen base cloth

Holland & Sherry fabrics

Yesterday, a group of decorators was treated to a showing of the beautiful fabrics from Holland & Sherry, fabrics like the ûber luxurious Scottish cashmere which was displayed as a throw with a stunning applique border.  The throw was so soft and warm but the picture below doesn't do it justice - you have to feel it!

A unique Holland & Sherry service is their embroidered border collection which is designed to highlight and complement bedspreads, curtains, or blinds.

This design is called Java

For more information go to their website or contact me:  

http://www.hollandandsherry.com/

Happy St Patrick's Day

For St Patrick's day I thought it was appropriate to have a green theme, so here are two beautiful crewel fabrics with the design embroidered with green threads. One has cotton thread embroidery and the other is in wool.


I particularly like the wool crewel and can imagine using it as a bedspread or cushions on a bed and maybe a chair, then building a colour scheme around the soft, cool greens and grays.

Cotton crewel embroidery on linen base cloth

Wool crewel embroidery on linen base cloth

Crewel work is a traditional and beautiful freestyle form of ancient embroidery using wool (usually) to create a slightly raised feature on a linen twill background. 

Still on the lighting theme....

This quirky but gorgeous Italian chandelier with bunches of coloured grapes and other fruits reminds me of another one I saw at a friend's holiday house in Chile.  That chandelier had probably traveled with the family from South Africa via Australia to Chile and probably also originated in Italy.


This forged iron chandelier with 6 lights is available for purchase, but the one in Chile is not!

This is my friend's chandelier...