JOANNE@GRISTANDTWINE.COM | 07828893726
Stop press! Grist & Twine Upholstery has been nominated for a Foxy Deer Business Award 2018 in the Home & Garden category!
Celebrating the best of the Thames, voting starts now and winners will be announced in December. So if you like what I do, please head on over to their website and vote for me! Plus, you’ll get some top recommendations of the best pubs, cafes, days out, etc that our little corner of the world has to offer.
Visit The Foxy Deer to vote!
(Plus, how cute is this fox image?!)
There was a time when I sat at a desk all week. There was a time long before that when I moved animatedly all day trying to communicate with teenagers. And in both those situations, I wish I had known then what I have learned through making.
1. There is always a solution
Decisions, projects, text, lessons, chairs; there will be problems. Things will not go exactly as you would like first time round. But there is always a solution. Even if, in the most drastic of situations, that means starting again. But it rarely does.
2. There is always more to learn
I used to think I had to know everything (I'm looking at you, Bucks schooling). My AMUSF training was intense and frustrating at times, but I loved it. Yet I know that there is still so much more to learn and I'm looking forward to it.
3. My brain and body are connected
Up until retraining, I have been paid for my brain and my ability to talk and type. Through upholstery I love connecting brain to hand to turn ideas into tangible objects.
I'm sure there's more, but that'll do for now. I've also learnt that spitting tacks is harder than it looks, I will never have nice hands again and you always need more space than you have, but I'm not sure that they're so applicable in everyday life!
May your weekend be full of making :)
What a lovely surprise delivery of gorgeous printed fabrics that landed on the doormat today!
Evelle is a start-up lifestyle brand based locally and if these kaleidoscopic, vibrant prints were a day of the week, they'd definitely be a Friday.
'Alpha' velvet fabric via Evelle
I'm particularly memorised by the 'Alpha' velvet above and can't wait to find the perfect chair to upholster in it. I think it would look great as a statement headboard too.
They also have a range of cotton/ linens which I'm eyeing up for blinds in my new house.
Get in touch if you're interested and I'd be happy to share more of their lovely work.
A whole array of Linwood velvet in gorgeous shades landed on Grist & Twine's doormat today.
My pick is absolutely this wonderful 'grass' shade but there's something to suit everyone's home here.
I don't usually sell pre-made items but these are an exception!
These are:
Get in touch if you're interested. Although they would look pretty good in my house...!
I wrote this a few years ago near the beginning of my upholstery journey but thought some of you may find it interesting so I've republished it here...
As I plunge headlong into the wonderful world of upholstery, I have started to reassess how I feel about antiques.
I have always assumed that having ‘antique’ furniture in the house would be synonymous with choosing to live cocooned in a bourgeois bubble. And as well as the politics of it, I have thought the aesthetic itself to be too concerned with its own status, too decorative and too, well, much. Now I was not quite ignorant enough to lump all antiques together but whilst I happily broadcast my love for a retro side table or a charity shop bargain, I have always felt like auction houses and fine antiques were not for people like me.
Having been on the hunt for antique chairs to practice my traditional upholstery on, it’s all beginning to grow on me. It turns out that antique furniture is not half as expensive as I thought it might be and even paying someone (or me!) to reupholster it often only brings it up to the same sort of price as a new piece. Often, it seems, things really aren't made to last in the same way as they were eighty years ago; will our grandchildren be reupholstering our high street sofas in sixty years time? I very much doubt it. Yet a reupholstered Victorian chair will be good for the next 100 years, even if needs a couple of changes of top fabric during the time. Plus reducing our consumption and reusing existing furniture has got to be better for the planet.
The dimensions of antiques tend to be a bit smaller than lots of modern furniture, particular chairs, leaving rooms looking more spacious. And you might not be surprised to know that the past is all very current in interiors as people are increasingly choosing a mixture of old and new furniture for their houses.
If it’s not for you, great. But maybe antique furniture can be for people like us. What do you think?
Now I love a sumptuous velvet or a vibrant printed cotton or an intricately woven jacquard or a supple wool. A gorgeous fabric can instantly and easily transform how a piece of furniture looks, how you feel about it and how it works within a space. But with upholstered furniture, as with people, whilst a taut top cover can be very eye-catching, it is what is inside that counts.
What is underneath the top fabric dictates the shape and durability of your furniture. For example, traditional upholstery - using coil springs and stitched edges - should last for a lifetime. A skilled upholsterer will use the materials and techniques most appropriate for each specific piece of furniture. Although this craftsmanship remains largely unseen, it lasts a lot longer than nearly all top fabrics.
After all, time nearly always reveals what we're made of.
A sofa design by George Hepplewhite (1788) via Britanica.com
One of the earliest records of upholstery in the UK is in the existence of the trade guild of the Worshipful Company of Upholders before 1460, granted its Royal Charter in 1626. The term ‘upholder’ was the archaic form of ‘upholsterer’ and at the time referred more generally to the use of textiles and fabrics as interior furnishings. It therefore included bedding, curtains and floorcoverings, as well as upholstered furniture.
The experimentation with upholstery techniques during the 16th and 17th centuries and the development of these techniques - along with the invention of the coil spring - in the 18th and 19th centuries, took upholstery from loose stuffing fixed in place with nailed fabrics to the more comfortable and complex furniture we would recognise today. In particular, the upholsterers of the 18th and 19th centuries were the interior designers of their day, responsible for all interior furnishings and employing others to achieve this.
The 20th century has brought fast-paced development of new materials and innovation to upholstered furniture, in particular: latex foam; synthetic fibres; the wide application of plastics; and the dramatically altered methods of production. These new materials and furniture manufacturing have meant that traditional upholstery skills are now mainly used in the restoration of historical furniture or very high quality new furniture. Modern upholstery techniques and materials are predominantly used in the production of new upholstered furniture today.
The 21st century’s response to the mass production, consumerism and waste of the 20th century is, however, increasing the appeal of the individuality, longevity and environmental benefits of reupholstered furniture.
I'm very pleased to be able to send off a sample that exactly meets my client's original brief today, as the right shade of orange crushed velvet proved a little harder to find than usual!
If you have an idea in mind, let me help you source what you're looking for. And if you're stuck for ideas, I have some great suggestions for UK-made and unique fabric designers as well as more established brands.
If you want to know what goes on in Grist & Twine's workshop, please do check us out on Instagram.
This beautiful dining chair had had a piece of fabric hastily throw over layers of cheap and inappropriate stuffing when I first saw it in a antiques shop...
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