Ok I have to take a moment to breath on this one...
I have a very strong love and attraction to antique indigo. It began when I worked as a fabric buyer and inventory manager at an amazing American made garment and textile company, Asiatica, Inc.
They make contemporary fashion and housewares out of antique kimono and fabrics from all over the world. It's very cool. If you don't know them you should.
My dear & incredibly talented friend Kate McConnell, at Kate McConnell Studio and Asiatica Inc., is one of my first artist friend who introduced me to this fascinating dye process. If you love this type of thing and would like to be able to wear it check out her site! She has so much knowledge about textile construction and processes. She is an inspiration!
Turns out indigo was what the lower classes were allowed to wear. It was popular for Yukata or lightweight unlined kimono. Silk was saved for aristocratic or royal class. The art of indigo dyed natural fibers (in Japan) dates back to the Edo Period (1600-1868).
It is a very long and arduous process. Dark indigo can be over dyed as many as forty times!
Ok, enough about this history lesson..its super interesting rabbit hole for another time.
My husband, Bryan bought a great looking chaise a long time ago from an antique store in Illinois. It sat in his home until we got married, now it lives in our bedroom at our home.
I was sure I wanted to upholster it in an unconditional textile. I waited for a couple years to really focus on what I wanted for the chaise. One day while walking around a local antique store, there in an old wire basket were yards and yards of antique indigo print fabric.
I laid the fabric out on the piece of furniture so that I could mark which prints I wanted where.
I tried several different combinations.
I mean seriously, is there anything else more beautiful?
Because I found them at an antique store and not a textile dealer, I am not sure exactly where these came from. Let me know if you have an idea of what part of the world these came from.
Another one of the most endearing process to me is sashiko. It's a way of repairing old fabric so that it could be passed down to future generations. This fabric had some beautiful sashiko. When I found my upholster I asked if he could showcase the repairs instead of hide them.
So the chaise needed some repair and lucky for us, our upholster Josh, was able to fix it!
I was so blown away by the results!!
Now she is centerpiece of our bedroom decor. I couldn't be any more happy!
I felt like with all the mix matched patterns we needed a "quieter" non-patterned moment. So I decided to flip the fabric to the 'wrong side' for the back rest.
I hope you like the way it turned out! It was super fun to design. Both Bryan and I loved the chaise to begin with and now we love it's new life in indigo! Cheers!
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