Victorian Inspired Textile Commission

I’m excited to share the latest completed textile commission I delivered to clients on Sunday.   This piece was commissioned to fit into a 2 story entrance area in a home that’s design is influenced by Victorian era elements.  I discussed the colors, size and overall feel that the client wanted.  The chandelier and fabric below are a couple of the main elements of design influence.  I wanted to use the peacock feather motif and the colors from the fabric.

I initially did these sketches to get ideas down and then choose materials.  Over the last 6 months or so I’ve worked at the piece at times knowing clearly what I wanted to do an at other times I let the piece sit while I figured out technical or  creative challenges I needed to solve.

A project like this is so rewarding because it challenges you to step into someone else design aesthetic while remaining true to your personal design style.  I knew that this client liked my weaving’s but without my loom set up currently, I was left to find another medium to work with. 

I choose to work elements of weaving into this piece by using the long hand dyed fringe as a major design component.  I also used a subtle toile fabric as the background and selectively  painted motifs that were inspired by a collection of hand colored etchings the client has.  I used layers of sheer fabric bringing in both color and metallic sheen.  Layers of texture are a common theme in my work and this piece ended up having 3 layers of fabric, 1 layer of fringe, feathers and embellishments including stitching and beading.  They were thrilled, I was thrilled and I was thrilled that they were thrilled!  My husband was thrilled to have our dining room table back available for use!