A New Chair for Twister

18 comments:

Have you ever watched the BBC series Lark Rise To Candleford?
It ran for 4 seasons finally ending in 2011 
but you can watch it now on Amazon or Netflix.  


The series is set in 19th century Oxfordshire England with wonderful character actors, many of whom you will recognize from your favorite Masterpiece Classics such as Downton Abbey.

As with all BBC productions, the costuming and sets are wonderful.  It is worth watching just for that but the semi autobiographical story lines are charming, funny and sometimes a little sad

 There is love and gossip
 jealousy and envy, all of which make the series great
(and the hats are over the top great!!!)
  what I enjoyed most were the characters of 
Twister and his wife Queenie


Twister is a lazy lovable curmudgeon who sells nuts for a living and when he's not sleeping, complaining or hiding from Queenie 
he drinks away the rent money
then stumbles home to sit in his chair by the fire




 With no money for rent,
 Queenie decides sell Twisters chair to the Tallyman for 2 pounds....
just enough to get them through the winter

 Twister of course is furious and his way of punishing Queenie
 is to sleep with his feet at the head of the bed
A very clever idea I would say!
The tiny bed totally cracks me up too

 Queenie feels terrible and vows to get the chair back
 but alas it is long gone

They reconcile and all is forgiven but Twister is without a chair and now must be content sitting on a wooden box....his head resting on Queenies shoulder 
sigh.....

 I love old hand sewn linens and mismatched scraps of fabric and decided to slipcover
 two modern wing chairs 
in a manner fitting lovable Twister and Queenie

sent me about 6 old French grain sacks 
all with hand sewn mismatched patches...much like Twisters britches

The sacks were opened up and placed on the chairs 
in order show old monograming and all of the interesting vintage hand sewing
as you look at the chair from the front




We also used plain homespun and some additional striped fabric 
to in fill in areas where we needed larger pieces.

The fabric is very old cotton, flax and hemp
with simple dye and lots of texture

The seats are down with extra fill
for a large crown at the seat
The sipper runs down the center back and is covered with a large flap 
which I think makes sense with a rustic chair cover like this.
 Why try to hide the zipper?

The sacks and fabric were washed twice and I always use lots of fabric softener.
 Any areas that started to unravel were repaired or hand stitched prior to sewing all of the pieces together
 to make the final slipcovers



If you are a good seamstress you could probably do this project at home 
but I used an upholsterer that I love and trust 
and 
they know how crazy some of my projects have been, so nothing really throws them.




The chairs are one of the first things I designed for our Santa Barbara casa 
and I think they look right at home!

The chairs were made by Van Thiel & Company 
and can be found at a variety of retailers...without the slips of course


I'm enjoying this little old house much more than I thought I would.
The garden is a huge mess but coming along slowly so I will share what I can soon

Have a wonderful weekend...I can't believe its already May!

xx

kelley
18 comments:
  1. Can't wait to see more of your interior! Love the chairs!

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  2. oh i'm loving this house kelley. i love the clean uncluttered look and those windows!
    i cannot wait to see more more more! xo

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    1. hello dear Janet! I look forward to seeing your lovely country cottage in
      Country Living and yes this is a house you would love too...
      xo

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  3. Love love love those chairs, your home looks beautiful.

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  4. Those chairs are absolutely wonderful & beautifully wonky! Brilliant! Will have to watch that series. Just got hooked on Outlander!
    Your home is just delightful.

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  5. I'm into episode 5 of Larkrise to Candleford, it's so much fun to watch, I never want it to end. I have a similar chair (vintage) that I had a slip made for out of washed natural linen. It looks wonderful and I think Twister would be very comfortable in it....We're in our new house up in Paso, kind of a cross between a Spanish Colonial with a side of French. Very neutral interior with windows on axis to the gardens that we are creating. Lots of thought is going into this new garden due to the drought and our extreme temperatures, but so far, lots of natives, a lavender allee, and I just set out some milkweed that I had started and low and behold found a monarch caterpillar on one of the plants. Plant it and they will come. I had a similar situation when we lived up North in Sebastopol. I planted California pipevine and the butterfiles headed to our house en masse. Love your home.

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  6. I am so in love with this house! Can't wait to see more!!

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  7. Kelley,
    I loved that series and was sad when it ended. The chairs look great and fitting for your sweet cottage in Santa Barbara.
    I can't wait to see the garden.
    Karen

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  8. Oh my, Larkrise is one of my most favorite shows and I wanted it to go on and on! And I love the sentiment behind your sweet chair. I wonder if an upholsterer I know would think I was crazy to cover a chair like this............it's worth a try! Thanks so much for showing these darling chairs and giving my crazy ideas.

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  9. Loved the Larkwise series.....I think I have watched them all at least twice! Love your chairs and the reminder of dear old Twister. Your blog is delightful.
    Paula

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  10. Loved the little sneak peek!! I am using those same colors (and some of the same fabrics) in my little family room update! Those chairs are fabulous!

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  11. Dying to see more of your house! I keep checking in! :) Also, are you in Instagram?
    Thanks!

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  12. I love that series too. It was on PBS and I vividly remember Twister and his chair. Lovely idea to create one in his honor so to speak. Nothing beats home for comfort excepting a chair of your very own.

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  13. just to let you know....because of your post I am now obsessed with Lark Rise .... obsessed!!!! Love the chair!

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    Replies
    1. it its truly a great series....so happy you are enjoying it xo kelley

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  14. Kelley, I know this is an older post, but in searching for the (blue) pillows in your current post, I came across this one. You always have the most beautiful accessories (including pillows). Is this one you got from Wendy -- is the fabric vintage? And the ones from the current post - I seem to remember them from earlier. Are they Fortuny, from Wendy? I Love them all.

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  15. Kelley, I know this is an older post, but in searching for the (blue) pillows in your current post, I came across this one. You always have the most beautiful accessories (including pillows). Is this one you got from Wendy -- is the fabric vintage? And the ones from the current post - I seem to remember them from earlier. Are they Fortuny, from Wendy? I Love them all.

    ReplyDelete

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