The evocative shapes and patterns for these pillows come from sailors' signal flags: the colors conjure all aspects of the sea.
My grandmother's stone row house in Scotland had a tantalising glimpse of the sea from the attic bedroom.
The house I grew up in hung precariously two hundred feet above the Pacific surf in Sydney, and shook with every wave during winter storms.
For ten years we summered in a tiny Napoleonic fort with glittering 360 degree views of islands in the Mediterranean.
I love the thoroughbred feel and look of pure linen. I pre-wash it to pre-empt shrinkage and shifting and I hand-dye to get otherwise unobtainable colors. Invisible zippers are superior to the more usual continuous upholstery zippers, and the short stitch I use for visible stitching gives a refined finish. Overcast seams are sturdy and help the cover to last.
All my cushions are double-sided – I have never been able to stand clothes or pillows which skimp out at the side seam. On complex letters like N,W and Z, the reverse side is a simple pattern, usually Blue Peter.
The cushions are 18” nominal, though custom orders can be any size you like, and any combination of colors.
I like to use a 20” feather infill in an 18” cover to give a very rounded look. Try JoAnn's or Ikea for best value.
For reasons of color stability I regretfully suggest dry-cleaning bright or dark colors, but I cold-wash all the light and natural colors, with the zippers closed. Tumble dry if you need to, but iron them damp. A water spray bottle gives the best finish with no trouble at all.
Sun will fade linen like all natural fabrics, so bear that in mind if you use your cushions in full sunlight.
I have always gravitated to natural fabrics: wool, cotton, linen. For years I lived near Ian Mankin’s iconic shop in Primrose Hill and loved every fabric he stocked, including a double-width linen sheeting now sadly discontinued. Ian’s natural weaves and stripes are timeless.
One of my more impressive clients had been given lengths of hand-spun, hand loomed linen checks from an ancient mill in her husband’s constituency. It was murder to sew but the results were beautiful.
Working with beautiful materials has simplified my taste and complicated my life, because I am always looking for the definitive texture, or weave, or color. When I found this coarse natural linen I recognized its beauty immediately, and as I work with it I appreciate its virtues more and more: relative stability (linen can be very elastic), straight grain, wonderful texture.
I always cut to the thread for accuracy and fold the fabric as precisely as origami before stitching so my minimal seaming is exact. I sew French seams on the horizontal for strength and neatness, and overcast the two long raw seams. I use the selvedges whenever I can.
Metrosene thread, YKK invisible zippers, and the simplest buttons – but the search and the temptation goes on. I am still trying to find wide linen sheeting here in the US, finer textured than Rough Linen, but no luck so far. One day.