A couple of months ago, David gently led me into the living room in Southampton and said “I’ve got something I’d like to talk to you about.” I don’t like our pillows anymore.” After a few seconds of denial, a little annoyance, a bit of bargaining (“All of them?”) and momentary sadness, I accepted, after our little pillow talk, that he was right. Our brightly colored pillows were nice for a summer house, but weren’t right for fall and winter.
Good readymade pillows can be hard to find, though, particularly if you’re looking for a specific range of colors and materials. They can also be surprisingly expensive, given the small amount of fabric involved and the simplicity of their construction. On the other hand, custom pillows can be a hassle –the best upholstery fabric is usually confined to trade-only showrooms, lead times can be long, and it can be pricey.
To get custom pillows fast, I remembered something I’d done to feather my first nest in San Francisco when I was just out of law school. I bought small amounts of fashion fabrics at Britex, the great fabric store in San Francisco’s Union Square, and had them sewn into pillows by the woman who did alterations at my dry cleaners. Fashion fabrics have several advantages: there is huge variety, they’re often less expensive than upholstery fabrics, and you can buy as little as a half yard right off the bolt. This time, I went to Mood fabrics in New York. The first trip yielded these swatches:
When I went back to buy the fabric, I edited out the green wool jersey, and replaced the orange felt coat fabric with some leather and suede I found in a similar color to add variety to the textures. I also added a small black Persian lamb-like wool. The fabrics weren’t expensive — the priciest was $38 a yard (the green plaid mohair), and the cheapest was $17 (the light green tweed). I only needed the minimum purchase of a half yard of each. A seamstress sewed pillows for $30 each, including the welting and zippers, and so for about $40 – $50 each, we have new custom pillows for the living room. (The leather and suede were a little more.)
I like the way they turned out, and I think they work well in the room, particularly with the new entry hall color.
We might have to have a pillow talk about the best arrangement.
