A tapestry of sorts.

We are going to use part of the new extension as a space to put our loft bed into. We are not planning to sleep in our extension for more than a few years, as we have four teenagers and when they start to leave the nest we will be able to move into one of the bed rooms. Because of that we do not want to start building walls to partition of a sleeping area, but at the same time we want a semi private space to house our clothes and personal items. Our solution is a tapestry of sorts which contains appliqué, embroidery and a bit of magic.

We started with an old sheet that we dyed by hand in the bathtub with batik colours to create a sunrise sky. We also used two different cotton Indian wall-hangings, one with a dragon guarding a castle and one with fairies and plants. We cut them up into suitable pieces and with the help of a few other fabrics for backing, we pinned it all together and stitched it into one massive sheet, approximately 2.30 by 3.50 meters.

We added green fabrics to the foreground and stitched on some floral fabric pieces and a house design, all with the help of the sewing machine.

We then cut out a lot of felt leaves and created round “flowers” by tearing fabric into strips about 6 by 25 centimetres scrunching them up at the middle and tying them with yarn. We stitched them on creating a star design in the middle of each one. We bought a few silk flowers and took them apart to get leaves and flowers to stitch on. We also added a lot of chain stitch along the outlines of the trees and plants.

For the castle windows we used a vintage 1950s fabric to create stained glass windows and another one for the castle roofs.

The dragon needed a little definition and we decided to chain stitch around its eye in lime-green and yellow.

We are still in the process of making this piece and when it is fully embroidered it will be sewn onto a slightly padded bedspread and lightly quilted to form a thick wall-hanging. We will then build a frame of 4” by 2” timber to hang it from. It will be attached to the corner of the loft bed and to one of the wall posts. At the moment you will have to imagine what it will look like when it is all finished and ironed, hanging in its place. We will write another post about it then. It is a very economical way of creating a bit of privacy; we spent about €30 on the wall hangings and fabrics, another €10 on batik dye and €6 on silk flowers. On the other side of the loft bed we will put our book cases to make another temporary wall. We always look for solutions that are economical both for us and for the environment. When we no longer need our temporary sleeping place we can hang the wall hanging on one of the walls instead. Mixing  appliqué, embroidery and the lovely Indian designs made this into a fun and easy project. It is not very time consuming and certainly nothing compared to making a proper tapestry.