Pictures of my samples so far....

 

The weave samples

I have started with my weave samples this will be for my

modern day minimalist cushion. The sample that I have made is with a lot of colours

whereas the real  cushion that I will be making will be with only one colour maybe with a

sort of ombre look e.g from dark to light. I think the best colour to do is blue

with the thought of an ombre look it could be from really light blue almost white to a

sort of navy blue. I think that this would look really effective.

 

 

The wool/yarn that I will be using will be of medium thickness as I think this

will give the right effect. I will be making another sample with only

one colour of blue and then another with more of the ombre theme.

These will be displayed in my sketch book with all of the

other samples that I have created.



The do it yourself packs

I have been looking at creating a sort of do it yourself pack 

for the cushions this pack will the include everything that you need to make the 

cushions, e.g. thread, fabric, pattern, and a set of instructions. 

These packs tie into the fact that people try and replicate artists and their work 

to put in their own homes. 

I will be creating the cushions as a template for the packs to show what 

you can create with them to inspire people to make them. This will be put onto the 

front of the packs, to draw people into make the cushions and 

to hopefully be a start into maybe making some more things for the home.

The artist I have researched that makes packs like this is Nancy Nicholson

http://www.nancynicholson.co.uk/. She creates do it yourself packs for embroidery

these packs include everything you would need to replicate the image on 

the front of the pack. She also creates packs for paper art 

and uses tutorials to help people like a step by step guide. 

Hopefully I will be able to create the same sort of thing 

for my cushions, and to also create something more for my EPQ. 

The history of cushions

Cushions are pieces of materials covered with fabric and stuffed with wool or straw or some sort of spongy soft material. These cushions would be used for sitting on or as a decorative object in someone’s home. These were used often and all through the ages and in the earliest years they were used to show social status and wealth.

The first cushions were most properly used as something to hold your head up with, this was used in the roman times make sure that your hair was not messed up whilst you slept. However these pillows would probably not been very comfy and made out of hard material to make sure that your hair was not messed by the morning. 

Pillows were then used by very wealthy men in Asia these were used to lounge on and relax. Cushions would only really be used by very wealthy men in this time as luxury fabric and fabric dyes would be very expensive so were very hard to afford. These cushions would be shown as pieces or art themselves and would have been shown in people’s houses. 

http://ezinearticles.com/?The-History-Of-The-Cushion&id=5298338

Pillows were also used in the medieval time as a decorative object in their houses they were used by the gentry in the big grand houses. In this period the cushions were made out of leather. These would be placed on seats for when the lord and the lady of the house would come home. These pillows as they were expensive were only used by people with some kind of status. The same as in Asia with only high status men using them. They showed aristocratic authority. 

http://www.articlesbase.com/clothing-articles/looking-at-the-history-of-cushions-1472840.html

Cushions then were then used like this until times when fabric and dyes were a lot cheaper they were then used to decorate a room and also used as something comfy to sit on or hold yourself up with. Now day’s cushions are used to mainly decorate rooms e.g. on the sofa or on the bed when it is made to make the room look good. 

In the 70’s and 80’s cushions were used for this purpose they were bold and used in any room to make a big statement, around this time many interiors were big and bold and very un-matching these cushions would have been the same. Now days cushions are also used for this purpose but maybe more matching to the interior of the room or to make any plain sofa look good and more interesting. 

So far .....

My progress so far is making the samples and the designs

for the pillows that I will be making as the final outcome of my project.

These samples are what will help me decide what I want the
Final outcome to look like and will give me a path way
Which I can follow with and if something went wrong where to
Turn to next.