All The Stripes

Dare I say that it’s rather near the time we dust off the garden furniture and bring out the deckchairs for those sunny moments captured in the garden or nearby sandy beach. I was honoured when Hen & Hammock recently got in touch regarding their superb deckchair fabric. I’d never really given the fabric itself much thought if I’m honest, I have a vintage deckchair that comes with me on holiday in Agatha our caravan so writing a post about the sublime striped cloth that eptomises all our childhood seaside holiday memories was a great challenge.

Yes to start with I did the obvious and covered a wooden deckchair frame kindly sent by Hen & Hammock. All that is needed are some sturdy upholstery pins and 1.5 metres of fabric. Such a simple and easy way to update an old frame with a worn out cover or to simply start from scratch like I have and create a new chair.

There is a myriad of multi coloured striped canvas to choose from, each fabric is designed to be the right width for a deck chair and to have sufficient strength to support a person’s body weight. It is traditionally woven entirely from cotton, although some material includes a polythene warp to make it more weather resistant for those unexpected rain showers.

The Beachcomber fabric I have used goes perfectly with the cool colours I chose to decorate our holiday home on wheels. It’s simple lines of blues, mauves and a hint of lemon make for a very inviting seat to while away the hours in dappled sunlight. This specific fabric is woven in south west France by Henry and Françoise Quinta here’s a little bit about their story.

“Henri and Françoise are the saviours of the textile industry in south west France. They bought the last surviving mill in the early 1990’s, and since then have set about transforming the business with the vibrant colours that the Catalan region is famous for; vibrant oranges, golds and blues, that shout sun, sand and sea.

All the fabrics are woven on traditional looms that involve a considerable amount of skill and craftsmanship. The weft and warp yarns are each crossed by hand to produce a very high quality deckchair fabric. These are the fabrics that Henri and Françoise cherished in the youth, with a contemporary twist that ensures they are more popular today than ever.”

What I also like about this woven canvas is the versatility of it, you can buy deckchair fabric by the metre so other items can be made to use outdoors or in the home. Why not use it as a bright table runner or bath mat that will make you smile in the morning. I used the left over fabric to make a cushion with, pairing the stripes with a plain linen hemp. It makes the perfect head rest when lounging in the chair.

So don’t think that deckchairs are just the ones you hire when you visit the beach, the choice of fabrics are endless so get making your own, so simple, so fun, so effective.