Choices, choices…traditional Welsh tapestry fabrics

When I said there wasn’t going to be any decision overload about window ‘dressing’ in my last post, I could have been lying. Whilst we’ll have shutters on all the windows throughout the cottage, there are two french doors that need a little something else. Feeling that shutters on doors isn’t such a great look (ours are solid shutters, not plantation style) but knowing that despite the double glazing it WILL still be cold by them, I’m planning on full length curtains.

I’d like them to be a little different however, so rather than just plain upholstery fabric I’ve been looking at the traditional fabrics made here in Wales. The woollen mills of West and North Wales have long been famous for their weaving and tapestry-style fabrics, and over the last ten years there’s been a fantastic renaissance for these styles, led by Melin Tregwynt and their spotty fabrics. Before all that however, when I was growing up in North Wales it seemed you couldn’t visit an elderly relative’s house without seeing a set of tapestry table mats.

It was in one of Under The Thatch’s cottages that I got the idea for using this fabric as curtains. Blaen y Buarth is a traditional little cottage high up near Penmachno, Gwynedd. One of the (many, many) amazing elements of their very stylish interior was a set of long, full length curtains to um, curtain off a set of stairs that led straight up from the kitchen to an open bedroom above.

Photo thanks to Under The Thatch

I’d really like to stick with something fairly traditional and given that our cottage’s predominant colour so far is grey (grey flagstones, dark grey walls, light grey walls…) I’d like to warm it up a bit with something that most definitely isn’t grey. I’ve been looking through some of the mills’ websites, and have come up with the following options which I can now torture myself with.

Melin Tregwynt’s St David’s Cross designs – all reversible, thereby doubling the decision making in one swoop:

Next up is Melin Tregwynt’s Knot Garden, again reversible:

And finally, Melin Trefriw’s tapestry fabrics, once again back and front,