Pillows, Cushions, and Soft Furnishings

Small work, big effect

A ready-made pillow is one size, one fabric, one edge, all decided by somebody who never saw your sofa. Custom means the proportion suits the piece it sits on, and you choose the finish rather than accept it.

It is also the easiest way to get a remarkable textile into your room. A fabric that would be impractical across a whole sofa is perfect as a pair of pillows, and a size that does not exist ready-made is not a problem when she is making it anyway.

This is often where a project starts. If you are not ready to commit to drapery, a set of pillows shows you exactly how Amy works, and the room usually moves further than the size of the job suggests.

Proportion and fill

Size is the thing people get wrong most. Pillows that are too small leave a sofa looking undressed. A mix of sizes with a deliberate relationship between them beats a matched set of four, and two large pillows can carry a long sofa better than four small ones ever will.

Fill decides how a pillow behaves. Down and down-blend inserts have a hand that foam cannot fake, and they take the casual slump that makes a room look lived in rather than staged. Amy sizes inserts larger than the cover so the pillow sits full instead of slack. Small detail, and you see it immediately.

The edge sets the register. A knife edge is clean and quiet. A flange softens it and reads traditional. Box edge where the pillow needs structure. Fringe and tape push it formal fast, and there is a line past which a pillow is wearing a costume.

Cushions and everything else

Window seats, benches, and banquettes need cushions built to a real measurement rather than trimmed down to fit. Foam density gets chosen for how long people sit there. Dining chair seats take the most abuse in the house and get built accordingly. Outdoor cushions have to survive weather and then dry out properly.

Past pillows and cushions, this covers table linens, bed skirts, shams, headboards, and the occasional piece that has no standard name and has to be invented for the space it goes in.