Projects for 2012.....The Philadelphia Sofa of Christopher Rebollo

Our first project of the new year is to weave a canary yellow embossed harateen for this incredible 18th
sofa frame belonging to Chris Rebollo of Christopher Rebollo Antiques.  The frame was made in Philadelphia in the 1780's and is similar to another Philadelphia sofa in the collection of the US State Department.

When Chris discovered fragments of the original fabric under the early nail heads of his frame...which were a brilliant yellow....he was inspired to find a fabric that would be as close as possible to the fabric on the State Department Sofa. That's where we come in!

Step 1:  Getting the color.  The first thing that we do on our end is to start with some color samples of yellows that we have dyed for other projects and to see if any of them are close to what Chris had in mind.  Of the
six samples that were sent, one was very close so that was a place to begin.

The yarn that we will dye for this fabric is a high quality 2 ply worsted wool and is as close as we can get to
what would have been used on the original piece.

Making the 40 skeins of worsted yarn to be dyed using a custom made skein winder.

Skeined yarn before dyeing.

Ready for the dye pot.

The finished yarn.