Pillows

MPF Conservation restores, conserves, and preserves upholstered objects in their studio in Portland Oregon, and also created items for patrons. This page documents the pillows and bolsters.

Not your everyday pillows, the pillows shown here are highly decorated, made with matching or favorite fabrics from our clients’ projects, and/or fitted to a particular need or design.

Yeh Fei Pai is shown right with Mitchell.

Yeh Fei Pai Calligraphy Pillows

Yeh Fei Pai, a calligrapher teaching at Southern Oregon University as a visiting calligrapher worked with MPF Conservation to create silk pillows for his hosts in Ashland. It was a fun event resulting in lovely pillows. To see a page on this process, click here.

Fillers, Zippers and Tickings

Filler choices can be any of the following, depending upon the shape and use: Goose down, sheep’s wool batting, organic cotton batting, horsehair, and for those with allergies, spun synthetic wool. Cores can be pincore latex or solid latex.

All the pillows below are created with cleaning and comfort in mind. Hidden zippers with interior muslin tickings make it easy to remove the decorative covers and take them to a good dry cleaners. Leather pillows are designed with a fabric insert to allow air to escape when they are rested upon.

Note: See the page on  Slipcovers and the page on Cushions for cushions with matching pillows.

The Crown Chair Pillows

The chair was made in Los Angeles, California, in 1955 by the father of our client, an upholsterer at the Crown Company, with more images shown on MCM and Modern Upholstered Objects. Mitchell found a Justin David showcover fabric that looked quite like the original showcover. We were able to salvage some of the original fabric to make pillows for his son, a lovely memory!

Above, these rugged floor pillows were hand-stitched from
El Paso Saddleblanket Co. rugs for use in the
Crater Lake Science and Learning Center, discussed bottom of this page.

Floor Pillows

They can be used as casual extra seating for limber guests who like to curl up near a fireplace on the floor. Made of sturdy fabric, and sometimes even rugs, shown above, their fabric should be chosen to take a good deal of abuse.

Animal themed floor pillows with fun details of mossy fringe or tassels, above.

Specialty Pillows

Made to match two loveseats and one long sofa shown on the Sofas and Loveseats page, the pillows are white goose down core stuffings set into cotton percale down-proof liners, with highly embellished outer covers.

The fabrics are a lovely mix of shot silk taffeta and patterned silks with silk ruffles and ribbons and jeweled trims, requiring layers of hand-stitching, as shown above.

The video below discusses stitching through many layers:

Throw Pillows

These were created to match the decor of an existing room, above. Despite the elaborate embellishments, they are also comfortable. Decorative cotton velvet from JAB, trims from Houlès and Kravet. “Buttons” were created by MPFC from Kravet moss fringe wound and secured in the center.

A Canopy, Draperies and Pillows

Our client built a new home in the mountains of Northern California. An elaborate canopy was built over the bed which set into the wall with built-in drawers on either side. A massive pile of inviting pillows and bolsters were created!

Passementerie is from Scalamandre; fabrics from Bergamo (detail shown image one below). To see the matching drapes, visit our Draperies page.

Crater Lake Science and Learning Center Pillows

Pillows above were made for the Superintendent’s Living Room which is now the Crater Lake Science and Learning Center at Crater Lake National Park. The Center is for visiting scientists to have a home base while working at Crater Lake. Pillow fabrics are a mix of scrap from the various upholstery projects for the Center, fabric from our collection, and scrap leather, made with pocketed down and wool batting fillers.

Shown right, some of the floor pillows made from 90% wool/10% polyester horse blankets from the El Paso Saddleblanket Co. Below, pillows tucked into the historic Imperial (Monterey) sofa and chair, which can also be found on the Superintendent’s Living Room. (Note the hemp rope had not arrived; this rope was replaced.)

To see the matching drapes, visit our Draperies page.

Upholstered Objects  includes sofas, loveseats, recamiers, sofa-beds, hassocks and many kinds of chairs. Some lightly upholstered chairs (seat only, as in Dining and Side Chairs or Stools) are found under Wooden Objects. Textiles are found in another section.

Note: Our studio is not open for drop-in business.
Please make appointments by contacting us.