Our wool mix fabric is a tough fabric and a great all-rounder, providing a cosy and substantial backing for a cushion. As a backing fabric it’s a very practical option, and we see it used regularly on many of our tapestry designs.
Unfortunately there isn’t as wide a range of colours available as there used to be, as many shades have been discontinued by the manufacturer. Here are the reds: 
Red and turquoise work well with many Jolly Red designs, and we often see the colours used together for Seaside Sampler and Union Jack Russells.
The intense colours of the woolly fabric make them ideal as borders and backing for our A-Z Animals series. Shown here is Anna’s A for Ark, which has a 3″ border of Bright Red JRWR01 and contrast piping in Turquoise JRWB04.
On to the terracottas, with a nice variety from the quiet Hacienda JRWY08 which is good for Camelcade, to pingy Pumpkin JRWY03, often used as piping and backing for Ba-Ba-Bloom and Birds.
Sarah chose warm Clay JRWY02 for her Old English Hen. It picks out the leaves in the border, flowers in the background and the feathers on the hen herself.
View from the top of Sarah’s Hen. Clay is a colour that will go just about anywhere, we definitey recommend it.
On to the yellows. Sadly, our Old Gold has recently disappeared and is no longer being manufactured. We still have supplies of Mustard JRWY04 and lots of Buttermilk JRWY07, which is a nice pale yellow as you can see on the Magic Flowers tapestry, below.
If you’re looking for an ‘old gold’, take a look at our velvets as we have one there.
For a neutral yellow, Buttermilk JRWY07 is lovely. Used here on Magic Flowers, it demonstrates that you don’t always need to choose a strong colour for the piping and backing of your tapestry.
On to the greens, from Bright Lime JRWG01 through to Bottle Green JRWG05, and including Teal JRWG06 which as you’d expect is greeny blue…or bluey green. It’s a lovely colour, either on its own or as contrast for Magic Flowers in particular.
Busy in the workshop, and another Old English Hen is ready to go home! This one has Clay JRWY02 piping and Grass JRWG03 backing.
The blues! Indigo JRWB03 is the most popular choice for Love Birds, either all blue or with contrast piping – perhaps a red or gold, if your couple is celebrating a special anniversary?
Indigo JRWB03 is the most popular choice for Love Birds, either all blue or with contrast piping – perhaps a red or gold, if your couple is celebrating a special anniversary?
Love Birds, side view, in blue:
Eileen’s E for Elephant has a turquoise border (3″ all round) with contrast green piping:
Joshua’s Alphabet Ark with mitred border in Navy JRWB05 and contrast piping in Red JRWR06…and…
…backing in Cornflower JRWB01.
A Summer Patchwork with Denim blue JRWB06 for piping and a red backing. As you can see from the picture, other colours could be picked out from the design depending on the colours in your room.
Theodore’s Alphabet Ark looked wonderful in two blues, turquoise woolly JRWB04 for piping, and the darker blue Indigo JRW03 for backing.
There are many contrast colour combinations that work well with Alphabet Ark, purple piping and red backing, charcoal piping and pumpkin backing…and very many others.
A popular range at the moment – the greys. Use one of the greys on its own, or mix them up for your new grey sofa or armchair.
For Nicola’s Ba-Ba-Birds cushion, she chose Rhino JRWG02 for piping and Charcoal JRWG04 for backing. A very nice combination!
Here we are choosing fabric for a Ba-Ba-Bloom, Black piping and Pumpkin backing
Here’s Bloom-Pah-Pah, with a striking Black JRWG05 piping and Terracotta JRWY05 backing.
Finally, the purples. We used to have a very nice Damson shade but our stocks have gone, and the shade has been discontinued by the manufacturer. We do have alternatives in our cotton and velvet ranges so do take a look here for their ranges.
We used Violet JRWP04 for Delilah’s gorgeous Butterflies Sampler.
Delilah’s Butterflies again, with the view from the top:
Availability of particular colours/fabric Please email kelly@jollyred.co.uk or call Jolly Red on 01460 281111 if you need to check that a particular colour is in stock.
Fabric swatches (UK only) Email kelly@jollyred.co.uk if you’d like us to send you any particular swatches, or call on 01460 281111 to have a chat about a Jolly Red tapestry that you’ve finished. We see lots of tapestries here in our Isle Brewers HQ and can always recommend colour and fabric combinations that have worked very successfully before.
Posting your tapestry If you’ll be posting your tapestry to us, take a quick look here at our handy checklist. We remind you of important things like checking for missed stitches, resisting the urge to trim down your canvas and to send your work in by Recorded or Registered post.
Send your tapestry to us at:
Jolly Red Making up Service
Unit 4B, Walronds Park
Isle Brewers
Somerset
TA3 6QP
Christmas deadline alert We no longer have a fixed deadline date for Christmas making up, as we can’t anticipate how busy we’ll be from September onwards
Take care, and we look forward to hearing from you.
Kelly
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