1/12th scale Knole sofa and foot-stool

Everyone knows the Knole, I'm sure.  It's a surprisingly old design, and a must for the Eclectic Moderne look in any house.  This is a workshop at the January 2013 minis retreat, by Jean.  I arrived a bit late, so there wasnt as much choice in the fabrics.  I liked the dark blue, but I need to make this whole project again, in a much thinner fabric, since this blue raw silk was thick and very hard to sew.  Raw silk is TOUGH.  And it didnt fold well, and the sofa looks a bit lumpy to me.  Ho hum.  The pack of bits and pieces doesnt look very promising, but was easy to do, apart from the difficulty in getting a nice crisp fold in the fabric.  We used two colours of embroidery thread to twist together to make the braid trim.  That took a LOT of twisting, to get the braid to take the twisted form required, that doesnt immediately spring to the unwound position when you let go of it.

I'm always very impressed with myself when I actually finish something, as I am great at starting, but not so good on the home stretch...  so am happy that this got done, both the sofa and the matching foot-stool.  When I make the next one, this one will end up in an attic...


It would probably be nice to see the finished piece, so I'll find a picture and post it later.


Gotta love Wikipedia:  The Knole settee (sometimes known as the Knole Sofa) was made in the 17th century. It is housed at Knole in Kent, a house owned by the Sackville-Wests since 1605 but now in the care of the National Trust. It was originally used not as comfortable sofa but as a formal throne on which the monarch would have sat to receive visitors. It features adjustable side arms and considerable depth of seating, it usually has exposed wooden finials at the rear corner tops, and some exposed wood may be present on the otherwise arms. The arms, more correctly sides, are of the same height. The side arms are tied to the sofa back by means of heavy decorative braid, often with an elaborate tassel.