In with the new, out with the plaid

Happy 2008.
Yikes.

So, the first new project for this year is picking out fabric for this - or actually, not exactly that but another couch made by the same company that is very very similar (think the only difference is the legs really). Which means the plaid livingroom couch, which has featured so prominently in the photos on this blog, is soon to find itself out of the bunkle and hopefully in the arms (or under the butt of) someone else.

The plaid couch was my first major furniture purchase. I was 18, and still at home, but they had a sale on couches at Ikea and I picked this one up for $250. $250.
Jeans cost that these days. And it has lasted me over 20 years.

When I got the couch it was gray, and fit in neatly with my slick grey/red/black/white bedroom. Life got less slick, the gray got dirty, so I recovered the couch, with the help of my long-suffering boyfriend at the time. We went to so many fabric stores. So, so, very many (did I mention long-suffering?). And finally found the green plaid, which somehow felt right. So, I made patterns. I sewed. And re-sewed when the cushion covers were too big. I covered all the cushions, front and back. I covered the sides of the couch. Then I lost energy. So the "skirt" area at the front remained gray. As did the back, hidden behind the cushions. Then the long-suffering boyfriend and I split up (which I don't think had anything to do with the couch), my Mum came to visit me, and we finished the last bit.

And I've really liked the couch. And the fabric, despite its ... plaidiness. It is so loud that it is somehow neutral, at least to me. But the time has come to say goodbye. And in my maturity I am stuck with deciding which fabric will work best. Be neutral enough without being boring, or showing the various nastiness that appears on the couch due to my two furry roommates. Which is hard for me because I am not by nature a neutral lover. Give me red. Or patterns. But as you can see from the swatches above, I'm trying to make a more flexible choice.

Even though the cats look so great on patterns.