For Want of the Perfect Fabric

Today I ventured out into the heat again, in search of
the perfect fabric for re-upholstering my great-great-
grandmother's English rocking chair.

What I am looking for is very elusive. It is fabric that I
will know when I see it and so far, I haven't seen it. I
haven't even caught a glimpse.

For your information, all the fabric out there in the commercial world looks alike and all the local stores carry the same tired stuff... just more of it in some
cases and for more money in others. Most upholstery fabric is just variation on a theme.

I want something vintage and colorful - in keeping with the historic nature of this chair. I can remember only too slightly the fabric that was on it during my earliest
childhood. I have tactile memories of running my finger along a stripe of burgundy or a swirl of velvet - but only catch a glimpse of the colors - a deep red, some greens, blues, golds... maybe browns?

None of my old family photographs shows the material on the chair. I have a wonderful picture of my great-great-grandmother sitting on the chair. But her body covers the upholstery. Every single square inch of it.

I contacted my older cousins but, being guys, they are little help. They can barely remember the chair, let alone what fabric adorned it during their childhoods. This
perplexes me since they played on and around it for years and years. But they are men and I suppose this lack of material memory is to be forgiven. I bet they remember all of my grandfather's fishing rods and guns and tools.

I have haunted my local antique shops, looking for scraps of vintage fabric or an old table runner or plush rug that might serve the purpose. I have a small and colorful tapestry rug hanging on the wall in my hallway - it has a lot of pretty red and is adorned with adorable English corgis - which is appropriate, since the chair was made in England and came with my great-great-grandparents when
they emigrated - both times. But how can I cut up that tapestry and make the Solomon choice about which dog to place where? No... I just can't do it.

I don't think I can adequately describe what I want for this chair. I only know that I shall know it when I see it and this makes for a frustrating search indeed.

The chair may just sit in my livingroom without upholstery for the time being - until I find the perfect and ellusive fabric - material that may only exist in my mind.

Which means I need to find a really good hypnotist.