French Furniture - French Fabrics!

French Style Chairs Upholstered in Toile de Jouy Fabric - see eBay listing

This is a continuous of my series on French style furniture.  See blog about city vs. country French and definition and illustration of bergere chairs and five major types of French chairs.  This blog deals with fabrics.  There are fabrics that are "traditional" to the style and others that flaunt and/or "modernize" the style - there are a lot of great options for French style furniture.

One important consideration is the shape and size of the piece.  One piece of information I found very insightful is the need to complement the frame - as described here when choosing a fabric for a French Provincial chair:

Choose a fabric style that complements the frame of your French Provincial chair, and not one that overpowers it or looks out of place on the furniture piece. Draw inspiration from existing carvings, curved or woven panels and other details of the chair's frame to choose complementary fabrics. Take the shape and color of your chair into consideration when choosing a fabric, although you can always alter the color of the frame with wood stain or paint to better suit your fabric of choice.

  Source - Tips on Reupholstering French Chairs

I intuitively follow this advice on both points - the overall shape and wood details do influence my fabric choices and, particularly with my increased use of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (link site), I also select my fabrics to complement my wood-finish or the other way around!  

 Reupholster your French Provincial-style chair with fabrics that depict flowers, vines, birds, ribbons, sea shells, farm yards or other scenes to create an authentic, vintage look. Jean-Christophe Burckhardt of Master Artisan Online Magazine notes that fabrics used for French Provincial pieces were inspired by a myriad of international influences, including India, Italy, China and Islamic Moors of Spain. French Provincial fabrics, like the famous Toile de Jouy, feature bold colors and borders, and geometric patterns, as well

 ... Source - Use "Authentic Fabrics"

Details - Toile de Jouy Fabric (Waverly)

Toile de Jouy Fabric on Bergere and Ottoman -  source  Wydeven Designs 

Fabric Details (Waverly)

French Style Chair in Duck Egg Blue (ESCP) - Linen Fabric with Taupe Undertones.
I selected this fabric to  coordinate with the dark wax finish treatment - see closeup below

Closeup of finish and fabric coordination - also note complementary swirls in fabric mimicking the round shapes in wood carvings!

A lovely Toile de Joey in nontraditional colors - coordinates well with the woodwork - source pinterest board 

Love this color combination - somewhat non-traditional but it works - source pinterest board 

Love this neutral look - combines the traditional style, finish and fabrics to give it a more contemporary look~  - source pinterest board

Pottery Barn JR chairs upholstered in graphic pattern in contemporary colors  - source pinterest board