Give Me Liberty...Fabrics

New Season Liberty Fabrics

For all you fabric freaks out there Liberty London has just launched its new season A/W 13 range. Liberty Art Fabrics are always beautiful but this collection seems to be taking a different turn to the usual ditsy florals. It is inspired by the epic poem The Earthly Paradise by William Morris, the prologue is below.

OF Heaven or Hell I have no power to sing,
I cannot ease the burden of your fears,
Or make quick-coming death a little thing,
Or bring again the pleasure of past years,
Nor for my words shall ye forget your tears,	5
Or hope again for aught that I can say,
The idle singer of an empty day.
But rather, when aweary of your mirth,
From full hearts still unsatisfied ye sigh,
And, feeling kindly unto all the earth,	10
Grudge every minute as it passes by,
Made the more mindful that the sweet days die—
—Remember me a little then I pray,
The idle singer of an empty day.
The heavy trouble, the bewildering care	15
That weighs us down who live and earn our bread,
These idle verses have no power to bear;
So let me sing of names remembered,
Because they, living not, can ne’er be dead,
Or long time take their memory quite away	20
From us poor singers of an empty day.
Dreamer of dreams, born out of my due time,
Why should I strive to set the crooked straight?
Let it suffice me that my murmuring rhyme
Beats with light wing against the ivory gate,	25
Telling a tale not too importunate
To those who in the sleepy region stay,
Lulled by the singer of an empty day.
Folk say, a wizard to a northern king
At Christmas-tide such wondrous things did show,	30
That through one window men beheld the spring,
And through another saw the summer glow,
And through a third the fruited vines a-row,
While still, unheard, but in its wonted way,
Piped the drear wind of that December day.	35
So with this Earthly Paradise it is,
If ye will read aright, and pardon me,
Who strive to build a shadowy isle of bliss
Midmost the beating of the steely sea,
Where tossed about all hearts of men must be;	40
Whose ravening monsters mighty men shall slay,
Not the poor singer of an empty day.

Morris' episodic poem shows fairy tale and ancient mythology inspiration. This influence can be seen in a lot of the fabric prints.

Branch Flower D - Liberty Art Fabrics

Not so much in others.

Hunter Trunk A - Liberty Art fabrics

Not sure how many trucks there were in Ancient Greece.

Still, it's nice to see Liberty mixing it up a bit. As well as The Earthly Paradise, the designers of the fabric also took influence from "Icelandic adventures, audio prints, tattoos on Tana Lawn, almost edible conversationals and fragrant florals." A pretty eclectic mix but then this is an eclectic collection, ranging from detailed peacocks to colour block houses.

Growing Fonder B - Liberty Art Fabrics

Samols A - Liberty Art Fabrics

Rose A - Liberty Art Fabrics

Stanley B - Liberty Art Fabrics

Ranga C - Liberty Art Fabrics

I particularly like the open, natural prints.

Manning B - Liberty Art Fabrics

But I also like this simple horse print. It would make a lovely summer dress. If only I could sew.

Kussman A - Liberty Art Fabrics

Check out the new fabrics here.

Follow Me On Bloglovin'

Rag Rug: Stage One

I've recently moved house and, as I'm sure you'll know if you've been in the same situation, it seems to be soaking up money. Even though I've been given a lot of hand-me-downs, the bills keep piling up (literally, there is a rather high water bill that I am ignoring and hoping will go away).

The bedroom has bare floorboards, which look lovely, but are rather cold. Instead of buying a rug I've decided I'm going to try and make one to save on money and use up all the fabric I have lying around. I was inspired by this tutorial from Jaime at www.our-everyday-art.com.

She uses a non-skid rug mat as a base but I couldn't find one that was affordable so I got a metre of Hessian Sacking from Minerva Crafts. Sacking's been used in rug making for centuries; it was normally combined with scraps of old textiles and clothes that were cut or torn into strips. That is what I did with my fabric. They're approximately 8cm long but I wasn't being exact, that's the beauty of this sort of project, you can be messy.

I then threaded them through two holes in the Hessian. You can use a hook or a 'prodder' to do this but I found that scissors were just as good. I then tied the fabric in a knot to secure it.

I left a gap of a few threads between each piece of fabric to stop the hessian unravelling.

It's pretty easy but very time consuming, those three lines took me two hours. But it's quite therapeutic to do sitting in front of the TV. I'm hoping it will look good when it's finished, check back in about ten years to see the results!

Follow me on Blog Lovin'