Thursday, March 1, 2012

Would Willy B Pleased?

Around here we are always asking, "What Would Willy Do?" in regard to the William Morris reproductions. You know, he wasn't big on patchwork quilts. He wasn't even big on printed cottons---thought woven tapestries the way to go.

But the fabrics are so pretty that it's silly to be snobbish. It's tempting to make decorative items for the home and wardrobe: the Arts & Crafts Home and the aesthetic wardrobe.



Recently I spent a week in a room with eight fellow seamstresses and a Layer Cake package of Morris & Company prints. As the week wore on the ideas got better.


Annette Chavez Fountain brought her hot glue gun and made quite a few pins using the Kafflower pattern by Julie Creus of LaTodera.  Note the tiny tomato pincushion in the center---not of Morris fabric but a nice contrast to the medium and dark prints. See the pattern here:

Helen Hodak surprised me with a Scottie pillow from  2-1/2" cut squares. Willy probably would have preferred dark brown rick-rack for the collar but we were miles from a notions store.

It looks good in the Arts & Crafts Home, here dropped into an Original Morris Chair in Photoshop.


And I figured out how to make tomato pincushions, which I will explain with pattern in the next post.

Morning Star
Georgann Eglinski, 2009
Made from A Morris Garden reproduction collection.

And I have created a Pinterest Board with quilts made from William Morris reproduction prints, like the quilt above. Check it out here:
http://pinterest.com/materialculture/quilt-william-morris/
One chair: Two dogs

13 comments:

  1. Willy be Pleased, probably!
    This post is great, a tad different, playful and gets the mind brewing on a what I can do with a Layer Cake.... The pinerest pictures made me wish I had finished more of the Morris quilts that I have started in recent years with YOUR Morris fabrics. You know they play nicely from collection to collect.

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  2. Sounds like a fun week. Methinks Willy would be well pleased.as he is reputed to have said "have nothing in your home that is neither useful nor beautiful" I am three blocks off finishing my Farmers wife quilt which i have called "William meets the Farmers Wife" because it is made of a collection of Morris reproduction fabrics. The collection began when i made a pattern of Michelle Hills and grew when i did a workshop with her.

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  3. Me encantan donde podré comprar ese precortado me chiflán sus colores, muchos besos.

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  4. Me referiero al layer cake de Morris Company,mi e-mail es sa_sandra_redonda_72@hotmail.com.

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  5. The Morning Star quilt is beautiful. My untrained eyes had to look at it for quite a while before I figured out what was going on (positive/negative space).

    LOVE the Scottie Dog!

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  6. You all made such lovely things out of
    Morris&Company! Right now I am making
    the Camelot-quilt, only using this
    series! But when I have some left-
    overs, I will surely add a lovely
    pincushion or two..
    Just love the fabric-line to work
    with! Greetings from Ageeth, from
    Holland.

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  7. I love making patchwork animals, great way to use up scraps.

    Debbie

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  8. Love the pin cushion! What a neat idea.

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  9. love the picture of the 2 dogs one chair, too cute.
    hmm would be fun to make something with the layer cake not sure I would please Willy but I am sure I would please the quilter :)
    Kathie

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  10. That Dog! I have a 30yr old pattern for him and I made him up only a few weeks ago - twice, as I made 2 sides the same so I made their opposites and got 2 dogs. I gave one to a friends little girl and kept 1. Visitors comment on how cute he is - very retro trendy!

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  11. So glad these designs are being reproduced. Love his "Blackthorn."

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  12. Hi,
    This is Julie Creus from La Todera Patterns!
    I was so excited when somebody pointed me to this blog post. I was thrilled to see my Kafflower pattern done up (so skillfully!!) in your fabrics!! What a treat!!!

    If you are going to be at Spring Market, make sure to stop by my booth- I would love to meet you!!

    Julie

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  13. Hi,
    This is Julie Creus from La Todera Patterns!
    I was so excited when somebody pointed me to this blog post. I was thrilled to see my Kafflower pattern done up (so skillfully!!) in your fabrics!! What a treat!!!

    If you are going to be at Spring Market, make sure to stop by my booth- I would love to meet you!!

    Julie

    ReplyDelete