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26th April 2019
On this day in 1859 William Morris married Jane Burden. They met in 1857 and Morris is believed to have immediately fallen for Burden, the daughter of an Oxford stableman.
After they were married, the took a six week honeymoon which included a tour of Bruges, Paris and the Rhine. Afterwards, they returned to furnished rooms – 41 Great Ormond Street and then on to Aberley Lodge in Kent whilst their home – Red House – was being built. They moved into Red House together in 1860, the year after their wedding. The property was designed by Morris’s good friend Philip Webb, an architect and then the friends worked to furnish the property. Together with Webb, Burne-Jones, Ford Madox Brown and Rossetti, they worked together with their varying skillsets to furnish the house. Realising that at that time there was no interior design that Morris felt was beautiful enough for his home and created using the level of craftsmanship that he wanted for his home – in the age of the industrial revolution, Morris strived to return methods of production to traditional craftsmanship which he deemed a superior method of production and therefore end product.
Jane met William after she attended a performance by the Drury Lane Theatre Company in Oxford in October 1857. She was noticed in the crowd by Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Morris’ close friend Edward Burne-Jones – both Pre-Raphaelite artists who believed Jane epitomised Pre-Raphaelite beauty and wanted her to be their model. She initially didn’t turn up to the appointed sitting but after a chance run in with Burne-Jones, eventually sat for Rossetti and then for Morris. She’s perhaps best known for Rossetti’s most famous ‘Queen Guinevere’ and also Morris’ ‘La Belle Iseault’ which is his only (known) easel painting. The legend is that he was unhappy with the painting – which now is shown in the Tate Gallery – and on the reverse of the painting wrote to Jane, “‘I cannot paint you but I love you.”
It’s a romantic thought – the painting and her being his model and muse was an important part of their courtship. But perhaps the theme of the painting was a foreshadowing of what was to come. The Tristram and Iseult legend and Thomas Malory’s version of it did later echo the marriage between Morris and Jane. Just as Iseult had an adulterous relationship with Tristram, Jane had an affair with Dante Gabriel Rossetti which spanned years, eventually ending in them being friends for the rest of his life. The affair crushed Morris – not only was Rossetti Morris’s friend and colleague during the Firm years, but also, he truly loved Jane and their life and children, so her quite open betrayal did take its toll on him. He even went on an adventure to Iceland when Rossetti moved into their family home. Jane did even admit that she never did truly love William.
The question many have asked when looking into their marriage over the years. Simply put, she just wasn’t in the position to reject a suitor as eligible as Morris. The marriage would raise her through the class systems which was especially rigid during this time. At the time she met William, it was almost determined that she would enter the life of domestic service just like her mother. However, she knew that if she married Morris, she would be educated to become a gentleman’s wife.
Not only was Morris educated but his father had passed and Morris gained his inheritance and was independently wealthy at age 24.
Her intellect was clear – she became proficient in French and also Italian, she learned the piano and her manners became referred to as ‘Queenly’ by those that knew them so was her level of etiquette. Though she might have been born into a poverty stricken family, after her marriage and later in life, she had no problem holding her own and fitting in in upper class circles and events. She was also a skilled needlewoman with a particular focus on embroidery which she also taught to their daughters; Jenny and May.
It’s difficult to mention the Jane & William relationship without also mentioning the relationship of Jane and Dante. They might have had the spark and attraction when they first met, but Rossetti was already engaged to be married to Lizzie Siddal. Before his death, he admitted to a close friend he married Siddal, “out of a mistaken sense of loyalty and fear of giving pain,” it was true his heart had truly been stolen by Jane.
Her husband William and Rossetti took out a join tenancy on Kelmscott Manor in 1871. He almost immediately left for Iceland which left his wife and her lover in their home, which they furnished and spent the summer there together. She was one of his favourite muses since they met. In 1865 the relationship is thought to have started – though history could have it’s hand in warping this date. On some level, romantic or not, their relationship latest until 1882 when Dante passed away. The relationship was a deeply emotional one and was a huge inspiration for his work; both with poetry and his painting, in which she featured. The romantic relationship eventually deteriorated when she discovered his dependance on chloral hydrate – taken for insomnia but an addictive drug regardless. They did remain friends until his death.
Ultimately, the relationship hurt Morris and caused a rift in his marriage to Jane. They did however, remain married for the rest of his life.
Whilst living in Red House, Jane and William had two children together; Jane Alice ‘Jenny’ in January of 1861 and Mary ‘May’ born in March 1861. May is the best known of the two daughters as she later edited her father’s works and was involved in his business Morris & Co. You can read more about May here.
She might not have loved him in the romantic sense, but after William died, she did reflect on their life together. Ultimately, she didn’t regret her choices,“I suppose if I was young again I should do the same again.”
Posted in News by Laura
Gorgeous Mallow Forest Green in the sunshine this week ☀️ Our heavyweight fabric is so versatile with so many crafts, what will you make? 🧵
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#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #williammorrisfabric #greenfloral #craftingfabrics
Wrap an order with us for a custom bundle of some wedding table linens 🌿 These Mallow Forest Green napkins and a custom table runner are now on their way to a customer to adorn their wedding tables, we’re so pleased to be involved in the tables of a few weddings this year! 🤍 If you are looking for gorgeous timeless William Morris florals for your tables, get in touch we’d love to discuss it with you ✨
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#williammorris #weddingtablescape #weddingtables #weddinglinens #weddingtablescape
It’s coming home! 🏴 To celebrate, take 15% off our website all weekend with code: HOME at checkout ⚽️ Hurry it ends Tuesday 🌿
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#williammorris #england #itscominghome⚽️ #britishbusiness #floralprint
The latest project, a little quilted jacket! ✨ Our William Morris Merton Blue cotton fabric is looking gorgeous, we’ll show you it when it’s finished ☺️ Remember if you’re quilting, our cotton fabric is perfect for the projects and we have lots of complimenting designs and colour ways within our range! 🪡
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#merton #quiltedjacket #quiltingfabric #quiltingfabrics #fabricstack
We’re often asked what the different weights of our fabrics are and what projects they’d be good for. These are our three different types of fabrics in our Brother Rabbit red colourway - cotton on the right, heavyweight in the middle and pvc on the left ✨ As you can see on the second photo, and as the name suggests, our heavyweight fabric has a thicker, heavier weave which makes it good for projects such as curtains and light upholstery 🪡 Our cotton fabric is perfect for quilting and projects such as dress making but honestly the amount of crafts that can be made out of them both are endless! 🫶🏻 Our pvc fabric is great to put straight on the table as it won’t fray so doesn’t need a hem and is easy to maintain as it’s wipe clean! All our fabrics are sold by the half metre and if you’d like a sample of any of our fabrics in any weight just let us know and we’ll get a free sample sent to you! 💌
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#williammorris #cottonfabric #quiltingfabric #curtainfabric #ukfabric
Our William Morris range is a gorgeous mix of colours and florals, which is your favourite? In some designs such as Strawberry Thief, Brother Rabbit, Willow Bough and Mallow we have different colour ways that we digitally print in the UK so check our website for the full range! 🫶🏻
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#williammorris #preraphaelite #quiltingfabric #fatquarters #britishbusiness
Perhaps the most famous Morris design, Strawberry Thief was registered in 1883, inspired by Morris watching the thrushes stealing strawberries from under his fruit nets at the beautiful @kelmscottmanor 🍓 It was printed using the indigo dye technique, which was labour intensive and first attempted in 1875 but not perfected for 8 years 🎨 We also print Strawberry Thief in a beautiful red 🫶🏻
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#strawberrythief #historicdesigns #britishdesign #kelmscottmanor
Gorgeous Golden Lily, designed in 1897, it’s been a timelessly popular design ever since but did you know that it really increased in popularity in the 1960s when the Beatles George Harrison wore a Golden Lily shirt? ✨
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#goldenlily #wmorris #georgeharrison #englishsummer #englishdesign
Daisy is a special one to many as it was the second ever design Morris created, in 1864, made up of repeating drawn Meadow Daisies 🌼
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#morrisandco #preraphaelite #preraphaelites #daisy #daisydesign
We print Willow Bough in this beautiful blue and also in green 🌿 First designed in 1887, it was first produced as a wallpaper design which May Morris, Williams daughter, used to decorate her bedroom before being adapted for fabric in 1895 when it was block printed in Merton Abbey 🌿
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#maymorris #mertonabbey #mertonabbeymills #willowbough
Trellis is a special design as it was the first wallpaper he designed for his company, Morris & Co. In 1864 🌿 It was inspired by the rose trellis in the garden of his stunning home @redhousent that he co designed with his friend and architect, Philip Webb
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#philipwebb #redhouse #trellis #rosetrellis
We print Mallow in a wine colourway and this beautiful forest green colour ✨ It was first printed in 1879 and used to hang in the wonderful Arts & Crafts home, @standennt in the Croxley bedroom 🫶🏻
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#a
you’ve got to make everything an event, including breakfast! 🥐
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On the table;
Willow Bough blue placemats- £38.99
Willow Bough blue napkins- £20.99 ✨
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#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #willowbough #preraphaelites #floralhome
Have you seen our forest green colourways of Mallow and Brother Rabbit? 🌿 We brought them out last year and were so happy that they’re ever so popular with everyone 💚 This week we’ve also got a 10% discount running on our website with code: floralsummer 🌅
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#williammorris #williammorrisfabric #wmorris #williammorrisdesign #preraphaelite
Did you know all our fabrics are printed and all our products manufactured in the UK? 🤍 It’s important to us that our William Morris fabrics are all high quality and the printed colours all beautiful to ensure all his designs live on timelessly to a high standard 🇬🇧
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Products featured; our Daisy William Morris tea towel - £10.99 ✨
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#williammorris #wmorris #morris #floralteatowel #floralhome
A moment for the greens! 💚 Can you name all these beautiful green William Morris designs? 🌿 All digitally printed here in the UK 🇬🇧 The good thing seeing them all together is you can see which work together for a sewing project or quilt, or layered together for your next tablescape! 🫧
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#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #williammorrisfabric #preraphaelites #floralfabrics
Did you know we do bundles of our fabric offcuts? 🌿 Perfect for sewer and quilters, they’re various sizes and designs and available on our Etsy and website - this is our latest “almost fat quarter” bundle that all are almost 50cm pieces, you could even make double sided cushions or anything! What would you create? 🪡🧵 (message us if you’d like a link to our bundles!🫧)
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#williammorris #fatquarters #fatquarterbundle #preraphaelite #quiltingcotton
With this hot weather upon us, if you’re like us and using it to get all your washing out and dry, we thought we’d tell you our washing guidelines! 🫧 We’d recommend folding your fabric face to face when in the wash (so pattern side to pattern side!) to protect the print and then wash at 30 degrees, hang on the line to dry! 🧺 All our fabrics are digitally printed in the UK and products manufactured in the UK 🇬🇧
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#williammorris #goldenlily #flowerscape #wmorris #preraphaelite
All our wonderful William Morris fabrics are digitally printed here in the UK, creating high quality print in incredible colour ways, if you’re quilting and crafting from our cotton and heavyweight cotton fabrics, we thought it’d be handy to have all the pattern repeats in an easy to save post ☺️
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#williammorris #craftingfabric #quiltingfabric #floralfabrics #patternfabric
Merton in blue is one of the most beautiful William Morris designs, a timeless blue and white, it was first designed in 1888!
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#williammorris #wmorris #morrisdesign #merton #preraphaelite
If you’d like a sample of Merton, just send us a message and we’ll get one sorted out for you!
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#williammorris #floralfabric #blueandwhite #blueandwhitefabric #tablescape
Have you seen Merton before? It’s so underrated as a Morris design we think! It was actually the first design that he printed on rotary screens under the name “Morris & Co.” After their rebrand from “Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co.’” 🌿 We’re just appreciating it during peony season!
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#peony #peonyseason #morris #morrisandco #preraphaelites
Taking a closer look at beautiful Lily design, a timeless design Morris designed in 1874, if you’d like a sample of Lily, just let us know! 💌
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The table details;
Lily napkins- £16.99 for 4
Lily tablecloths- starting from £29.99 depending on size
Also mentioned;
Lily cotton by the half metre- £9.25
Lily heavyweight cotton by the half metre- £10.25
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#williammorris #wmorris #preraphaelites #lily #quiltingcotton
When cutting fabric stacks, we always wonder what is being made from them, we often get messages about quilts being stitched together with various tonal colours, curtains ready to be part of daily life or dresses being sewn to be worn to the next big event, so if you ever make anything from our fabrics- whether it be a huge project or a tiny one made of our scrap bundles, do let us know what you make! 🪡🧵
Can you name the designs within the photo? All sold by the half meter, £18.50 per metre of cotton, £20.50 per metre of heavyweight cotton 🫶🏻
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#williammorris #wmorris #morrisfabric #floralfabric #quiltingcotton
Putting the spotlight on Mallow Forest Green, we love this design so much it’s so effortlessly beautiful, it’s been admired in homes for more than 147 years since William Morris designed it ✨
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The table details;
Mallow napkins- £16.99
Mallow tablecloths- starting at £29.99 depending on size
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#williammorris #weddingtablescape #weddingtableflowers #preraphaelites #artsandcraftsmovement
Mid week tables require; a vase of gorgeous fresh flowers, as many sweet treats as you can get your hands on, and of course, a gorgeous tablecloth set- this Willow Bough blue is one of our all time favourite William Morris designs, it’s utterly timeless and so beautiful 🌿
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The table details;
Willow Bough blue napkins- £16.99
Willow Bough tablecloths- starting at £29.99 depending on size
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#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #willowbough #englishdesign #myfloralhome
A little update from us 🇬🇧
From 1st July, our product prices will be increasing due to continued rises in manufacturing and material costs.
We’ve worked hard to absorb these increases for as long as possible, but to continue providing the quality you expect from us, a small price adjustment is now necessary.
Every product we create is proudly printed and manufactured here in the UK, using high-quality materials and processes that ensure a finish we’re proud of. Our fabrics are all digitally printed to give a crisp finish.
If you’ve been thinking about placing an order, now is the perfect time — all orders placed before 1st July will be at our current prices.
To thank you for your support, we’re offering an exclusive discount before the new prices take effect.
Use code: thankyou
Enjoy 10% off your order until 14th June
This is the perfect opportunity to place your order at current prices and enjoy an additional saving before the increase.
Thank you for supporting a UK small business and for choosing quality. We truly appreciate every order ❤️
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#uksmallbiz #madeintheuk #williammorris #fabricstore #floralfabric
Aren’t these the most gorgeous blooms!! 🫶🏻 This is our William Morris Compton design and it’s so underrated as a design, it’s beautiful year round because all the different details can be brought out of it, pair it with springtime greens to pop the green tones or autumnal burnt oranges during the colder months, it’s so versatile! ✨ Swipe to see my little photoshoot gatecrasher 😂
All our products are digitally printed and manufactured in the UK 🇬🇧
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#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #compton #artsandcraftsmovement #cottagecorekitchen
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