6th September 2023
Welcome to another blog where we discuss our latest William Morris fabric craft. We’re all of the mind of buying something you love and using it forever. We absolutely love reupholstering an armchair to give it new life, or fixing up an old chair with a layer of paint and some new fabric for the seat. Which is why, this summer, when we were digging our old windbreak from the depths of the garage, we decided to not throw away our ancient wind break, but to update it!
At aged 32, our windbreak had certainly seen better days. It had also seen many happy holidays, so we absolutely knew we couldn’t just throw it out and get a new one. Last year you might remember we made a lovely William Morris quilt for a picnic blanket using our cotton fabrics, and then lined a picnic basket to match. So on the same theme, we decided to re upholster in effect our old wind break. Using our licensed William Morris Strawberry Thief design, we got to work!
The old wind break, having seen many blustery trips to the beach, had holes in it and was fairly broken, but the poles still have plenty of life in them, so we simply cut away the old cover to be left with the poles. If you’re making a wind break from scratch, you can buy some poles from a hardware shop, just make sure they’re quite robust so you can hit them into the ground.
Deciding between the normal weight cotton fabric we print on or our heavyweight fabric was the next task. The heavyweight fabric would have been slightly heavier to carry, as we wanted to make our windbreak double sided so the pattern was on both sides so whichever side you sit on, you can enjoy the design. We ultimately chose cotton for this reason, but either will work brilliantly.
We used the same measurements as our old windbreak as it’s a size that’s always worked for us, but you can of course make this absolutely any size you’d like, depending on your group size and how far you’d like your windbreak to reach.
You’ll start by placing two of the pieces face to face, ensuring the pattern on both is the same way up. Then, stitch down one side so you have one continuous piece of fabric. Repeat on the next two pieces of fabric. Now, cut off all but about 1cm of the salve edge where you’ve sewn.
Press the seam open and then lay one piece of fabric with the pattern side up, and one piece of fabric with the pattern side down, and stitch up the side along the top and down the other side. Turn the fabric the right way around and top stitch along the top and sides of the two joined pieces of fabric.
Lay the fabric out, and along the bottom, turn both pieces of fabric in just 1cm and then again, to form a hem and then stitch that down. Smooth the fabric out flat and using the wooden pole as a guide, form a hem down each outer side and sew down. Ensure the poles are held tightly by the hem so they can’t slip out whilst you carry it – which would be very annoying!
Next, measure in from each of the sides a hem to put the other two poles so the poles are equally spaced along the length of the wind break. These inner hems are made by forming a fold in the fabric and stitching down. We used a metre of matching bias binding cut into two lengths to tie the wind break together so it’s easier to carry.
Posted in William Morris by Laura
Still dreaming of last summer with my wedding bouquet and our “Jean” design we had for our napkins 🫶🏻 It’s an original Laura’s Beau design out our archive and named after my lovely Nanny, we have it in blue and this sage green, but we’re always dreaming of new colour ways to print it in 💭 What colour do you think would look good? ✨
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#smallbusinessowner #bridalbouquets #weddingtable #bouquet #floral
Golden Lily on the table today 🧁 everything should feel special even a little coffee and cake with friends, so we dressed the table up for it to make it extra special, isn’t Golden Lily such a beautiful William Morris design, one of our all time favourites ✨
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#williammorris #wmorris #goldenlily #floraltable #floralprint
Gorgeous William Morris Sweet Briar fabric! 🌿 Love the green leaves and pink flowers 🫶🏻 We have it in cotton, heavyweight cotton, and pvc, so you’ll find the perfect fit for your project ✨ 🪡🧵
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#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #fabricstash #ukfabric #wmorris
We’re having a moving sale over on our website! ✨ There are some absolute bargains to be had, including all these items! 🛒 Remember we offer free UK postage on all orders too 🌿 Plus we have a 15% off code running at the moment with code; JAN15 🫶🏻
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#williammorris #wmorris #smallukbusiness #smallshop #floralprint
We’ve got some fab bundles on our Etsy - we have a lot of offcuts from end of rolls and floral fabric magic can’t be wasted so we bundle them up ✨ Perfect for crafting, we have heavyweight fabric bundles and cotton available now, but hurry, they always sell out quick 🥰
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#williammorrisdesign #williammorris #wmorris #fabricstack #ukfabric
Guess who has a new bed for our new offices ✨ The king of naps, he will wake for biscuits, pets and little else during his day in the office 🫶🏻 His bed is covered in our licensed William Morris Willow Bough green and it looks so beautiful 🌿 The perfect bed to nap on all day ✨
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#williammorris #wmorris #blacklab #blacklabsquad #dogbeds
Has anyone got any January crafts? ❄️ After we’ve settled in our new office, we’re planning some cosy January crafts whilst we hibernate a little! 🌨️ This board is a beautiful way to display photos and notes that was covered in a fabric we no longer loved so last year I recovered it with something we did like - a range of our exclusive quilting fabrics and now it hangs proudly on the wall, showing you can upcycle things to be something you really love 🫶🏻
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#cosycraftclub #crafting #fabric #fabriccraft #upcycle
We’ve been a little quiet on here as we’ve been in the absolute trenches moving our office! ✨ Now we just need to settle in and find everything we’ve shoved in boxes and bags and then stashed in random places(!) but, we’re getting there 🫶🏻 Nothing will change for you ordering but we’ll have a new returns address 📮 It’s taken an absolute task force to move all that fabric and products and we’ve found some things for a little moving sale if anyone is interested… ✨
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#williammorris #wmorris #smallbusiness #smallbusinesswomen #uksmallbusiness
Not long to go until Christmas now ✨ Have you got your Christmas table sorted and your presents wrapped? 🎄
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#williammorris #wmorris #independantbusiness #christmastable #festivetable
The stockings were hung by the fire with care…✨ A week until Christmas Eve! 🎄 Still lots of time to order since we post the next working day with a 24hr service 🤶🏻
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#williammorris #wmorris #christmasgiftidea #smallbusinessgiftguide #christmasstocking
One of our biggest sellers this year for Christmas gifts - our licensed William Morris oven gloves ✨ Practical and stylish, every home needs a set, hanging some Morris floral magic over the cooker 🎄 Lots of designs are still in stock and with our free UK postage being tracked 24 Royal Mail, there’s still quite a few shopping days left until Christmas 📮 (I’ll even gift wrap it for free for you as an option at checkout, even though my own Christmas gifts are all hidden in the wardrobe still to wrap 😂) 🤶🏻🎅🏼
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#christmasgiftidea #ovenglove #floralhome #shopindie #williammorris
One pack of napkins folded four ways for Christmas tablescapes ✨ Which is your favourite? 🎄 We always love when a table set up comes with a little chocolate treat 🎅🏼 Beautiful Charlotte Rose is one of our favourites all year round, it can be dressed so many ways from Christmas to summer 🫶🏻
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#floralfabric #floraltable #christmasnapkin #christmastable #smallindiebusiness
There’s still plenty of shopping time before Christmas with our free UK postage with Royal Mail tracked 24 📮 We’re also doing free gift wrap on our website as an option at checkout 🤶🏻 Take 15% off too until the 20th December so whether for a gift of Christmas hosting having beautiful florals on the table, use code; FESTIVE at checkout on our website 🎄
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#williammorris #giftguide2025 #shopsmallforchristmas #christmasgiftideas #floralprint
Oh Mallow Forest Green, we love you on our festive tablescapes 🎄
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#williammorris #wmorris #floraltable #preraphaelite #christmastablesetting
Obsessed with this tree with all the vintage ornaments on the tree this year ✨ They were all grandparents so very special 🎄 having a little coffee and cake whilst the lights twinkle is so lovely ✨ This is our William Morris Golden Lily tablecloth, beautiful year round 🫶🏻
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#williammorris #vintage #vintagechristmas #vintagechristmasornaments #floraltable
It’s a blue and white Christmas over here 🙋🏽♀️ We went to the beautiful Christmas event at @harewoodhouse by the wonderfully talented @interiorcurve and we’re so inspired to have a themed blue and white tree and we’re so glad we did! 🤶🏻 This is our William Morris Merton blue, isn’t it beautiful, and so lovely to be able to dress it in various ways throughout the year, it’s so versatile ✨
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#williammorris #blueandwhitedecor #floraltablescape #flowerarranging #floralchristmas
What design are you having on your Christmas table? 🎄 We’re debating a few - our new forest green colours, our strawberry thief red, or maybe a Christmas blue and white… ✨
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#williammorris #christmastable #christmastablesetting #strawberrythief #floral
Christmas tablescaping all month long ✨ are you feeling festive already? 🎄 This is our Brother Rabbit blue design, isn’t it gorgeous 🌿
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#williammorris #williammorrisfabric #williammorrisdesign #christmastable #floraltablescape
BLACK FRIDAY ENDS TONIGHT! ✨ use code; BLACKFRIDAY at checkout on our website to take 20% off everything - go, go, go! 🎄 We also have free gift wrap available at checkout so we can send gifts directly to loved ones or back to you gift wrapped and ready to go, we’re in the festive spirit so will gift wrap whilst we sing along to some festive songs 🤶🏻🎄
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#blackfriday #williammorris #wmorris #morrisfabric #floralfabrics
A very floral Christmas🎄 Our William Morris Sweet Briar design looks so beautiful dressed up for Christmas! ✨
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#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #sweetbriar #floralchristmas #christmastable