Festival of Britain Commemorative Handkerchief

14th November 2013

I thought you might like to see this original vintage handkerchief that I bought recently from an antiques fair. It is from the Festival of Britain, which was a government-sponsored exhibition that occurred nationwide in the summer of 1951. Its aim was to promote post-war recovery and promote the British contribution to science, technology, industrial design, architecture and the arts. It captured a mood of optimism for the future at a time when the economy and society was being rebuilt and the people could finally enjoy Peace after so many years of war and post-war austerity.

There were perhaps two main currents within the design trends. On one hand, it was generally believed that, in the future, modern Science, Technology and Industrial Design would provide the answers to Life’s problems. Within both two- and three-dimenstional design work there was a strong theme of Modernity. Designs which represented close-ups of atomic structures were a popular trend as were designs that resembled molecular diagrams. On the other hand, another important trend within the Festival could be traced directly back to William Morris and arose from a desire to reform society and to “infiltrate beauty into everyday life”, to bring Art and good design to the people.

Underpinning all this was the rockbed of British History. King George VI was still on the throne in 1951, but it was known that his health was failing. George VI had stayed in London and tirelessly visited British towns throughout the War and had been a source of inspiration and comfort and a very popular King, but it was known that, before long, Princess Elizabeth would become Queen. Commentators were beginning to talk about “the new Elizabethan age”. I remember my father talking about how he participated in the Festival of Britain as a young man; how its ideals and approach influenced him and what an exciting time it was.

The handkerchief design contains the central Festival of Britain logo with several heraldic motifs and focusses upon pivotal moments within British history: signing the Magna Carta, the Battle of Trafalgar, Queen Boadicea and The nighting of Sir Francis Drake.

We’re making some new fat quarter bundle sets for the website, let us know any combinations you’d like to see! ✨ We know lots of quilters like colour combos to match, do you prefer like colours or clashing? 🫶🏻
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#williammorris #wmorris #fatquarters #fatquarterbundles #quilterofinstagram

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Autumn gardens are upon us! 🍂 anyone else just constantly brushing up leaves? 🙆🏽‍♀️ These Compton William Morris tea towels are our favourites this time of year, the digital print on them is so crisp 👌🏼
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#williammorris #compton #cottagekitchen #farmhousekitchen #autumngarden

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New product! 🩷 Our Charlotte Rose French floral design is so beautiful, it’s from our French floral archive and we’ve just decided to do tea towels in it in time for the season of gifting 🎁 £10.99 each, available now on our website ✨
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#frenchflorals #frenchstyle #countrykitchen #countrystyle #countrystylehome

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Bringing back the pumpkin napkin fold 🎃 Anyone want a tutorial on how to do it? ⭐️
This is our licensed William Morris Compton design, isn’t it gorgeous 🍂
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#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #compton #autumntable #napkinfolding

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All printed in the UK, these are the licensed William Morris designs we cut today- can you name them all? ✨
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#williammorris #williammorrisfabric #fabrics #wmorris #smallbusiness

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We have one Golden Lily small tote in stock! ✨ Perfect for taking out and about, if everyone loves them we’ll start to make them ✂️ We have them in stock in Trellis too in small and large size, DM me for a link ✨
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#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #goldenlily #floraltote #totebag

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Florals florals florals ✨ These are our exclusive range of designs that we’ve restored from our French archive that dates from the late 1800s- early 1900s, would you like a sneak peak at our archive? There’s still lots of gorgeous designs in there ready to shine again! 🫶🏻
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#floral #floralprint #floralfabric #floralfabrics #smallbusiness

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Gorgeous wildflowers gracing this tablescape ✨ Lily is such an underrated design by William Morris, it’s one of our favourites! 🫶🏻 we’ve got 20% off everything on our website this weekend with code; WEEKEND if you have your eye on anything, but be quick, it ends midnight tomorrow! 🤎
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#williammorris #wmorris #lily #floraltable #wildflower

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Cut this gorgeous fat quarter bundle today ✂️ Can you name all the gorgeous William Morris designs? ✨
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#williammorris #williammorrisfabric #fatquarter #fatquarterbundles #floralfabric

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Did you know all our William Morris designs are licensed William Morris designs that we digitally print and manufacture in the UK 🇬🇧
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#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #floralfabric #smallbusinesssupportingsmallbusiness #quiltingfabric

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Cut this gorgeous fabric stack today- can anyone name these iconic William Morris designs? ✨
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#williammorris #wmorris #quiltfabric #curtainfabric #floralfabric

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Our fabric patchwork bundles, fabric bundles and remnants have been restocked on our website now! 🤎 With only a few available, hurry to get the designs you want, the bundles are great for smaller sewing and quilting bundles, what will you create? 🪡🧵
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#fabricscraps #fabricstash #williammorris #fabricseller #fabriclove

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Is there anything better than fresh flowers? 🌻 Bringing sunshine and nature indoors with Merton blue on the table today 🤍
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#williammorris #wmorris #floraltable #flowerstagram #blueandwhite

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In 1864, William Morris designed gorgeous Trellis- inspired by the rose trellis in the gardens of @redhousent 🌹 We’ve got a limited collection of small and large cotton tote bags that we’ve just put live on the website- the perfect accompaniment to your next day out, it’s a design that’s proved itself to be timeless, plus it’ll go with every outfit, what’s not to love! 🤍 If everyone loves our cotton totes, we could bring them out in more designs, which design would you like to see a tote in? 🌟
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#inspiredbynature_ #williammorris #trellis #garden #floraltotebag

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Perfect in every colour; it’s Brother Rabbit ✨ Our licensed William Morris Forest Green colour way of Brother Rabbit now comes in tea towel form to add some timeless floral magic to your kitchen, did you know the birds and rabbits within the design were drawn by Philip Webb? 🐦‍⬛
Our tea towels are all printed and manufactured in the UK, and are £10.99 each 🌟
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#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #floral #philipwebb #floralprint

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Festival of Britain Commemorative Handkerchief

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