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31st October 2016
Happy Halloween everyone!
Today, people are known to watch scary films, get dressed up in costumes and go ‘Trick or Treat’ around their neighbourhood, and go to scare nights. But it’s always interesting to look into why exactly we do these things- where did Halloween come from, and how become what it is today?
The Celts used to celebrate All Hallows Evening, which marked the ending of Harvest and their official beginning of winter. The change between the seasons built a bridge between the living world, and the world of the dead. The spirits came alive this night as the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. Their new year was marked as November 1st, so Halloween night was the last night of the year before winter which was a season many died due to the long cold nights- so the 31st was named Samhaim. Samhaim was a very important date in the Pagan calendar as it marked their ‘Feast of the Dead.’
Today, we buy pumpkins and carve these, placing candles inside. These Jack O’Lanterns were carried round the streets in Pagan times to ward off evil spirits. In places such as England and Ireland, we didn’t have pumpkins yet, and so it’s believed the Irish would carve turnips instead. When they emigrated to the USA, they discovered the pumpkin which served as better to this ritual, so the tradition of using a pumpkin was born from this time.
In the 1950s, the holiday became more orientated towards the young, and instead of tricking the neighbourhood with pranks and mischief, the Trick or Treat became more ‘treat’ orientated, with children dressing up in costumes and receiving chocolate and sweets from their neighbours. This tradition began in America and has gradually spread to the UK and Europe, creating the most successful commercially successful holiday, second only to Christmas.
A holiday always surrounded by superstition, the tradition for dressing up has European and Celtic roots. Winter was a frightening time for many with food supplies that couldn’t always be relied upon, and cold dark nights bringing many deaths and worry. Due to the fact they believed the ghosts came back to earth, they thought that if they left their homes on this night, they would encounter ghosts. To avoid being recognised, they would wear masks so that the ghosts would recognise them as fellow spirits and leave them alone. To keep the ghosts from entering their homes, they left bowls of food outside their homes to satisfy the ghosts.
Today some of us avoid crossing paths with black cats as in the Middle Ages many believed that witches avoided being detected by transforming themselves into cats. We don’t walk under ladders; perhaps due to the Ancient Egyptians who believed triangles to be sacred, or due to the fact it seems unsafe, and on a day where the lines are blurred between the living and the dead, we’d better not risk it.
Posted in News by Laura
📣 This fabric is on a big sale! 📣 Our red Strawberry Thief drill fabric is currently on sale for £15 a metre 🍓 Our drill fabric is a slightly heavier weight and weave than our heavyweight fabric and is perfect for light upholstery, curtain making and more 🪡🧵 It won’t be on sale long so grab yourself some whilst you can ✨
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#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #strawberrythief #ukfabric #curtainfabric
Golden Lily always brings the sunshine indoors ☀️ we’ve got 15% off our website right now with code: florals 🌷
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#williammorris #wmorris #goldenlily #williammorrisfabric #williammorrisdesign
The soundtrack to our day- our fabric cutter! 🎼 If you ever order fabric from us this is how we get our cuts so straight ☺️ Did you know that we sell our fabrics by the half meter, so however big or small your project is, we’ve got fabric for you ☺️ This is our gorgeous William Morris Strawberry Thief blue design, it’s very often on our cutting table as it’s so popular! Do you prefer it in red or in blue? 🍓
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#williammorris #fabricbytheyard #fabricbymeter #floralfabric #ukfabric
The prettiest design; Hearts & Kisses 🤍 An original design, we’ve restored it from our late 1800- early 1900s French archive, we just love how delicate it is 💕 Would you like to see more of our archive designs? 🌷
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#floralfabric #craftingfabric #quiltingfabric #dressmakingfabric #fabricstash
An Easter crafting weekend, our pvc wipe clean fabric is perfect for crafting with easy clean up!🌷🐣 Hope you’ve all had a lovely weekend, remember if you’re doing any shopping, our 15% off is still running on our website with code; EASTER 🐣
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#eastertable #floralfabric #williammorris #wmorris #morrisfabric
🌟 15% off our website! 🌟 Get your tablescapes sorted for Easter (or get a treat for yourself from the Easter bunny!) with code; EASTER on our website only until Tuesday 7th 🐣🐰
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#williammorris #wmorris #eastertable #eastertablescape #floralhome
Replacing all normal eggs with chocolate ones for the foreseeable future 🐣 Brother Rabbit Green on the table always looks so beautiful, we just love this new colour way in this gorgeous William Morris design ✨
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#williammorris #wmorris #eastertable #floraltable #eastertablescape
Spring is officially here! 🌷 Take 15% off our website this weekend with code; EASTER to celebrate spring finally being here, use it to treat yourself or to get those Easter tables ready! 🐣
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#williammorris #wmorris #springfloral #floralkitchen #smallbusiness
Officially mini egg season, so we’ll incorporate them into every meal 🐣🌷 On the table today is our William Morris Lily design, isn’t it a stunning design 🌿
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#williammorris #wmorris #morrisfabric #lily #floraltablescape
Gorgeous flowers this weekend 🤍 We can’t get over the beautiful tulips 🌷 Brother Rabbit blue on the table, do you prefer it in the blue, red or green? 🌿
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#williammorris #wmorris #preraphaelites #flowerpowerfabric #flowers
A moment for the greens 🌿 We know sometimes it’s hard imagining different designs together for projects whether you’re quilting with tonal colours or mix matching curtains and cushions, the things you can do with our William Morris fabrics are endless, so seeing them together you can see how beautifully they pair together ✨ We’ll post the blues next so you can see them together too! 🤍 Message us if you’d like a sample of anything, we send them free in the UK 📮
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#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #williammorrisfabrics #quiltingfabric #ukfabric
Back in stock alert! ✨ All sizes of our gorgeous William Morris blue Strawberry Thief tablecloths & napkins 🌿 Sometimes the easiest napkin folds are the most effective (we have no bias towards this being our favourite just because it contains a chocolate egg… promise…) 🐰
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#williammorris #wmorris #strawberrythief #preraphaelites #eastertablescape
Happy International Women’s Day! 🌍 We thought we’d celebrate by bringing you the words from some amazing Pre Raphaelite women, who’s talents shouldn’t have been so overlooked at the time (but luckily now are being celebrated with their contributions to the arts!) be sure to read into their stories if you have a minute today, they’re all so interesting ✨ As a business run by women, it’s always a day to celebrate 💜
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#internationalwomensday #iwd2026 #womensupportingwomen #preraphaelites #preraphaelitesisterhood
Gorgeous Willow Bough blue on the table paired with layers of beautiful @burleighpottery plates 🤍 Always a stunning design to have on the table, did you know it was first produced in 1887, his daughter May Morris wrote of the design, “We were walking one day by our little stream that runs into the Thames and my father pointed out the detail and soon after the paper was done.” We love the behind the design info, painting a beautiful picture of how he was so inspired by nature 🌿
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#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #burleighpottery #uksmallbusiness #blueandwhitedecor
Have you seen our range of table runners? ✨ This gorgeous Golden Lily design adds some Morris floral loveliness to the table, pair with matching napkins and placemats for layer upon layer of floral magic ✨
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#williammorris #wmorris #preraphaelites #floraltablerunner #ukdesigner
Some new fabric bundles are now uploaded on our Etsy! ✨ We’ll post the link to our stories to them but some, like in the picture are almost fat quarters, perfect for quilting and crafting, and some are proper scrap bundles full of various sizes and designs, wonderful for crafting- we always wonder what everyone will create from them 🪡 They get rave reviews on our Etsy with crafters and quilters loving them for smaller projects 🥰
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#williammorrisfabric #williammorris #quiltingfabric #craftingfabric #sewingfabric
We’re so ready to see everyone’s beautiful Easter tablescapes! 🐣 our top necessities for an Easter table are multiple eggs and gorgeous flowers- the best combo! This William Morris Brother Rabbit tablecloth is the perfect addition to Easter with all those rabbits all over it! 🐰
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#williammorris #wmorris #preraphaelites #easter #eastertablescape
Beauty is always found in the details, our kitchen needs lots of different florals to bring colour and fun to the kitchen - this is our William Morris licensed design Willow Bough in Green, one of our favourite tea towels ✨ Do you have a favourite Morris design tea towel in your kitchen? 🤍
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#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #wmorris #preraphaelites #willowbough
Have you seen our range of exclusive designs? 🥰 From our exclusive French archive dating back to the late 1800s- early 1900s we’ve faithfully restored them and recoloured them to digitally print them ✨ All perfect for quilting and crafting, they’re such gorgeous designs, in blues and greens (this isn’t the full collection but head to our website to see them all!) 🤍
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#quiltingcotton #craftingfabric #ukfabric #ukfabricshop #quiltingfabric
William Morris designs bring nature indoors with all the florals, birds and botanicals, so we brought some of our garden inside with some beautiful snowdrops on the table - anyone else excited about the garden waking up for spring? 🌱☀️
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#gardenflorals #gardensofengland #williammorris #wmorris #preraphaelites
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