Your order qualifies for free standard delivery
6th August 2019
There’s lots that we love to blog about when it comes to William Morris; from his designs, life work, family and life story. The list goes on. There is so much that we can talk about that we never get bored! We hope you don’t either, but if there’s ever anything you want us to write about, be sure to let us know on our social channels – we’d absolutely love to hear from you! To understand someone, you can begin with where they came from. In this blog we wanted to discuss William Morris early years.
“It was my good luck only of being born respectable and rich, that has put me this side of the window among delightful books and lovely works of art.” – William Morris
The literary and artistic talents that he became famous for, began at an early age. The passions that he begun in his childhood would remain for the rest of his life; nature, architecture, art.
His grandfather was from Wales, but left in the later half of the 18th Century to Worcester. His mother, Emma and his father, William, moved to Walthamstow in 1833 with their two daughters, Emma and Henrietta. Then they had their third child – William – on the 24th March 1834.
Morris early years, though privileged, allowed him to build up his social beliefs that he campaigned for and pushed for change on throughout his life. His childhood coincided with the working man’s struggle with the affects of industrialisation. Many of his later achievements actually came from his desire to see change with his socialist ideology. Following William’s birth, his parents had two more girls and four more boys. He is known to have had a close relationship with Emma during their younger years, but historians have found little evidence of this in their adult life; of course, that doesn’t mean they didn’t keep in touch, just that evidence hasn’t remained/ been recorded. His youngest brother Edgar joined him in his work at Merton Abbey.
Due to a successful investment in copper shares, when his father passed away, he left them with a large sum of money. The shares were from the West Country copper mine. At £1 a share for 272, these soared to £800 per share. With over £200,000 (when you consider inflation to today’s money, that would be even more) is childhood was very financially comfortable, as was his adult life. He was able to attend university and further educate himself, giving him the freedom to explore his passions instead of choosing a job based on salary alone. He was very self aware of this and the fact it didn’t fully compliment his socialist ideals. He said, “it was my good luck only of being born respectable and rich, that has put me this side of the window among delightful books and lovely works of art.”
Ironically, industrialisation, the one thing he hated more than anything, was the thing that brought his family prosperity. It was a source of embarrassment for Morris, historians have noted.
He began school in 1848 which is also the year that the Pre Raphaelite Brotherhood began. He began school at Marlborough College which was a new school and lax in approach. His education appears at this time to be mainly self taught at the library. This continued throughout his life; teaching himself multiple skills in the arts.
In 1853 when Morris attended Oxford University, the city was still a medieval city. The architecture he admired in the city inspired a career and then a passion throughout his life to rebel against modernising the buildings. He is known to have said that these years were the happiest of his life. Formative years for his art, passions and friendships that he kept throughout his life; including Edward Burne Jones.
Studying theology at Exeter College, himself and Burne-Jones initially wanted to be clergymen. During to influences at university, Morris entered into a career in architecture.
Many of his ideas were created at this time. An opinionated man, he passionate believed in everything he wrote or spoke about. He was therefore able to change opinions of those in society at the time, through both his art and writing. So there we go – William Morris early years. There’s so much more we could have discussed, so much to his life and childhood, it can’t all fit in one blog!
Posted in News by Laura
Is there anything better than fresh flowers? 🌻 Bringing sunshine and nature indoors with Merton blue on the table today 🤍
•
•
•
#williammorris #wmorris #floraltable #flowerstagram #blueandwhite
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? 🌟
•
•
•
#inspiredbynature_ #williammorris #trellis #garden #floraltotebag
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 🌟
•
•
•
#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #floral #philipwebb #floralprint
Gorgeous Mallow Forest Green in the sunshine this week ☀️ Our heavyweight fabric is so versatile with so many crafts, what will you make? 🧵
•
•
•
#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 ✨
•
•
•
#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 🌿
•
•
•
#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! 🪡
•
•
•
#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! 💌
•
•
•
#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! 🫶🏻
•
•
•
#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 🫶🏻
•
•
•
#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? ✨
•
•
•
#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 🌼
•
•
•
#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 🌿
•
•
•
#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
•
•
•
#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 🫶🏻
•
•
•
#a
you’ve got to make everything an event, including breakfast! 🥐
〰️
On the table;
Willow Bough blue placemats- £38.99
Willow Bough blue napkins- £20.99 ✨
•
•
•
#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 🌅
•
•
•
#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 🇬🇧
〰️
Products featured; our Daisy William Morris tea towel - £10.99 ✨
•
•
•
#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! 🫧
•
•
•
#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!🫧)
•
•
•
#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 🇬🇧
•
•
•
#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 ☺️
•
•
•
#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!
•
•
#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!
•
•
•
#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!
•
•
•
#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! 💌
〰️
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
•
•
•
#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 🫶🏻
•
•
•
#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 ✨
〰️
The table details;
Mallow napkins- £16.99
Mallow tablecloths- starting at £29.99 depending on size
•
•
•
#williammorris #weddingtablescape #weddingtableflowers #preraphaelites #artsandcraftsmovement
07544 094386
