liberty of london
This summer heat has fried my creativity. *ssss zap pop* That's the sound my brain is making this afternoon. Mostly what I wanted to accomplish in this post, or rather, to remind the world, that I do sew occasionally. Above is my new couch pillow made from scraps of vintage Liberty of London fabrics, which are created in Japan. These squares were purchased in a Tokyo department store last July. Not quite Fat Quarters, but all at least 11 inches square. Not wanting to dice up the small and large prints too much, I sewed them up in an honest way.
You know about Liberty right? A legendary Department store that started in 1875? It's like the Neiman Marcus of England, except they were selling unique luxury furniture and home decor to the Edwardians, and at one point they fixed the idea to manufacture their own fabrics! Huzzah!
On my first trip to London, four years ago, i arrived at Victoria Station feeling like death warmed over. At nine in the morning, there was no way that i could check into my hotel and go to sleep. Instead they held my bags while I ventured out onto the Tube in search of Regent Street. My befuddled brain wasn't sure what to do with herself, except to sit in a cafe shop and lay my head down next to a cup of tea. Instead, I remembered that my brother and mother had hinted that if I were to go to Liberty, to please buy them "anything".
Four floors up, past the designer clothing, I found the level where all the bolts of fabric were stored. Resplendent prints, nearly translucent, and in soft pastels and moody indigos. Colors like wet ink painted onto the silky, breezy cottons. It was nearly unbearable to choose a few of these costly fabrics to bring home.
(Remy has twin platypus -platypi?- that travel throughout the house)
Back in Tokyo last year, I stumbled upon the fabric department on the 7th floor of Mitsukoshi. Not sure of how to buy, lnor ask for yardage in Japanese, I poked around looking for a pre-cut section. I found something, because there were twenty or so of these Liberty of London scraps folded in an adroit manner insode a basket. Spreading them out, the patterns, themes and tones reminded me of similar prints I had seen growing up. Sure enough, printed on the edge of the salvage was their manufacturing date, most were late seventies.
It just occurred to me what these scraps were meant for handkerchiefs! Everyone in Japan carried a handkerchief on them, even children. Winter to Spring, they are light weight and used for runny noses, hay fever and coughs. In summer most people tend to carry a thicker "washcloth" style to blot ones forehead in the humid weather. Damn. I just made pillows out of some really nice handkerchief material, These could have been so darling in an interior purse pocket...
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