A Short History of the Liberty of London Brand and Its Fabrics
The famous store was founded in Regent Street, London in 1875 by Arthur Lasenby Liberty. At first, Mr. Liberty was an importer of fabrics, other textiles and objets d’arts, but he began selling his own brand of fabrics in 1880. To create the fabric collections, he collaborated with the famous William Morris and the French artist René Beauclair (who created the Ianthe design in the Art Nouveau style as a wallpaper, for example), among others.
When we think of Liberty fabrics, we often think of Tana Lawn, which is a very light cotton. It weighs only 76 grams per square meter. It’s a fabric that works great for shirts and dresses, but we can also use it to create quilts. Jenni Smith recently wrote a book dedicated to the principle of making patchwork with Liberty fabrics: Quilting with Liberty Fabrics
However, Tana Lawn is not the only type of cotton fabric made by Liberty of London. They also have fabric called Lasenby Cotton, which is a heavier fabric than Tana Lawn and is essentially a cotton broadcloth. It weighs 146 grams per square meter and is very stable and perfect for quilting. In fact, some prints of Lasenby Cotton are specifically designed to be used for quilting and patchwork.
In the on-line shop, we have fabrics available in Lasenby Cotton from the Emporium collection by Liberty of London. This collection was inspired by the interior design and the Tudor architecture of the Liberty store in London. The prints have a lush, romantic feel to them.
Liberty has created two quilt designs for this collection. You can download them for free HERE and HERE.
We hope you enjoyed this short history of the Liberty of London brand! These are some of the articles we read as part of our research into the topic:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/brands/liberty-140th-anniversary/liberty-through-the-decades/
https://www.quiltfolk.com/wp-content/uploads/QF-Explorer-London-v8b.pdf
https://www.libertylondon.com/uk/features/design-and-living/archive-ianthe-collection.html
https://www.libertyfabric.com/our-heritage/#
https://www.libertylondon.com/uk/features/design-and-living/emporium-quilt-projects.html