These fabric designs were inspired by a book I was re-reading over the summer, called Charleston: A Bloomsbury House and Garden by Quentin Bell and Virginia Nicholson. (I first blogged about it years ago and still look at it regularly!) I've also been doing furthur reading about the lives of writers Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West, and their relationship during the 1920s. Also over the holiday I read part of Sackville-West's gardening book that used to belong to Tom's grandmother. Inspired by her passion for plants and the garden at Sissinghurst, where she lived, I began making these sketches and watercolour paintings. The 'waves' design was a nod to Woolf and her novel of the same name, published in 1931.
My kind friend Karuna helped me again with preparing the artwork to send to Spoonflower for printing. I'm happy with the finished fabrics, and have a plan to make some cushion covers from them- I think the 'Vita' print with a red wool back would make a great cushion cover. There are some fat quarters in my shop as an experiment- each cut would be enough for a regular-sized cushion I reckon.
I do love reading about the Bloomsbury Group and, as much as I admire their painting, politics, Bohemian lifestyle and writing, I find myself staring at the photos of the textile designs, clothing and ceramics more intently whenever I'm lucky enough to find photos of the interiors of Charleston. You can see some of the rooms here.
Enjoy your weekend, lovely readers.
tiny happy 
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