Fabric inspired by a hidden garden
Wandering down a country lane near my home and spotting a tucked away garden, I was inspired to create
my Cutting Garden fabric. Peeking in, I began to understand the appeal of a cutting garden - the joy of filling your house with your own fresh, seasonal flowers and the excitement of creating a homespun bouquet, rather than buying imported blooms.
Rather than focusing on the riot of colour, I wanted to showcase the simple beauty of the flowers in outline, using hand drawn motifs.
The final pattern, creating a confetti of flowers, includes sunflowers, peonies, scabious, echinacea, sweet pea, tulips and back eyed Susans, with scissors and the ever present garden bugs added in to create a fun element.
This beautiful medium weight fabric, woven and printed in the UK, is perfect for curtains and blinds, combining the softness of cotton with the wonderful texture of linen. I'm so pleased to be able to work with mills and printers based in Lancashire, the heart of Britains traditional textile region, as more and more people look for products and materials made in the UK.
Although I am almost always drawn to soft muted colours, I wanted to add a higher energy colour for this particular fabric and in 2021 added apple green, alongside the pale aqua.
With my collection of books on cutting gardens getting bigger and bigger, I hope one day to put it all into practice on my own garden plot, but in the meantime, I'm sure I'll be adding new ideas to the fabric collection in time. Watch this space!
