And so to Liberty, that wonderful store that promises so much and sometimes delivers, the Aladdin's cave of Arts and Crafts treasures, ethnic artefacts and so terribly English Tana Lawn http://www.liberty.co.uk/fcp/categorylist/dept/fabrics_classics, offering erotic delights among the exotic.
Erotic? I suspect my love affair with Liberty began with Margaret Drabble's novel Jerusalem the Golden, read when I was in the sixth form, in which a girl from the provinces is dazzled by the possibilities of aesthetic London and begins an illicit liaison in the Regent Street store's basement bazaar of Indian and Chinese crafts.
But I was in search of other sensual pleasures today, in the fabric department, where I was looking for some muted grey designs for a quilts started as a result of my Jolly Good Rummage (see post of June 20) but for which I didn't have the necessary yardage (metreage?) .
Liberty is, it has to be said, now pandering to the tourist. But that does not mean it is stuck in the past. Some of my favourite Liberty fabrics are those I bought about three years ago designed by Grayson Perry, above. Pollution, transvestism, gravestones, burning cottages and bunnies on bicycles anyone? One of them was already earmarked for this quilt.
Liberty prints, like Kaffe Fassett designs, have to be used with care. But they can still pack a punch.
On the way home on the Tube, I was sorting through receipts. John Lewis's simply stated "Fashion fabric". Liberty's said "Poppy and Honesty". For that alone, Liberty still gets my vote.
Visit my website at www.valeriehugginsquilts.co.uk
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Handmade textiles for stylish interiors, off the shelf or to commission
email: valerie@valeriehugginsquilts.co.uk; 020 7515 0701 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting
020 7515 0701 FREE end_of_the_skype_highlighting; 07518 885960
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