The Liberty fabric archive.

In the 1920s, Liberty , - the London based store- , funded by Arthur Lasenby Liberty, began to produce small floral prints that became known as Liberty Prints. They were printed on silk, cotton and wool.
The most famous is the cotton Tana Lawn , named after Lake Tana in Sudan, where the special cotton plant used for these fine cottons came from.
Each spring and autumn a new fabric collection is launched, apart from the classic designs which stay.
Some of the classic designs date back to the late 19th or early 20th century.
Some examples:

 

Lodden

It was originally designed by William Morris in 1884, but was made into Liberty's own design by rescaling and re-colouring.

 

 

Wiltshire

This leaf and berry pattern was designed for Liberty in 1933.

 

 

Elysian

was originally designed in the 1920s.

 

During all the years a textile archive has been build up.

It is used as a design resource for new collections.

 

Here is an interesting link to the Liberty Craft Blog with a post about the Archive

and a video showing how the Tana Lawns are printed:

 

 

Interesting isn't it?
Warm regards.
Kristien