Hand Printed Collection
My Hand Printed Collection is inspired by a passion for hand block printing. I wanted to create a more rustic, handcrafted fabric that sits happily alongside my existing designs. Some of the fabrics in this collection have been hand block printed and some have been hand screen printed.
This is not a cost-saving initiative, the fabrics that have been printed in India actually cost more to produce than those printed in the UK.
It has been a fascinating journey – exploring another culture and country. I am so impressed by the work ethic of the craftspeople I worked with, who printed unfailingly enthusiastically and cheerfully. Nick (my husband), and I were struck by the lovely people we met on our visit. We have so much more materially and educationally, but they are richer in spirit and heart. Ned, my youngest son, spent the Autumn working in an orphanage and school in Southern India during his gap year. He was fascinated by the unfailing cheerfulness of the children in his care. This all sounds a bit twee…but it is like that!
Some of the colourways in this collection are hand screen printed in the UK. Hand screen printing is a dying art, wonderful to watch. So calm and quiet after all the machines!
My Hand Printed designs are Life and Eternity Detail and Simple Ticking Detail. All of them have cream coloured backgrounds where the prints themselves are varied in colours, ranging from bright tomato red, through to the soft grey Dormouse, as displayed here in the form of swatch images:
Life and Eternity Detail
Tomato / Ochre / Teal / Cornflower / Charcoal
Simple Ticking Detail
The following images are just a few examples of how well these designs work in what could be referred to as ‘busy’ room set designs. However, because of the aforementioned cream base cloth that they’re printed on, the coloured designs don’t dominate the room they in fact hep to balance everything out.
Terracotta / Peach / Soft Raspberry
Marigold / Kale / Lichen / Forget-me-not
Teal / Cornflower / Dormouse / Charcoal
I hope you will like these fabrics and enjoy using them in your homes!
Founder and owner of Vanessa Arbuthnott Fabrics. Vanessa creates content around fabric types, blind styles and curtain designs to best suit the needs of Vanessa Arbuthnott customers.
