Our Liberty Adventure with The New Craft Society

I'm not sure that we have entirely recovered from the trip we went on last week, it was a little bit like a dream. H and I got invited by the lovely Rosie and Hannah AKA The New Craft Society to attend their blog birthday party, we had to read the email a few times before it sank in that their party was to be held at one of our favourite places in the whole world.... Liberty!

So last Wednesday at 6.30pm we headed to the 3rd floor Heritage Suite at Liberty, just off the Haberdashery department (we felt right at home), where we were met by the Liberty design team. They ushered us into the room that was once Arthur Lasenby Liberty's office, to enjoy the most beautiful afternoon tea and hear them talk all about the S/S14 Liberty Art Fabrics collection.

Each place was set with a Liberty fabric charm bracelet and (the most awesome) goodie bag from The New Craft Society girls. It was like we had stumbled into a secret Mad Hatters tea party, if the Hatter had worked exclusively in Liberty of course!

This years Spring/ Summer collection was inspired by the store itself. Head designer, Emma, had discovered a map of the building from the seventies and it sparked the idea for the overall theme. Each of the 40 prints in the collection is inspired by a department within the shop, and designed to reflect the mood of the area and what is sold there. The colour pallets were inspired by the artist materials. They took the most iconic art materials and used the colours and tones from those to create the pallets that were then applied to the collection.

The beautiful Keighley, Liberty print designer, was on hand to show us some of their original art work.

After enjoying the tea and cakes we got to hear the story behind each of the 40 designs in the new seasons collection, along with getting to see some of the original artwork from the designers and collaborative artists they invite to design for them. We got to hear from Anna Buruma who is in charge of the archive (amazing job!) Who told us about how a lot of the fabric designs from the early years were never properly labelled or cared for, she calls them orphans.  I was stunned to hear that until Anna was put in charge 15 years ago the archive was mostly uncared for and when she arrived it was basically a pile of books and papers on the floor of the warehouse!

H and I are both fascinated by print and design, so it was amazing to see the processes that each design goes through from initial sketch to final print.  We got to hear from David who designed the print 'Queue for the Zoo' a quirky animal print including a giraffe wearing trainers to represent the children's department.

We were also treated to a sneaky peak at the Autumn/ Winter 14 collection.  This was a paper cut by Helen Musselwhite was just one of the artists asked to collaborate with Liberty for this collection. This paper cut had been photographed and digitally printed onto fabric to create the design.

As if all that wasn't awesome enough we were then taken on a tour of the shop to see all the departments and inspiration behind each of the designs.

A teapot in the gift department by the designer Fornasetti, who's design house has had a long relationship with Liberty.  A scarf using a similar sun design was chosen to create the print that represents this area of the store on the map.

A stack of amazing carpets that inspired the print for their department and a wall of V.V.Rouleaux ribbons in the Haberdashery department.

We got to see the collection for real on the shelves of the fabric department. It was so neat and tidy after all the customers had left the store.

We visited each department and got to see the fabrics in context of the department they had been designed to represent.

We got to visit areas in the shop that we had never been to before, I had never been to the shoe department (for fear of a credit card meltdown) or the Men's department in the basement.

It felt so special to be taken around by the design team, each of them has a great knowledge of the shop, as well as the fabrics, it was a pleasure to be able to ask questions and hear their stories of their time at Liberty.  We were shown around by the gorgeous Jacinta from the marketing department, she was wearing a silk shift made up in Wild flowers, one of the amazing paper-cut inspired A/W14 prints. You can read about the paper-cut Su Blackwell created on her blog.

We had the most amazing time and are hugely grateful to Rosie and Hannah AKA The New Craft Society for inviting us to their party and to the design team at Liberty for throwing such a lovely event.

We were not the only bloggers who got to go on the tour, as well as meeting up with Rosie and Hannah, we got to meet with some girls we really admire, shout out to Leanne at Knit me a Cake, Lotts from Lotts and Lots, Katy from Apartment Apothacary and the girls from the pattern company By Hand London. We were so overwhelmed by it all that we didn't get to meet everyone who was there, if we missed you, give us a shout and a link to your blog in the comments.

Sammy and H x

Liberty of London

Photo courtesy of Channel 4

H and I need no more excuses to go to our favourite London store, Liberty, but if you need persuading, look no further than Monday nights on channel 4, the documentary 'Liberty of London' will give you about a million! This series has been a refreshingly honest look behind the scenes of this iconic home of the extraordinary. From the staff, to the product, to the customers, it is fascinating. Episode 2 that aired last Monday gave an insight into the design proses of the world famous Liberty print fabrics, which in my opinion could fill a series itself.

The thing I love most about the show is the brilliant honesty that is relived from the staff and the GM himself that Liberty, like any business struggles to stay current whist classic and to stay out of the red with the bank. You don't expect to hear that a store of this stature and age, only five years ago was struggling to make payroll. Like many of the shows before it though, it is that characters within the staff that make the show. From the floor staff in the haberdashery department, to the fabric designers, to the sales lady who has worked for Liberty for 40 years (and as their top sales person makes over 1/2 a million for them in sales every year), each of them is a gem and more than anything is truly in love with their life within Liberty. 

Photo courtesy of  Vogue Italy

So if you have never visited the store before, or if you are a regular visitor like H and Myself, tune in this Monday 9pm Channel 4 to catch episode 3 of three (Channel 4 please make more!!!) and catch up with what you have missed on 4OD, you will not be disappointed.

Hope you have a lovely weekend
Sammy xxx

Top Ten Tips for Feeling Festive

This time next month it will be Boxing day, Scary or what! I'm not a person who need to be forced into thinking Christmassy thoughts, pretty much from the 1st of September I'm already planning my Christmas tree theme for the year, but I know some people find it hard to even think about Christmas before November is over. If you are finding it hard to get into the Christmas spirit here are my ten tips for kick-starting all those fuzzy festive feelings.

1. Plan a Christmas meal with Friends.

Every year our girls meet up for a Christmas meal, it is always a highlight for me as I don't get to go to a work Christmas do because it would just be me and Mum, so we do that on Christmas day. It's really lovely to meet up with our girls and have a catch up and a giggle. It's a nice excuse to get dressed up, Oh and there is always wine...lots of wine!

2. Shop for festive food.

In my opinion a Terry's chocolate orange is not just for Christmas, I love comfort food and I love it when all the Christmas flavoured goodies and party foods are available in the supermarkets. Anything orange or mint flavoured, Hot chocolate, Sausages in bacon, lindt chocolate reindeer, chocolate logs, mince pies, Christmas cake, gingerbread men, You name it, it's on my shopping list as soon as it hits the shelves! Mr Kipling sent us some of their festive treats recently and the Winter Whirls are just delightful! If you like cinnamon-y ginger treats you will love them.

3. Head to a department store Christmas decorations department.

I always love my yearly trip to London especially to visit Liberty's, Harrods, Selfridges' and John Lewis' Christmas departments. It is always guaranteed to get me feeling festive. I don't always buy anything, but it is great for getting ideas for decorations.

4. Plan Your Christmas Day Meal

If you are hosting a Christmas day meal (like I am this year) then plan that one, but if you are heading to family for the day, plan a separate festive meal for yourself and your best friend/ boyfriend/ husband. Steve and I always have a special meal on Christmas eve, just the two of us, I go all out, cook his favourite meal, decorate, and we get to open one small present from each other. If your not up for cooking, get a special takeaway or go out to a nice restaurant, make an evening just for you.

5. Shop for and write your Christmas cards.

I hand-make Christmas cards for family and close friends but for people living further away I will buy some. I make sure I get them early and write them right away so they are ready to post come December the 1st, this means I get the best choice of cards in the shops and it leaves me time for other things come December. 

6.Visit a Christmas market.

I Love a good Christmas market and there are loads, all over the country to take your pick from. H and I are heading to Bath this year and I am really excited as I haven't been there for ages. It's a nice reason to visit a town you haven't been to before. Check out christmasmarkets.com for one in your area, or an area you want to visit, why not make a weekend of it?

7. Go Ice skating.

I Love Ice skating, especially at this time of year, it is great fun, even if you are not very good at it. There are loads of indoor and outdoor temporary rinks put up all over the UK, but especially in London. Head over to Time out's site to check out where and when you can get your skates on.

8. Make an advent calendar 

Get your craft on! There are so many great ideas for making your own advent calender floating around sites like Pinterest, get some inspiration and get making.  Surrounding yourself with all things sparkly is a great way to get into the spirit.  If you don't want to make one for yourself or you don't have kids, make one for a friends children like the girls at A Beautiful Mess did.

9. Visit some spectacular Christmas lights.

When I was young my Dad used to drive us up to London to see the Christmas lights, one year we went all the way to Blackpool for the weekend to see the illuminations. I am going to stay in London late this year on my decoration shopping trip just to take a look at the Christmas lights and shop window decorations on Oxford Street. This is one thing sure to get the festive feelings flowing! 

10. Bake some Christmas treats.

there is nothing like the smell of Christmas baking, if you are not great at it, cheat like I do. Most supermarkets now sell ready-made gingerbread dough, just roll out, cut into shapes and bake!

I hope these tips have given you some good ideas to get your festive motivation going.

I would love to hear how you get in the Christmas spirit, let me know in the comments below.

Sammy xxx