Am I a bloody genius or what?
I took the plunge and did a "Buy It Now" for some William Morris drapery fabric on eBay this afternoon.
I've decided to go with William Morris patterns in my house-- The style should do well to marry the Arts and Crafts and the Victorian elements I'm trying to pull together. I want red, full-length drapes in my dining room. I think "Strawberry Thief" is a fun pattern to have in a dining room.
And even at the Buy It Now price and adding in the freight, what I'm paying is very, very, very inexpensive for this fabric, especially for a colorway I haven't seen anywhere else. (And believe me, I've looked.)
I'll be making these drapes up myself, and I'll be saving beaucoup over what I would pay getting the sizes I need from Smith+Noble or some shop of that ilk.So why do I worry I may have been an idiot?
Because the fabric is coming from Wales and I have no idea how much Customs duty our dear US inspectors may choose to slap onto it.
Because of a creeping fear that when I see it in person, the color will turn out to be too screamingly orange.
Because after I committed to buy, I blew up the sale page images on my computer, to get an idea of the actual pattern size-- and oh, dear, it looks rather, well, large.
Not that I want my DR drapes to be coy and mimsey. But I prefer they not yell "Look at meeeeeeeeeeee!!!!" all through dinner.
Too late now. And at the price, it's still worth the risk. If it doesn't work and the seller won't take it back, I'll relist the goods myself.
I shall not, however, be bidding on the "Chrysanthemum" fabric I've been coveting from another seller the past week and a half. Gosh, I love these colors! They'd look so good in my front room. But I've checked the proportions, and
if "Strawberry Thief" is large, "Chry-santhemum" is humongous.What I don't understand is why Mr. Morris designed his patterns so darned big. Maybe he thought we should all live in large, well-proportioned manor houses like Kelmscott?
I could only dream!
3 comments:
Wow, gorgeous fabric choices. We have a William Morris calendar with the Crysthanthemum pattern in it, and I love that color scheme. Hope your size/color issues work out ok. I've had surprisingly happy results from nearly everything I've ebay'ed.
I've generally had good luck with eBay, too, but this is the first time I've ordered fabric on it.
We shall see!
Kate H.
Well, 2 good things, the fabric color can can be made to look a different shade in your DR by surrounding colors and lighting,mmm to make orange look redder ? perhaps using light bluish green shaded paint on wall, and or light blue candlelaubra bulbs? Something to experiment in your room, never tried it before , just got the idea. Also the print might be big but if you make the drapes/curtains with voluminous folds the big lines will get blurred. It looks gorgeous. I happened here because I too purchased some vintage fabric on ebay and it arrived today. Both WM whom I had never heard of before but have seen his patterns alot, well the Strawberry Thief is perfect in color and size for my project, but in looking at WM's Straw-thiefs on line , mine is either so old there is not an ex of it or what I believe to be the true tale, it is a copy made very small print and a combination of sev. of his designs, it is quite perfect for my project in colors and pattern sz. and I paid not much, the other is WM Honeysuckle Minor stamped on the border. It is faded to a light and med pink with very light two tones of green leaves. It will not work for me and there is quite a bit of it.
I was hoping to find some more of the strawberry thief and have gotten a little knowledge, :) Now the Honeysuckle Minor looks just like the Honeysuckle II on the web but faded to about half strength I would say, it looked more coral in the ebay photo. I will put a link and u can look at them if u like.
U can see how much HSuckle there is and if anyone is interested I'll send to for price I gave.
ANd please if any one knows where to get some of the "strawberry thief" in the add email me a gtg@frontiernet.net I barely have enough of it to make the ruffle on two pillows and as it is I will have to back it with lace or another fabric,
I hope I haven't intruded, I just came upon this, looking for my little Strawberry thief.
I was lucky the lady had a ruler lying on the fabric and I could see the print was just the right size.
A trick I have learned is ask what the size is copy and paste in a pretend email and you can shrink or enlarge it holding a ruler or caliper near the screen. I bet yur DR will be beautiful!! Love the color!! Oh, another note, I have purchased from this lady before and she is lovely & I do not think intentionally mistated Strawberry thief, this may indeed be some kind of adaptation , it looks much like his designs,
The Honeysuckle Minor says designed by William Morris A Sanderson Fabric Registered Design
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=290219659022&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=019
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