I just adore all of these fabrics! The cream fabric comes from the Ruby Star Society, the turquoise is a William Morris print and the purple is a batik fabric. The thinking behind this quilt was that I would design blocks with names or symbolism to do with the suffragette fight, in the colours of the suffragettes - purple, cream and green (ok so I may have drifted to turquoise at some points) in prints of that ear e.g. William Morris and the arts and crafts movement.
So let's talk about May Morris (William's daughter). May Morris was born in 1862, a year after Morris & Co was formed. May studied at National Art Training School, which later evolved into the Royal College of Art. She studied textiles and embroidery and focused her main research on understanding Opus Anglicanum, a type of embroidery dating back to medieval times. When she was just 23 she took over the management of the embroidery department at Morris and Co.
May was a socialist and a feminist and was dismayed as because she was a woman, she was not allowed to join the Art Workers Guild. Instead, in 1907 May founded the Women’s Guild of Arts. because if they won't let you join their club then you really should build your own club! May also taught at many different art schools though out her life, sharing her knowledge and expertise with other young craftspeople.
Much of May's work has been overlooked, partly because many of her textiles were made for domestic use, rather than for museums, but it was also overlooked because women's work was seen as second class. Sadly that has been a lot of the case with textile work over the ages, because mainly women do it, it has not been rated as highly as other art.
So here's to May! Many of her designs were mistaken for her fathers and yet at least she is now being remembered as an awesome embroiderer and designer.
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