From Victorian Gardens to Modern Wardrobes: My Top 8 Morris Creations

What happens when you take Victorian England’s most beloved pattern and give them a modern twist?

The answer lies in transforming William Morris’s iconic designs into contemporary fabric jewellery that brings 19th-century artistry into today’s wardrobes.

William Morris (1834-1896) was a poet, socialist and one of the most influential designers of the Victorian era. As founder of Morris & Co, he created over 50 distinctive patterns that continue to inspire modern crafters and designers. His Morris patterns, featuring intricate florals and flowing medieval-inspired motifs, now find new life in handmade fabric jewellery that bridges historical design with contemporary style.

His love of florals shines through all of this designs – foliage or flowers are integral to the structure of the patterns, with sweeping shapes and intertwining patterns.  Morris’s fascination with medieval tapestries influenced his work deeply. Morris & Co expanded beyond wallpapers to produce tapestries, embroideries and stained glass – much of which can still be seen in churches across Britain today.

“He created this pattern based on the naughty thrushes that were stealing his strawberries in the garden at Kelmscott Manor, Oxfordshire.”

From Textile to Jewellery: My Creative Process

Morris & Co.’s stunning floral and bird designs inspire my handmade fabric jewellery collections. I create statement necklaces, brooches and earrings by combining Liberty cotton fabrics featuring Morris patterns with plywood backings. This mixed-media approach honours his textile legacy whilst the bold new colourways inject a modern pop of colour into any wardrobe. Each piece is sealed with specialist fabric medium for durability, creating wearable art that withstands daily wear.

My Top 8 Morris-Inspired Fabric Jewellery Pieces

As a Morris and Arts & Crafts lover who adores floral designs, let me share my top 8 jewellery pieces that showcase the incredible versatility of his patterns. This collection spans from my bestselling electric-bright statement pieces to quietly elegant traditional colourways – each one telling its own story:

Strawberry Thief – The Show-Stopping Bestseller

Well it’s one of William Morris’s most iconic designs!  He created this pattern based on the naughty thrushes that were stealing his strawberries in the garden at Kelmscott Manor, Oxfordshire.  It was originally created as a furnishing fabric and he used the indigo discharge method of dyeing – an ancient technique used for centuries, mostly in Asia.  He loved its depth of colour and crisp detail that it produced.  But it was also expensive to create!  This did not deter his clients though and it became a firm favourite.

Alongside traditional colourways, fabric companies such as Liberty of London and designers like Kaffe Fassett have turned the colour spectrum on its head! 

My bestselling jewellery collection transforms this beloved pattern with Liberty’s electric colourway – featuring lime green thrushes and foliage against hot pink strawberries on a deep blue background. The unexpected neon palette creates striking statement pieces that become instant conversation starters. These bold Morris-inspired necklaces and brooches work beautifully against black outfits or can be mixed with other patterns for confident style mavens.

Daffodil – Spring Sunshine in Fabric Form

For spring flower lovers, this daffodil pattern conjures the essence of spring.  This bright yellow version also has a light background which really shows off the flowers.  This was designed in about 1891 by John Henry Dearle, that was block printed onto cotton and released as a furnishing fabric.  Dearle started working for Morris & Co in 1878, rising up from shop assistant to designer after Morris trained him as a tapestry weaver.  When Morris passed away in 1896, he later became the company’s Art Director.

Brer Rabbit – When Animals Take Centre Stage

Birds weren’t the only animal to feature in Morris’ designs!  This pattern is called Brother (or brer) rabbit and was designed in 1881 (but registered at the patents office in 1882).  It was inspired by the book Morris read to his daughters Jenny and May and named after a character in ‘Uncle Remus, his song and sayings’ by JC Harris.  The main pattern was designed by Morris, but like many designs the birds and rabbits (featured here as dangle earrings) within the design were drawn by Philip Webb, his lifelong friend.

Thistle in Double Bough – Scottish Heritage Meets English Design

Something for the Scottish lovers out there, is this thistle design taken from Double Bough originally designed as a pattern for chintz in 1877 by John Henry Dearle.  Not many of Morris’s own designs for textiles were adapted for wallpaper, but this was produced from 1890 onwards, renaming it ‘Double Bough’.  This pattern has scrolling acanthus leaves (a favourite on many designs ), pinks (one of my favourite flowers), along with chrysanthemums and the thistles of course!

Autumn Flowers – My Personal Favourite and Customer Choice

This is one of my all-time favourites and one of my best-selling collections too!  Autumn Flowers was released as a wallpaper in 1888.  One of the original colourways is a pale blue background with shades of green for the flowers and foliage.  This particular colourway from Moda fabrics is another one of the original colourways with an ebony black background, showing the striking foliage and flowers in blue, russet and olive green.

The pattern is formed from a ogee shape – a double curve that forms an extended ‘S’ shape, combining a concave and convex curve.  It features rose branches laden with rose hips, cobnuts, tulips, acanthus leaves and smaller flowers in wonderful autumnal tones.

Oak Leaves and Acorn – Folklore and Magic in Wearable Form

I love Oak trees – they always seem so magical and hold a prominent position in folklore and mythology across many cultures!  This particular pattern isn’t an original, but inspired by ‘Acorn’ – a renowned wallpaper design from 1879 found in the William Morris archive.  I love the vintage vibe of this pendant, with the antique bronze finish of the chain and pendant surround.

Leicester – Celebrating the Humble Carnation

Leicester features one of my most favourite flowers – carnations (with dianthus or pinks a very close second!).  From the Morris & Co. Ltd Wallpaper Pattern Book (c.1913-17) held at the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow, Leicester was produced in two shades of pale green, blue, yellow, ochre, cream, pink, rose, brown on white. 

Leicester was originally designed by J.H. Dearle in 1912 as a block printed wallpaper. Inspired by Morris’ earlier design ‘Bachelors Button’ of 1892, Leicester is a lovely design that harks back to the medieval period and features a recurring theme of scrolling acanthus leaves with various flowers including carnations and golden daisies.

I have several versions of Leicester in some lovely colourways.  I have two examples here – one is an Ebony background with gold metallic line art and golden daisies. I teamed it with black glossy metal pendant and chain for a striking effect.

The other is a lighter version, shades of blue on a soft white background – I’ve used it to make a large brooch.   It is amazing how the pattern changes depending on the colours used!

Golden Lily – The Pattern That Rocked the 1960s

Golden Lily (1897) is sometimes mis-attributed to William Morris, but was designed by John Henry Dearle, following Morris’ death in 1896.  Dearle’s designs show Morris’ influence throughout his work.  After his death he described Morris as ‘generous minded to a fault and respected by all those who worked for him’.

The original pattern was produced as a wallpaper, with the flowers in pink, yellow and blue with green foliage, on a dark-blue background.  But it found a renewed fame in 1960s counterculture, with musicians such as George Harrison wearing a jacket made from this pattern, by the boutique on the King’s Road, Granny Takes a Trip.

This more muted colourway is from Moda’s Morris Garden fabric collection a few years ago.  Although quite a large scale pattern, I created a fantastic statement necklace using a portion of the pale blue

unfurling flower and a semi-circle plywood shape.  I adhered the fabric and wood together using specialist fabric medium, which also acts as a water-proofing sealant, making the necklace more robust and able to withstand many rain showers.