Anna JP from the office has made this beautiful Liberty Kimono Top. She’s used a Elm House Tencel fabric from the new AW20 collection – Private View.
This is what Anna had to say about the make. “I was so happy to learn that Liberty’s new seasonal collection included some prints on the Tencel fabric base, and even more excited when I saw that my favourite print from the whole collection was to be one of them. I love Tencel – it’s the stuff of my favourite shirt – and so Alice and I agreed we’d give the fabric a try via one roll of fabulous Elm House.
Tencel is the proprietary name for Lyocell, a fibre made from wood pulp, whose fibres are soft, strong, absorbent, and resistant to wrinkling. (There’s a really interesting article about it on Wikipedia if you’re interested). A big plus for Tencel is that it’s quite eco-friendly because growing the material for the fibres uses less land and water than cotton. Also, 98% of the chemicals used during processing are recovered and used again in a closed-loop system. A final plus, from a dressmaker’s point of view, is that it has a lovely soft drape to it so is ideal for dresses, tops or summer skirts.
I made this kimono-style top over the course of a couple of evenings. The pattern is based on drawing around and lengthening an existing top onto brown paper. It’s a very simple construction: back, two fronts, neck and front facings, and ties. The only bit I struggled with was that I forgot to centralise the pattern on the back piece when I first cut it out, so I had to re-do that piece (but will make something else with the spare fabric). In all it took 2.3m fabric (could have been 1.75m if it weren’t for the cutting mistake!). The Tencel is 1.47m wide on the roll, which makes it ideal for garment-makers.”
Elm House is inspired by William Morris’s ‘Honeysuckle’ design which dates back to 1876. This new interpretation depicts primulas and fritillaries painted in soft watercolour and echoes the original repeat. The gorgeous florals and foliage interweave to create this swirling Arts and Crafts design. We also have this beautiful fabric available in two other colour ways of Tana Lawn.
“I really hope that this inspires you to try this new Tencel base or one of Liberty’s other stunning AW20 prints on Tana Lawn, and would be interested in hearing what you think if you do make something on Tencel.”
