William Morris Textiles: Printed, Woven and Embroidered Work Explained

What Morris Textiles Cover

The phrase covers three distinct crafts. Printed cottons were block printed, often with natural dyes, for furnishing use. Woven textiles were mostly flat jacquards in wool. Embroidery, worked by hand, came first chronologically and remained central to the firm's output.

The Victoria and Albert Museum holds extensive collections of Morris's textile work, from his first embroidery experiments in the early 1860s to tapestry panels made a few years before his death. That span makes the V&A records the natural starting point for any survey of the field.

Attribution matters as much as medium. Morris did not draw every object sold by his firm, and later designers took over parts of the output. Where a record names another hand, this guide names it too.

Printed Textiles: From Tulip and Willow to Strawberry Thief

Morris's printed cottons began with a practical problem: he had no works of his own. The V&A records that 'Tulip and Willow', a block-printed and indigo-discharge cotton designed by William Morris for Morris & Co., was the second textile he designed, and that he commissioned Thomas Clarkson of Bannister Hall, a leading manufacturer of printed textiles, to print it because he had no means to print it himself.

The V&A also notes that in 1875 Morris spent time with Thomas Wardle at his print works in Leek, Staffordshire, experimenting with natural dyes, and that it is likely 'Tulip and Willow' was attempted then. The original watercolour design for the pattern is in the collection of the City Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham. The dyes behind these prints are covered in more detail in Morris's natural dyes.

According to the V&A, it was one of three monochrome patterns Morris designed to be printed by the indigo-discharge method, which had preoccupied him since 1875.

The V&A dates the design to 1882 and attributes it to William Morris for Morris & Co., British, 1882. The museum also notes that 'Bird and Anemone' is one of the few repeating patterns Morris (1834 to 1896) designed for both textiles and wallpapers, and that the V&A example was surface printed later in madder, a natural red plant dye.

'Strawberry Thief' is the best known of the printed cottons. The museum dates the design to 1883 and attributes it to Morris for Morris & Co.

The birds in the pattern are the documented subject, not an invented decoration.

One caution applies to the table. The V&A record for 'Tulip and Willow' carries conflicting production dates, which the section on dating below explains. Treat any single printed year as a shorthand rather than a settled fact.

Woven Textiles: Wool Jacquards and Outside Contractors

Most of Morris's weaves were flat jacquards in wool, popular for curtains and wall-hung drapes, a medieval-style trend encouraged by Morris & Company.

The designs had documented sources. Morris studied early woven textiles in the collections of the South Kensington Museum, later the V&A, and many of his designs were inspired by 16th- and 17th-century Italian silks. He also owned copies of several 16th- and 17th-century herbals, including John Gerarde's The Herball, according to the Art Institute of Chicago, which helps explain the botanical accuracy of his plant forms.

Production again ran through other people's workshops. The V&A records that Morris initially relied on outside contractors because he had no facilities to weave commercial quantities of cloth. The same pattern of commissioning held for printing, and it shaped the firm until it acquired its own works.

The V&A describes 'Peacock and Dragon', from 1878, as an imposing yet popular design. It stands as the named example of the wool jacquard medium in this survey, and its scale fits the period's taste for wall-hung patterned cloth.

The woven side also marks a clear handover. Readers dating a woven Morris & Co. textile to the 1890s should therefore not assume Morris drew it.

Embroidery: The Company's First Textile Craft

Embroidery came first because it had to. The V&A records that it was the only practical means of decorating textiles in the early years of Morris's company, before printing and weaving facilities existed.

From the mid-1870s Morris and Edward Burne-Jones worked together on embroidered panels, with Morris providing decorative detail and Burne-Jones figuration, according to the V&A. The division of labour is explicit in the record: two named hands, two distinct roles.

The V&A also records that Morris, later his daughter May and assistant John Henry Dearle, produced designs for completed panels or for 'embroider yourself' kits for cushion covers, fire screens and portières.

Dating the Textiles: Where Records Disagree

Museum records do not always settle on one date. The V&A record for 'Bird and Anemone' lists production dates of 1882, before June 1881, and 1882 to 1919. All three appear on the same record for the same object, museum number O78906.

Similar conflicts exist for 'Tulip and Willow', where the record carries both 1873 and 1883 as production dates. The practical lesson for readers is to treat printed dates as ranges rather than single years, and to check the museum number when comparing sources.

This honesty about dates is not a weakness of the record. Patterns stayed in production for years, blocks were reprinted, and a design year and a printing year are different things. A range can be the most accurate answer available.

Explore Each Medium Further

Each medium in this survey has its own deeper guide, and this page works as the hub for them. Start with whichever medium your interest falls in.

Related guides in this cluster:

• How Morris built a repeating pattern, for the structure behind the designs described here.
• The natural dyes behind Morris's palette, for madder, indigo and the rest of the dye story.
• A closer look at Morris wallpaper, the companion medium to the printed cottons.
• William Morris original designs, a collection drawn from the documented designs.