Period Features

Traditional Fabrics by Vanessa Arbuthnott

There are seven collections: Cockerel, Wildflower, Seaside, Garden, Woodland, Sky and for 2008 Earth. In gentle colours: duck egg, stone, raspberry, cornflower, straw and lettuce. 

The fabrics are perfect for loose covers for chairs and sofas, upholstery, curtains and blinds, bed heads, valances, cushions and tablecloths. The collections compliment each other by sharing colours and include useful co-ordinates such as checks, stripes, spots, and floral prints. 

The fabrics are produced in the UK and are printed on Linen Union and 100% cotton and some designs are available on oilcloth, wallpaper and floor rugs. 

www.vanessaarbuthnott.co.uk

Village Fetes

Summer just isn't summer without the obligatory fete or two whether school, church or village. If you'd like to find out the dates of fetes in your area you could try this 'fete finder' from Innocent Drinks the makers of juices and smoothies. They also host their very own take on an 'Innocent village fete' on Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 August in Regent's Park, London. www.innocentvillagefete.com

Summer Holiday

Have you ever wondered how much more you would enjoy your summer holiday if it didn't cost quite so much? A comfortable, or even luxurious, but inexpensive holiday is possible if you consider making the most of one of your most valuable assets: your home. With home exchange you can swap your home for another family's, anywhere in the world, free of charge. The aficionados of the home swap system say that not only is this much cheaper than staying in hotels or renting an apartment or villa but it is also a great way to immerse yourself in the real life and culture of a place by living in someone else's home and really experiencing life 'in their shoes'. www.homelink.org has over 50 years experience in this market and has 13,000 listed members in 51 countries. Home swaps will not suit every family but they clearly provide a great holiday experience for some travellers.

The subject of holidays always reminds you of the horror of 'what to pack?' If you are someone who solves this dilemma by packing your entire summer wardrobe, and shoes for every possible occasion, you might like to try the life changing experience of www.travelite.org This site shows you how to take all you need for a two week holiday in a carry on bag. What's more, it really works! The most useful section is the breakdown of clothes that you need to take (helpfully illustrated) to cover a fourteen day break and how you would mix and match your wardrobe over the holiday. This website is a rare find and if you want travel lighter this summer do take the time to check it out.

Holiday packing reminds me of the difficulty of find the 'perfect holiday shoes'. If you suffer from aches and back pain or shoes that make your feet tired and sore the shoes at www.lovethoseshoes.co.uk which feature shoes that are kind to your feet and back might appeal to you. The Earth Shoes range invented by Helen Kelso, and known as 'Kelso negative heel technology', copies how man naturally walks through sand creating correct posture and leading many of its fans to rave about how it eliminates back pain. Earth Shoes have plenty of celebrity followers too suggesting that flat shoes are not just for the 'terminally sensible!'

Energy Saving Trust

Green, as the media is increasingly telling us, is the new black and going green is all the rage. The Energy Saving Trust's website offers a free home energy check to tell you how you can save energy - and money - in your home. It also offers lots of tips on energy saving. Energy saving light bulbs are more expensive than ordinary ones but just one energy efficient light bulb can save you over £60 over the life of the bulb as they last up to ten times longer than ordinary light bulbs. They now come in a wide range of styles to complement any period of home. Find out more at the Energy Saving Trust website.

Salvo Fair 2008

The Salvo Fair 2008 is an outdoor exhibition of architectural salvage, garden antiques and reclaimed building materials. Everything is for sale. The Fair takes place on Saturday 28 - Sunday 29 June at Knebworth, Hertfordshire. Entry to Knebwroth, including the Salvo Fair, car parks, and all Knebworth's facilities is £7.50 per person, £26 for a family ticket for 4 people. Children under 4 are free. Admission includes entry to the deer park, a dinosaur trail, formal Tudor gardens, tea rooms and 'Fort Knebworth' - a big adventure playground for children and miniature railway. Knebworth House can also be toured for an additional charge of £2 a ticket. Advanced ticket sales telephone will be available by calling 08700 115 007. For more information visit the Salvo Fair website at www.salvofair.com

Wallpaper Revival

Wallpaper is undergoing something of a revival after many years in the 'unfashionable' wilderness. If you are interested in the history of wallpaper, want to find out more about particular wallpaper or want to decorate your house in an appropriate period style you might well find a link to what you are looking for from the website of the The Wallpaper History Society. The site also features a wonderfully quirky video 'Wallpaper that moves - Three Hundred Years of Wallpaper History in Three Minutes' which is well worth a look.

Founded in 1986, the Wallpaper History Society was established to promote an awareness and understanding of historic and contemporary wall coverings.

The study of wall coverings was traditionally seen as rather esoteric, of interest only to specialist researchers and enthusiasts. But in the mid-1980s, articles on period decoration began to feature regularly in journals and magazines and it became clear that a much larger audience had developed an interest in the subject. Even so, information about, for example, the manufacture, design and location of historic and contemporary patterns could still be hard to obtain. The Wallpaper History Society was founded to help answer questions of this kind by developing both a network of sources and ways in which information could be made accessible. Read more www.wallpaperhistorysociety.org.uk

Stone's Polish & Furniture Cream

Stone's pure beeswax furniture cream has been made in Devon, England since 1760. It was invented by Dr. Stone, an Exeter pharmacist during the period of great English furniture design and manufacture. Stone's is still a small family managed company.

Stone's is used by restorers, collectors and householders on both antiques and fine modern furniture in England and abroad. The furniture of many of England's stately homes and great houses open to the public is cared for by Stone's. The polish is sold in all the Devon National Trust houses and shops who are pleased to support a true local West Country heritage product.

The difference between Stone's and other polishes lies in its total purity and its ease of application. The Stone's traditional formula includes no silicones or artificial additives, it contains only the finest beeswax, white spirit, pure soap and essential oils, which are combined with water into an emulsion to produce the distinctive soft cream. This combination ensures that Stone's has both cleaning and polishing properties while imparting a fresh scent that is reminiscent of the days of great houses and furniture regularly cared for by household staff.

Application is very easy. Apply the cream to a cloth, spread it very thinly and buff it immediately before it dries. This will give a hard layer of wax which will not smear and will take further applications if required. Thicker waxes cannot be spread so thinly and are difficult to polish often leaving a soft layer of wax which will smear and collect dirt.

Visit their website www.stonesfurniturecream.co.uk  for more information and stockists.

Win A £25 Voucher!

Win A £25 Voucher!

This month we are giving away a £25 Voucher to spend on any of our lovely products, redeemable in store or online. Just answer one simple question and after the closing date of 31st July 2008, we will pick the winner at random from all the entries received.

To enter please take a look at our Rim & Mortice Knobs which can be found in our Period Hardware section then just answer the following question: What type of head wear does our Georgian Brass Rim Knob resemble? Email the answer to us at competition@periodfeatures.net. Good luck!

The lucky winner of our April/May competition, receiving a £25.00 voucher, was Rusty Ahearne. Many thanks to all of you who entered.

Jekka's Herb Farm

Jekka's Herb Farm was born from a passion. Jekka and Mac McVicar first started planting organic herbs in 1984, on a small patch at their home in Bristol. A passion that outgrew their garden resulted in the move to Alveston in 1987, at which time the Farm was growing 26 varieties of herbs; this has now increased to over 600 varieties, each one expertly handraised and benefiting from years of experience in growing high quality organic herbs. http://www.jekkasherbfarm.com/about.asp

Roman Herb Garden at Gatcombe Court

Jekka will be talking about our native herbs at ancient manor house, Gatcombe Court, in Somerset on 5th June, following her design of their new Roman herb garden. The house is built upon a Roman settlement, and the herb garden is a reconstruction of their influences at Gatcombe. A sumptuous high tea will be served, followed by Jekka's talk. Click here, or email info@gatcombecourt.co.uk for further information.

Leek Embroidery Society

In 1879 The Leek Embroidery Society was established by Elizabeth Wardle in Leek, Staffordshire. Elizabeth and her friends had been working on large, church embroideries for twelve years prior to her establishing the Society, and were well known for the originality and excellence of their work. Some women were employed and paid a salary, whilst others paid for embroidery tuition. Originally the work was undertaken in workers houses but gradually the demand was so great that a property adjacent to Elizabeth’s own house were taken as a schoolroom, workshop and commercial outlet, selling both materials and kits.

Face screen, 1890s.

Elisabeth’s husband, Thomas Wardle was a silk importer, dyer and printer, as well as a friend and collaborator of William Morris. Together they developed a range of natural dyes which could be used on the tussore or tasar silks, both skeins and fabrics, which Wardle imported from India. The natural beige tussore silk ground fabric had been originally imported from India by Thomas' father Joshua . He was unable to discover the secret of dyeing the natural tasar silk. Thomas continued his father's dyeing experiments using vegetable and mineral dyes, and in 1877 made a breakthrough by dyeing the silk to any shade required. The slubs or imperfections produced in the weaving process, due to poor reeling by the villagers in India, were also eliminated with modern reeling techniques. It was Thomas who gave Elizabeth some strands of tussore silk and asked her to devise a new form of embroidery, hoping to encourage needlewomen to use his silks. The dyes produced near colour-fast, clear soft and bright tones, Art Colours’ which were a great contrast to the harsh shades of aniline or chemically dyed wools used in Berlin woolwork. It was Elizabeth’s skill in blending the colours which was such a feature of Leek Embroidery Society pieces. Elizabeth and her gentlewomen embroidered secular and religious pieces with the Indian tussore floss silk skeins onto a tussore printed silk ground, the pattern acting as a transfer. Thomas had the silk printed in India to his own designs, in turn influenced by Indian designs. Damasks, brocades, silk plush and velvet, all dyed in Wardle’s works, were all used for backgrounds.

visit www.victoriana.com/Embroidery/LeekEmbroiderySociety.htm for more information.