Welsh Tapestry Patterns for Home and Fashion Accessories

Anyone visiting Wales can hardly avoid noticing that there are a lot of sheep - about four sheep for every person living in Wales!

And where there are sheep, there's a woollen industry.

Today, most Welsh wool is used in the carpet industry but in earlier centuries, almost every cottage had a loom for weaving blankets and clothing, often in the traditional Welsh Tapestry patterns. And some of the original Welsh Woollen Mills survive today, some as museums, others as working mills using patterns found in the Public Records Office and dating back to the 1700s.

In earlier times, Welsh Tapestry blankets were given as wedding gifts and dowries and were kept as family heirlooms. More recently a Welsh Tapestry blanket was presented to President Obama when he visited Wales.

Everyone knows about Scottish tartans but Welsh Tapestry is less well-known, despite its long history and its 'revivals' at various times since the 1960s. Blankets and other textile gifts with these patterns, such as cushions and coats, are as likely to be found in Welsh Craft and Gift Shops as wooden 'Love Spoons' and Little Welsh Red Dragons.

But Welsh Tapestry blankets are expensive. Of course, they are not really 'tapestries' but a unique type of 'double-weave' cloth, sometimes known as double-cloth, and the weaving process involves, as the name implies, a complicated interlocking of two layers of cloth. So, while they are warm and hard-wearing as well as attractive, they are not cheap to produce.

As someone who lives in Wales and who is also addicted to pattern-making - and especially drawn to those with some kind of traditional or ethnic origin - it was only a matter of time before I turned my attention to Welsh Tapestry patterns. 

And I have chosen a few of them to use as patterns on non-textile gifts, such as coffee mugs and serving trays as well as cases and sleeves to protect your electronic devices!

Here are some of them -
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Pink Welsh Tapestry Gifts  

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Monogrammed Faux Welsh Tapestry Gifts

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Blue Welsh Tapestry Patterns  

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Black and White Welsh Tapestry Patterns

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Welsh Tapestry Sleeves  

Fabrics in 'faux' Welsh Tapestry, in seven types, suitable for anything from crafts and dressmaking to home furnishings are also available in my 

Posh'n'Painterly Cymru store. 

Here are just a few of them -

And if you'd like a 'Welsh Tapestry' fabric or gift in a different colour combination, just contact me through my Posh'n'Painterly Cymru store

 and I will quickly create it for you at no extra cost. 

PS If you are interested in learning more about Welsh Tapestry, 

HERE'S

a website to get you started -

Traditional Islamic Patterns in a Modern Setting

We don't necessarily need to know anything about Islamic Art and Design to gaze in wonderment at the patterned walls and screens of the Alhambra, the Blue Mosque, or the typically tiled floors and walls of Morocco! 

Feast your eyes on them here!

Google Image Search of the Alhambra

Google Image Search of the Blue Mosque

Google Image Search of Moroccan Patterns

You will probably have noticed that the patterns are all based on a geometric grid and some of these grids can be extremely complex.

If you read my last month's blog post about William Morris, you may remember that many of his contemporaries also created abstract patterns based on grids. But William Morris took that one step further, using a geometric grid to provide the structure on which to build his floral patterns.

Islamic pattern design does make use of some floral motifs and motifs taken from Nature but it generally depicts them in a much more formalised way.

And whereas you would expect to see images of saints and holy figures in many Christian churches, this is highly unlikely in a Muslim mosque. There are differences of opinion amongst Islamic scholars about whether depicting human beings in art and design is idolatrous and therefore contrary to the teachings of Islam, and you can read about them in detail HERE.

But the beautiful patterns that decorate Muslim places of worship are no less related to the religious doctrines of Islam than the statues and paintings in a Christian cathedral.

For instance, the geometric shape we call a 'circle' is linked to the concept of 'Infinity', which in itself is a property of Allah. This article on the BBC website goes into these fascinating connections in more detail than I have time for here. 

And in the Islamic cultural traditions, crafts and decorative arts are regarded as being of equal status to painting and sculpture. So it's not surprising that these have been developed to such an awe-inspiring degree!

(On the left is one of my original screenprints, from the 1980s, of a very complex Islamic pattern.)

While I love to create flowing, painterly floral patterns and mini-prints that are often based on the flowers and other plants - even weeds! - in my garden, I am also drawn to the apparent simplicity of geometric grids. 

I stress that the word 'simplicity' must be qualified by 'apparent' because many of the traditional Islamic 'mosaic' patterns, while appearing straightforward, are in fact based on a complex system of geometric grids, placed on top of one another to create a harmonious whole.

The patterns are often constructed by overlaying circles, squares, rectangles and other geometric shapes and I find it fascinating that just these few 'building blocks' can result in such a variety of different patterns! On the right is an example from David Wade's book (see below) and I'm sure you can find his explanation of how the grid pattern was built up, if you visit his website.

I first learnt a bit about Islamic Art when I was designing patterns for cushions in a screen-printing class nearly thirty years ago. Coming from a background of landscape painting, almost always using a rectangular canvas, I was finding it hard to adapt to designing on a square. So my teacher lent me a very helpful book by David Wade - "Pattern in Islamic Art".

I've recently discovered his wonderful website which you can explore HERE

You'll find inspiring slide-shows to enjoy as well as detailed drawings, diagrams and analyses to learn from if you are so inclined! 

As we approach the Holy Month of Ramadan that culminates in the celebration of Eid-al-Fitr in early July, I think it's appropriate to show some of the Greeting Cards, Gift Bag and Wrapping Paper that I've created using, in many cases, Islamic Patterns:

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Eid Greeting Cards

And here are some really chic and girly Fashion Accessories, based on a geometric Islamic pattern -

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Candy Pink Fashion Accessories

With Father's Day approaching fast, here are some classy 'Gifts for Men' with an Islamic Geometric Pattern outlined in gold-effect on a black background:

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Gifts for Men - Black Islamic Pattern

But it's partly the use of rich colour in Islamic Patterns that draws the eye. So I've used some modern colour combinations to create some very chic Bathroom Accessories -

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Islamic Patterns in the Bathroom

Here are some device cases - iPhone 6 cases are shown but other Case-Mate cases are available in the drop-down menu under 'Device Type' -

Click on the image below to see the full collection -

iPhone 6 Cases with Islamic Patterns

And finally, a collection of chic and modern Beachwear with traditional Islamic patterns that all coordinate so that you can mix'n'match the accessories to your heart's content -

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Beachwear with Islamic Mosaic Patterns

I hope you've enjoyed this brief look into the traditions of Pattern in Islamic Art and the ways in which we can draw inspiration from the geometric pattern grids that it's based on to create beautiful Greeting Cards and modern Home and Fashion Accessories for everyone.