Fabric with a history

Just a teeny, tiny, random selection made from a chest full that I have been trying to sort.There really is a lot of it and it is almost all furnishing fabrics, the kind used for curtains and upholstered furniture. And it is all from John Lewis. Well not exactly from there, but it is all their fabric. So where did it come from?

The story starts in 1835 when Carlisle had a thriving textile industry, mainly focused on dyeing and printing fabric. Brothers from Wigton set up in that year a factory - Stead McAlpin. They specialised in designing and printing furnishing fabrics. Work continued at the same place over the years - block printing, roller printing, rotary printing. They even made a fabric for Queen Victoria called Victoria and Albert Chintz, which was used on the Royal Yacht. 

In 1965 John Lewis bought the factory and it was used for producing all the fabrics for the furnishings and furniture they sold in their stores. It was whilst the factory belonged to John Lewis that Gordon’s sister worked there. She worked there for many years, doing the skilled job of transferring a design so it could be printed. She did explain a few times exactly what she did, but it is quite complicated and probably all done digitally now. She used to bring me bits of fabric that were from waste bins - they were mainly sample runs of a particular design and of no use, so staff could take what they wanted. 

In 2007 John Lewis sold the factory to a company that soon after went bankrupt and the factory closed. (This left the redundant staff in a difficult position as regards redundancy pay as you can imagine, but that’s a whole other story.) Before she left, Wendy asked me if I wanted some fabric, as there was a lot that was being got rid of. I said yes, but did not expect the huge sackfuls that arrived at our house soon after!

Over the years I have used some of the fabric, making cushions, bags, things for the grandchildren, our daughter even made herself a skirt, but as it is mainly furnishing fabric it is difficult to sew on a domestic machine and so much of it has lain unused. Until now - now I have unearthed a lot of it and put it on shelves. It is excellent stuff for backing the stitching I am doing. However, given that I only use tiny pieces, it is going to last a very long time! We may have to think again about what to do with it. 

Note
Stead McAlpin was eventually purchased and the factory is still in the same place just outside Carlisle.