The Festival of Britain was held in 1951 to celebrate the country’s emergence in the fields of science and technology. Britain’s Council of Industrial Design drew on scientists, manufacturers and designers to form the Festival Pattern Group. The group created decorative designs for furnishings and displays, based on the structures of crystals, atoms and molecules.
All via the Wellcome Collection exhibit From Atoms to Patterns.
One of many delightful discoveries via Ancient Industries.
I can’t seem to find a press release or anything else substantial, but several other bloggers have gotten word that Seersucker Thursday is on for this week, June 18th. Incessant thunderstorms and mid-60s temps are cramping Chicagoans’ summer style, but I still plan to contribute to this fine summer tradition by sporting my seersucker trousers, which I’m pretty sure I got from the sale rack at TJ Maxx.
Swatch via good ol’ fabric.com. Whatever you do, don’t get that slimy poly/cotton blend seersucker they sell at Jo-Ann.
If Google Analytics is to be believed, a number of you are interested in Key West Hand Print Fabrics, a specialty textile and resortwear company I blogged last month. Ever wonder what the company was like in its heyday?
Now you know, thanks to the Florida Memory Project, State Archives of Florida.
I’m currently working on a few more posts about hand print textile manufacturers in the Caribbean and southern U.S. I also just got a great vintage blouse with a hand print of irises from a resortwear manufacturer in Puerto Rico that I’m looking forward to researching.
Key West Hand Print Fabrics was founded in 1961. They had a small factory in the keys that produced hand-screened fabric and resortwear.
both via eBay.
Key West Hand Print also produced fabric for Lilly Pulitzer during the brand’s Golden Age. They still sell some Lilly-like fabrics, though I don’t suppose they’re hand-printed in Key West anymore.
“Small Safari” rayon and “Animal Zoo” cotton knit on sale!
Be aware that unlike sailcloth overalls, the current line of Key West Hand Print Fashions is decidedly not a must for Resort 2009.