Give us Liberty... of London, that is

Behind the Scenes: Inspiration, Collaboration, and Details

Sources of inspiration and a love for collaboration are the preliminary drivers of our creative process at Thread & Whisk. Oh, and let’s not forget the importance of the details! Every little bit and bob is integral to a design or a recipe we create. Choosing materials for our sewn goods, we labor endlessly over each detail. We truly sweat the small stuff in this case and we do it because we know it matters both to us and our customers. It’s also a guilty pleasure since we love the process.  

“La mode passe; le style reste.”  - Coco Chanel

When we started designing our line of Bloom Culinary Totes, we set out to make something stylish that would stand the test of time. Something classic, but with a twist, that could be used for years. Particularly after stuffing food dishes into leaky grocery sacks for so long, we felt we all deserved something nice! Don’t you agree?

Searching for fabrics with one eye on function and the other eye on style, the hunt led us to Liberty of London’s Tana Lawn cotton. You may have heard of Liberty, but do you know the company’s backstory? Here are a few details.

In 1875, a Brit named Arthur Liberty established Liberty & Co on Regent Street in the West end of London. After apprenticing as a draper starting at age 16 and working at another fashion house for many years, he launched his own brand and established a small shop. Liberty was inspired by Far East objets d’art. He incorporated those artistic influences into the products he made. As his shop (and brand) grew, Liberty established strong relationships with leaders of the Art Nouveau, Arts & Crafts, Bauhaus, and Pop movements. Turning inspiration into collaboration, Liberty & Co. has partnered on special projects with many famous designers including William Morris, Yves Saint Laurent, Mary Quant, and Vivienne Westwood. Liberty’s artistic collaborations continue to thrive today. You can find the now iconic Liberty florals printed on S’well water bottles, iPhone cases, notebooks and other everyday objects that are elevated by this alliance. 

The famous Liberty of London print, entitled “Strawberry Thief” created by William Morris in 1883

The fabric we use on our totes is called “Tana Lawn.”  It is an amazing cotton fabric that Liberty created in the 1920’s. Legend has it that when a Liberty buyer was traveling in Ethiopia near Lake Tana, he spotted a silky cotton that inspired Liberty & Co to create its own version. With a high thread count and long, ultrafine cotton fibers, Tana Lawn feels like silk. It also has an excellent ability to accept dyes which is what makes the artistic Liberty prints so vibrant.

Why is it called “Lawn?”  Although it’s mostly made of cotton today, Lawn fabric was originally made of linen. At the time, the French city of Laon was known for producing linen fabric with those smooth, stable properties. Just as many French words have been altered by the English, “Laon” became “Lawn”.  Mystery solved.

Wiltshire is the Tana Lawn print used in some of the trims on our Bloom Culinary Totes. This leaf and berry print was created for Liberty in 1933 by an unknown designer with the initials DS. Standing the test of time, Wiltshire became part of Liberty’s Classic Tana Lawn collection in 1979. We are glad it did as we find it so cheerful when we put it next to our canvas fabrics.  

Like Liberty of London, our goal at Thread & Whisk is to carry forward quality materials and traditions into the modern world. We take inspiration from companies like Liberty, who are inspired by and collaborate with the artists and designers of the world. Details, beautiful details.

You can find many beautiful items on Instagram under the hashtag #libertywiltshire

@lacoquetteriefabrique

@ditsydotshop

@lucyvictoriababycouture

Most Important Meal of the Day

In those few minutes after the morning alarm goes off but before you’ve fully woken up, do you find yourself dreaming that elves have made your breakfast and taken care of a few other tasks? We do. Even tried leaving a window open, can’t seem to lure one in. So we created this recipe for Chai Oatmeal Crunch to help with that shortcoming. You can make it on a Sunday evening and have breakfast ready to go when you wake up on Monday and for a few days afterwards too. If you’re still sleepy while you’re eating, you might convince yourself that someone else made if for you.

We’re very excited about sharing this recipe because it’s many of our favorite things. Let’s start with texture. It’s chewy, creamy and crunchy all at once. Unlike most overnight oatmeals, it’s not mushy since we use toasted steel cut oats instead of rolled oats and we mix it with yogurt so it doesn’t turn into goo by morning. The nut and seed topping is also toasted with a mix of spices that has the flavor of a steeping cup of chai. Sprinkle this onto the oatmeal just before you are ready to eat. We also love adding blueberries for a burst of fruity flavor. Dried pears are a lovely addition if you are reaching for something in your pantry.

Keep a jar of the oatmeal and yogurt mix in your refrigerator and a jar of the nut and seed mix in your pantry. Scoop some of each and top it with some fruit. We’ve been taking it on the go when we’re short on time in the morning. The whole combination of textures and flavors feels like you took a long time to make your breakfast, although you hardly did. It’s a hearty and satisfying meal that easily carries you til lunchtime. Oh, yes, it’s good for you too. We could go down the list of healthy ingredients, but just take a bite and enjoy it.

Chai Oatmeal Crunch

(5 servings)

INGREDIENTS
Oatmeal
1 cup steel cut oats
2 cups plain whole milk yogurt
1/4 cup maple syrup

Nut & Seed Topping
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground pepper
2 Tbsp honey
1 egg white
1/2 cup raw cashews
1/2 cup shelled pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup shelled sunflower seeds
2 Tbsp flax seeds

fresh blueberries or dried pears

METHOD
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread the steel cut oats on a baking pan and toast in oven for about 15 minutes until golden. Remove and cool. Once oats are completely cooled, combine them with yogurt and maple syrup in a jar or other sealed container. Refrigerate overnight or at least 8 hours.

In a medium bowl, combine ginger, cinnamon, turmeric, coriander, cardamom, salt, pepper, honey and egg white. Whisk until thoroughly blended. Add cashews, pumpkin, sunflower and flax seeds. Stir to combine. Spread out on a baking sheet and toast in oven for about 15-20 minutes until golden. (Start checking at 10 minutes since all ovens differ.) Remove and cool. Once completely cooled, store this topping in a sealed container until ready to use.

Keep a jar of of the oatmeal and yogurt mix in the fridge and another jar of the nut & seed topping in your pantry. Scoop some of each into a bowl or small container and top it with fruit.

One Stitch Forward

At the Thread & Whisk studio, we have spent a wonderfully quiet few weeks goal setting and launching ourselves headfirst into the new year. January is always a great time to reflect and plan, but we are also eager to dive into lots of great projects! As ever, our studio mantra remains “cook. make. share.” So that is what we will do this year. We hope you will join us.

January is also an excellent time for sending thank you notes. Followed closely by February, which is obviously the time for sending love notes. Since we have a goal to do more stitching projects, we’ve hatched a way to combine embroidery with stationery and stitch our greetings. Challenging us all to stitch outside the embroidery hoop, we have created 3 designs to stitch onto blank greeting cards. Find the printable templates below. Depending on the floss colors, the papers, and envelopes you choose, these can work for many occasions. And they are super fun to make!

Embroidering thread onto a card is kind of like life: You have to choose your path carefully, and sometimes you have to briefly go backwards before you can move forward again. Other than that, it’s basically like stitching on fabric, with a bit more audible feedback. We find the rhythmic sound of needle and thread pulling through the card so meditative that we are able to tune out distractions around us.  

The first step is to use a design template to perforate the blank card with stitch holes, laying a road map for your needle and thread.  Place a scrap piece of soft foam or corrugated cardboard under your card to make a gentle landing when the embroidery needle pokes through the back.  Here is a short video showing how to transfer the design to paper:

We recommend doing a test on a scrap piece of card first, to get the feel of this technique. Practice poking the holes with the template and then stitching through the card to see how hard you can pull the thread, how to find the right hole from the back side, and what happens when you have to go through the same hole more than once. It will take a minute to get used to working on paper instead of fabric.  

You can stitch one card to send a note to a sweet someone, or make a small batch with the same pattern to gift to someone as a stationery set. This is an easy project to take along with you when traveling or just for those moments in between. Click here for step by step instructions, including videos, or press the print icon below for the embroidery templates and printable instructions. Enjoy!