Morris & Co fabrics

Morris & Co fabric starts in London in 1861, when a firm called Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. opened its doors. In 1875 William Morris took charge and the company became Morris & Co.

The patterns were drawn by hand before anyone wove or printed them, and you can still see that in the cloth. Leaves overlap and stems double back. Up close the drawing is dense, but from across the room it settles into color and texture. That hand still marks William Morris fabric today.

The history behind Morris & Co fabric

William Morris is regarded as one of the founders of the Arts and Crafts movement. Toward the end of the nineteenth century, that movement pushed back against the mass production of the industrial revolution. Morris put craftsmanship and the artisan designer at the center of his work. At his works near Merton Abbey, south of London, he honed block printing and indigo-discharge printing with natural dyes.

Many of the designs in the range come straight from that archive. The design behind our Strawberry Thief fabric dates from 1883. The thrushes in it are the birds Morris caught in his kitchen garden at Kelmscott Manor. Willow Bough followed in 1887, and Honeysuckle and Acanthus come from the same archive. The brand is now part of Sanderson Design Group, which keeps the original logbooks and wooden printing blocks near London. Those drawings return in fresh colorways across the current collections.

Weaves, prints and look of William Morris fabric

The range covers woven qualities, prints and velvet. The weaves read matte and faintly grainy, with the pattern sitting in the cloth rather than on top of it. Prints are flatter and more graphic, with a crisp edge between ground and motif. Velvet goes its own way, with deeper color and a tone that shifts as you walk past. Some designs are embroidered, and you can see each stitch.

The drawing is stylized, with flat color, outlined forms and botanical repeats that leave no empty ground. Scale and ground color set the mood. Strawberry Thief packs paired thrushes and red strawberries into a tight, mirrored repeat on dark brown. Our Pimpernel fabric works at a larger scale, with cream flower heads caught in blue-gray scrolls of leaves. Golden Lily sends white lilies and red tulips up flowing stems on a mid-blue ground.

Signature Morris & Co fabric collections

This is a selection of the Morris & Co fabric collections we carry.

• Morris & Friends — the leaf leads every design, sometimes growing freely, sometimes mirrored in tight rows
• The Unfinished Works — flowers, leaves and stripes in muted tones, with green and blue coming back throughout

Where Morris & Co fabric works best

These fabrics belong in rooms you want to feel deliberate. Think of drapery in a formal dining room, a reading nook, or a primary bedroom with character. A large repeat needs height to unfold, so give it full-length drapes or a headboard. A tighter drawing holds its shape when it is cut up for a dining chair seat, an armchair or a sofa. Cushions are the easy way in. A pair carries a motif into a room without committing a window.

Paper and cloth share many of the same drawings. Hang Golden Lily at the window and put the matching paper on the wall, and the same lilies run from curtain to plaster. Start with the Morris & Co wallpaper and work back to the fabric, or begin with the cloth and find the paper that shares its drawing.

Choosing and caring for William Morris fabric

Pick the cloth for the job first, then the pattern. For a sofa or chair you sit in every day, look at the heavier weaves and the velvets. The woven qualities are made to be hard-wearing as well as decorative. For anything that hangs, choose a lighter cloth. A linen-like look lets the drawing move with the folds.

Daylight, wall color and the furniture already in the room all change how a fabric reads, so think about the light it will live in. Stuck between two colorways? Ask us how each one reads in low north light. Care depends on the cloth you choose, so talk to our team about how to handle and work with your fabric before it goes to the workroom.

Buy Morris & Co fabric at Selected Wallpapers

Selected Wallpapers is an official Morris & Co dealer. In the US, prices for Morris & Co are on request. Send us the designs you have in mind and you receive a quote in USD with shipping, duties and taxes included. Read how it works on our US shipping page.

Not sure which design suits your room or how much fabric you need? Our team gives personal advice on your choice, the quantity and how to work with the cloth, so your order fits the room you are planning.