give me liberty! and the lucy giveaway

happy Independence Day, all! wherever in the world you are, i hope you are celebrating your own liberty today. while i am grateful my forefathers had the inspiration and fortitude to cut the apron strings with the mother country, i still adore mother england. i'm glad we've mended relations and co-exist in extended familial harmony whilst respecting each other's uniqueness and fine qualities.

one of my favorite recent finds from england is the charming lucy. right up there with lucy-angel (as i have dubbed her - hope she likes it!) is english liberty. the kind that comes from london. as fabric. you know: liberty of london!

my fabric obsessed brain modified this local cafe sign when i saw it

i was first introduced to liberty of london through my favorite local variety chain store, target. (i can find just about everything little i need at target. and that red card with 5% off!) target is an odd place to happen upon some liberty, but target periodically does special batches of limited edition designer collections. last christmas it was neiman marcus, for example. a few years ago i noticed this display of colorful and fun floral summer items for girls. i picked up a sun dress and a baby romper with sun hat. if i'd only known the absolute steal those items were compared to "real" liberty fabrics, i would have bought loads more just to cut up. as it was, i liked the rather funky fabrics i got that reminded me of something right out of my 70's childhood. (sadly, i haven't been able to locate the baby romper to photograph! it's just darling with layers of ruffles in ultra-bright liberty florals. this means i'm going to have to dig through the clothing boxes a little more closely and do some editing, i'm sure.)

a while after i got the summer clothing items, i looked up this liberty of london on line to figure out what the big deal was. anyone else remember their introduction to liberty? love at first sight, falling fast and hard, is the normal response, i think. i even considered paying the ridiculous prices for yardage and international shipping just to get my grubby sewing paws on some. but i resisted.

fortunately, there are now american distributors. and in march i got my first bits at purl soho while on my anniversary trip to nyc. i did not ask for anything at tiffany's when we browsed, but i did get some liberty! my tana lawn classics have their own special basket (with my other purl selections) on my sewing shelves, waiting for me to decide how to best spend them.

if you're looking for some, the etsy shop "half baked buttons" has a nice selection of slightly reduced classic tana lawns. and the more affordably priced liberty "stile" collection is all over the place. like at fabric.com.

last month i saw a free tote and pouch class on craftsy.com that featured liberty's "stile" collection. i'm not sure i'll be making a pouch out of it, but i did order the kit just for the fabrics.

this last week i finally delegated some of my sewing budget to some stile yardage at fabric.com. it should arrive any day now and the daydreaming can start! epp seems to be a popular destination for liberty. i'll consider it.

there is also published inspiration for your stash of liberty. my love of books was established well before my general fabric crush, so discovering some books about liberty fabrics was doubling pleasing. i purchased both the liberty love book by alexia marcelle abegg and the liberty book of home sewing, made by the company itself.

liberty love, i love! enough yummy projects to justify keeping.

while the liberty book of home sewing had an extensive history and print identification guide in it, which made it quite attractive, i did not love it enough to keep. the apron on the cover was about the only project i was interested in making. so, uncharacteristically, i returned the book.

some of my favorite classic tana lawn prints:

capel

poppy and daisy

to come full circle on this list of liberty and english things i love - independence day, england, lucy, liberty of london, books - they all equal up to a giveaway i've had brewing in my brain for a few weeks. lucy-angel recently did me a very purposeful act of kindness, which i am going to honor with a pay-it-forward type of giveaway.
i'm offering a copy of the liberty love book to one lucky commenter. if you know it, please share with me your favorite liberty print. or a project you've made with some liberty. or anything liberty related at all!

mitsi in pink

the one i'm loving the most right now is "mitsi"(above) in the spring green color. (i found it all by myself,  liz! on etsy.)

giveaway closes next thursday, july 11th. if you are a no-reply commenter, you must include your email address in the comment or i will have to pick another winner.

happy Indepenence Day!
liberty for all!

linking in with plum and june for let's get acquainted monday!