MATERIAL REVIEW.
FOXTON FABRICS.
THOSE who are interested in the textile trade know of Mr. Foxton as a leading, if not the leading, maker of cretonnes in this country. It was for him, for example, that the late Mr. Claude Lovat Fraser made his designs. He has sent the Spectator a number of his cretonnes for review, including three by Mr. Lovat Fraser.
Perhaps the most beautiful is design 8014/44 (width 31 in.), by Miis Constance Irving. It can be had in several colour schemes —one in which blue predominatet ; one of black and grey, patterned with strong green and a tomato-red ; and a third in buff. .It is the cretonne with the buff ground which pleased me most. The ground is intricately patterhed with a small design chiefly in grey with touches-of jade green and red. On this at intervals' are bunches of large semi-con- ventional flowers in beautiful clear tones of yellow, red, blue, mauve and pale pink. The general effect is extra- ordinarily good, the individual colours being of the utmost purity and brilliance. The cretonne has also this additional practical advantage, that while it would not be out of place in a modern room, it would look charming in a conventionally furnished room with grey, 'buff, or white walls and a mixed collection of furniture. No. 2599/8 (width 50 in.), one of Mr. Lovat Fraser's patterns, is beautiful but not quite so accommodating and would only look well in a modern room. It consists of juxtaposed triangles of dark and light blue ; the bases are joined by zigzag lines of black, and the regular levels of the design are enclosed by parallel bars of tinted orange and lemon. It can also be had with these colours reversed, when the effect is gay and yet soft. In both these cretonnes the quality of stuff is good, particularly in 2599/8, and the printing comes well through, always, of course, a sign of colour which will not readily " fly."
No. 3054/11 (width 81 in.), by Miss Constance Irving, is a cretonne which would look extremely well for curtains, but which would probably be rather difficult to manage as loose covers for furniture, as the pattern is very large. It is made with three grounds—black, watered moth-brown, and warmer fawn brown. It is most effective in the black.
An extremely good " cottage " pattern is 8052/8 (width 81 in.), also designed by Miss Constance Irving, a tiny irregular diamond chequer giving the effect of hand printing. In one pattern blue predominates, in another pink and green, in 4 third warm browns, mauve, orange and blue. It woul4 be specially suitable where an ordinary duster check is the obvious solution and something a little more original is desired. Another big pattern is No. 2955/108 (width 64 in.), by Mr. Lovat Fraser, which is a design of artificialized peacock's
feathers. This seemed to me most effective in a dead crushed strawberry pink with a faded Egyptian blue patterning. It is also excellent in jade green. In the first there are touches of a dead mauve and a pale green, in the second of black and orange. There is another colouring in which blue and black predominate, with touches of yellow and grey. Here the material is heavy and good and the printing comes well through, though perhaps not quite so well as in the first one mentioned.
A remarkably beautiful pattern, in which the colour is specially effective, is No. 2828/17 (width 50 in.). This is printed on good, very supple, linen fabric. In the large pattern sent the ground is mainly a colour between a red and an orange. _ It is. patterned in delicate, highly conventionalized black tree stems, with blossoms and birds, with grey waves and a diaper .work. in coils. The material is yery wide and would be particularly suitable for loose covers. Perhaps it is the very good quality of the actual fabric used that has made the colours in . this particular stuff so brilliant. The pattern, too, is delightful on a chrome yellow ground, with the waves in pink, the tree stems in a dead blue, and the coils in grey. It can, again, be had on a dead blue ground, with darker blue tree stems, green waves and birds, and grey coils, or a less attractive version on a grey ground, on which grey waves fail to make their mark, with purple tree stems and birds. In each case the little, conventionalized blossoms are the colour of unbleached linen, tipped with the colour of the tree stems.
Messrs. Foxton have also sent us some samples of their woven fabric's, i.e., fabrics in which the pattern is not printed but woven, which they guarantee fadeless. They are attrac- tive, but perhaps not of such outstanding interest as the cretonnes.
Messrs. Foxton. are wholesalers, but intending buyers can get the materials from, among others, Messrs. Crittall and Son, 149 Victoria Street, S.W. ; Messrs. Heal and Son, Ltd., 196 Tottenham Court Road, W. ; Messrs. Peter Jones's, Sloane Square, S.W. ; Messrs. Win. Whiteley, Ltd., .Queen's Road, W. ; and Messrs. Williamson and Cole, High Street, Clapham, S.W. .
A. WILLIAMS-ELLIS.
(Foxton Fabrics.-No. 3014/44, 4s. 6d. ; No. 2599/8, 7s. 6d. ; No. 3054/11, 8s. lld. ; No. 3052/8, 2s. 6d. ; No. 2955/108, 15s. ; No. 2828/17, 16s. 6d. The above are the approximate retail prices per yard.)
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