Laura Ashley Fabric

About

A carefully curated collection of beautiful Laura Ashley furnishing fabrics at Fabrics Galore London including iconic Laura Ashley floral and botanical prints as well as some plain linen and cotton mix furnishing weight cotton panama fabrics. Suitable for curtains, blinds and soft furnishings. our Laura Ashley collection is one of many British fabric designers in stock. Laura Ashley Fabric The Laura Ashley story began in 1953 , when Laura and Bernard Ashley began hand‑printing textiles on their kitchen table in their tiny Pimlico flat in London. Inspired by a Women’s Institute exhibition at the V&A, they aimed to revive Victorian‑style fabric designs rarely found at the time. With an initial investment of just £10 for wood to build a printing screen, dyes and a few yards of linen, they experimented using techniques learned from library books to create their inaugural designs . In 1954 the firm Ashley Mountney Ltd was formally established, named after Laura’s maiden name. Bernard engineered their first continuous printing machine, setting the stage for selling fabrics by the yard. Their first product line included branded tea towels, which became early fabric offerings and helped establish the business identity with the opening of their first showroom on Old Burlington Street in 1955 By 1957 , the Ashleys relocated the business to Kent. Success with practical items—most notably their gardening aprons and smocks—spurred production and the beginning of international exports to Europe, the US, and Australia. Laura Ashley Heritage Laura Ashley's brand expansion resulted from their quick transition from tea towels to machine-printed fabric collections, the showroom opening, and early global orders. These early steps laid the groundwork for what became the iconic, quintessentially British aesthetic of Laura Ashley fabrics: romantic, countryside-inspired prints with enduring quality.