H Harness — Willow Bough in Azure (William Morris)
H Harness — Willow Bough in Azure (William Morris)
William Morris designed Willow Bough in 1887 — and it's been on parlour walls ever since. The most-loved print in the Morris catalogue, redirected to an H Harness in the Alpha 30 Archive.
Willow Bough is the Morris archive's quietest decision and one of its most-reproduced — slim willow leaves and curving stems in cool azure, layered against a slightly deeper navy underleaf for depth, with peach-yellow tendrils for warmth, all on a chalk-cream ground that reads like the colour of an old book page. The print is mid-to-macro scale; on the H silhouette, the willow reads as deliberate panels of pattern, the symmetry of the H framing each repeat cleanly across the chest. Blue stitching anchors the print's azure register without competing. Sourced from Dalston Mill Fabrics in Hackney; the first of three Willow Bough pieces in the Alpha 30, the most disciplined H/X/Y silhouette comparison trio in the William Morris collection.
Specifications
| Fabric | William Morris Willow Bough (Azure) — three-colour print on cotton (polycotton) |
| Origin | Dalston Mill Fabrics, Hackney, London (Morris design archive's commercial range) |
| Stitching | Blue thread from G and A Haberdashery, Queens Market — picked up from the print's deeper navy underleaf |
| Hardware | Silver — rings and buckles from F Martin & Son; rivets and eyelets from Trimming Shop |
| Construction | Hand-finished in East London at the Harnessed LDN studio, sewn on a Singer Heavy Duty 4423 |
| Weight | ~0.45 kg |
Sizing
Adjustable across a 34–50 inch chest. Universal sizing across the Alpha 30 Archive — broader than most fashion harnesses cap at.
Care
Spot clean only. Hand care preferred. Do not machine wash.
Once this is sold, this exact configuration — Willow Bough in blue stitching, silver hardware on an H Harness — won't be reproduced. Future drops may revisit Morris's most-loved print with different finishes; this combination exists once.