Printed Textiles 1740-1890

Studying the fabrics in early cotton clothing is a great way to see what was available for quilting during any given time periods.


Click on the following link Identifying Printed Textiles in Dress 1740-1890. Then click on RESOURCES in the bar at the top of the page that opens. You will be presented with three free booklets to download as pdf files. In addition to the one on Printed Textiles in Dress, there is one on lace and another on woven textiles.


What better way to become familiar with what was available for quilt-making than by studying old sample books and antique clothing costumes from earlier eras. (Click on any photo in my blog to see a larger version.)


Below we are visiting the Museum of Printed Textiles (Musee de L'Impression sur Etoffes) in Mulhouse, France in September 2006 while on one of Deb Robert's fabulous Textile Study Tours.


To read about the birth of European textile design, click here. I highly recommend Deb's tours if you want to study textiles. She has another one to the U.K.coming up next June.





Click here for a new blog site for tracking textile exhibits in the U.K.

Enjoy exploring!

Design Influences Upon Quilts

There are a lot of exicted quilt historians and quilters looking forward to the March 20 -July 4, 2010 quilt exhibit at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London! From their PR: The V&A will present its first ever exhibition of British quilts, with examples dating from 1700 to the present day - a unique opportunity to view the V&A's unseen quilt collection as well as key national loans. Click and bookmark this link to keep updated about the details.

The V&A has recently published an extensivie research paper on a particular aspect of patchwork history: DOING TIME: PATCHWORK AS A TOOL OF SOCIAL REHABILITATION IN BRITISH PRISONS by Claire Smith Research Assistant CLICK HERE to read it.


My First Visit to the V&A
in 2007 was an Awesome Experience

I would even say the experience boarded on overwhelming. There was so much to see and absorb just in textiles alone. One of the many things I enjoyed about this visit was seeing examples of ancient designs that appear repeatedly in American quilting but have thier roots in the older Near and Far East.

I have loved ikat since my first visit to Asia when I was a teenager. This piece is not that old but it defintiely reminds me of an American quilt patern. Click on the pictures to enlarge them.



The above piece is a woven cloth patterned by selectively resist-dyeing the yarns before weaving. It is in the V&A collection and is loosley dated about 1850-1900. The pattern emerges as the cloth is woven. This technique is known as kasuri in Japan and ikat in South-East Asia. Does the alternate block resemble the Hole in the Barn quilt pattern to you?

Needlework from a woman's smock about 1630 England. Doesn't this remind you of late 18th century redwork?





Talk about exquisite patchwork! This Chinese garment shimmered.



(Photos are from my visit to the V&A in 2007.)