The exquisite diversity of textiles in this book will fascinate all who behold them! Southeast Asian textiles have long been recognized on the world's international market as superb examples of textile art. This book explores their artistic significance, providing an overview of the various styles, designs, and decorative techniques through over 260 color photographs. It gives practical suggestions for collectors on how to care for, value, and use specimen textiles in the home. Chapters are devoted to batik (wax-resist decorative dyed cloths), ikat (bind-resist dyed and woven textiles), decoratively woven forms from stripes to tapestry, and beautifully embellished textiles with beadwork and embroidery. Southeast Asian language and technical terms are further explained in an extensive glossary. Textile designers will be inspired by the traditional and modern interpretations of design and symbols, including leaves, birds, animals, and mystical creatures. A price guide is included.

Sweet strawberries, bold florals, grandma's kitchen plaid, and state souvenir tablecloths: these are some of the images in this comprehensive reference guide for everyone who loves vintage linens. A wonderful, thoroughly researched pictorial reference guide with over 500 striking photographs of vintage tablecloths, period advertising and packaging, up-to-date values, and detailed captions. Organized by decades, the book covers the history of the printed tablecloth from the 1700s to the 1950s, and presents the social and political influences on period designs and styles. It includes sections on how to date your tablecloths, spotting reproductions, and information about major manufacturers. There are ideas for crafts you can make with your vintage linens, too. It is the ultimate tribute to the exuberant and creative spirit of the American tablecloth manufacturer. An invaluable, must-have resource for linen, tablecloth, and vintage textile collectors, interior designers, or anyone else interested in vintage linens.

This comprehensive, illustrated survey explores the more common linens and fabrics once carefully stored in American linen closets and hope chests and proudly spread on tables and in neatly made up bedrooms. More than 500 color photographs illustrate these diverse and colorful areas of collecting, ranging from intricate and detailed samplers, embroidery, and tatting, to simple but elegant pieces such as hand towels and splashers; pillow cases, shams and bolsters; quilts and coverlets; rugs; scarves and runners; sheets and blankets; tablecloths; and tray and teacart cloths.You'll even find early factory-made fabrics, a breakthrough for homemakers of the time. Helpful, creative tips on caring for old and damaged pieces, as well as new ideas for decorating with them, are also included. Written for both the novice antiquer and the experienced dealer, Collecting More Household Linens is a wonderful guide to the linens found decorating our homes for decades.

When does a carpet transcend the category of interior accessory to become art? This well-illustrated book features 200 carpets found in behind-the scenes tours of amazing homes around the world. In thematic chapters, it covers the main international trends, from Ethnic to Art Deco and from Contemporary to Artsy. These dressed-up living spaces provide inspiration for anyone fascinated by stylish living, creative interior design and the myriad possibilities for home decor. In addition, the author provides helpful information on the provenance of materials, quality of design, composition and workmanship possibilities for home decor. It's a fascinating glimpse into the homes of people with a good taste. Carpets & Rugs is comprehensive and more relevant than ever.

If you love the designs, fabrics, and sheer beauty of 19th and early 20th century women's fashions, this book will be your guide and time machine. It presents over 450 enchanting color photographs of modern-day models wearing the dresses, waists, undergarments, and accessories of this elegant era, including daywear, sportswear, and formalwear. Unusual items such as fancy dress, aesthetic garments, and reform styles are explained and illustrated. This book will help both novice and expert collectors accurately identify and date their collections by evaluating the silhouette, construction, style, and details of fashionable garments. Sound advice for maintaining, laundering, and repairing them is also provided, as is an updated price guide.

The history of quilts, their makers, and usage is an important part of our country's heritage presented here in full detail through 330 vintage photographs. Books on quilt history have, to date, included only a few photos of quilts. This in-depth collection, most of which has never been seen before, date from 1855 to 1955. Each vivid image provides commentary on quilting specifics, photography, costume, and American cultural history, especially toward the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Photographic formats and a glossary of quilting terms are included to aid the reader in dating their own vintage photographs. This book is a wonderful resource for all quilters, historians, and photographers.

The title of this book embodies the author's attitude toward the collection that she presents, using vivid photographs to guide the reader through centuries of lacemaking and embroidery. The author has traveled throughout Europe carefully researching the origin and history of the pieces presented. Information is separated into eight chapters: Lace Trim, Bridal Hankies, Fashion, Society Embroidery, Appenzell-work, Bed Linens, Table Linens, and Miscellaneous Lace and/or Embroidered Pieces. Each chapter includes an overview, detailed descriptions, and photographs, including details that are excellent references for identifying various styles of lace and embroidery. The price range associated with each will help the reader understand the effect age, condition, and workmanship have on value. This book will appeal to beginners and experienced collectors alike.

The tradition of weaving textiles and rugs among the Navajo people in the Southwest is glimpsed in its present form in this new pictorial study. The regional styles long associated with Navajo blankets and rugs continue to evolve today and the sections of this book present the contemporary results through hundreds of beautiful all photographs and text identifying many of the weavers. The new styles of Burntwater, Wide Ruins, Ganado, Crystal, Chinle, Two Grey Hills, Teec Nos Pos, Western Reservation and Shiprock area designs show continuing talent among today's Navajo weavers. There is also a section devoted to special purpose and fancy weavings including saddle blankets, round, double and two-faced weaves and multiples designs. One must conclude that the quality and diversity of Navajo weavings is at a high level today.

Why spend a small fortune to rent expensive period costumes when you can create them yourself for less than a day's rental price? Make them the easy way from cast-offs without sewing! Included in this book are over 65 ingenious costumes designs with photos and diagrams for many period characters from Egyptian, Greek and Roman all the way to Punk. These conversion costuming ideas will save you time, money and deadline disasters and give you precisely the costume you want. Sample section headings: Gothic, Renaissance, Elizabethan, Restoration, Old West, Bustle, Turn-of-the Century, WWI, '20s, '30s, '40s, '50s, '60s, '70s and '80s.

The effective preparation of garments for display is essential for exhibitions of contemporary and historical dress. Costumes not only need to be visually appealing but also fully supported and historically accurate. This book provides a comprehensive guide to mounting costumes from the eighteenth century to the present day. It includes methods for adapting and shaping figures to create historical silhouettes, constructing underpinnings and making replicas and toiles using inexpensive and simple techniques. A Practical Guide to Costume Mounting is an invaluable resource for conservators, historians and all those working with clothing in museums, private collections and throughout the fashion and theatre industries. Trained as a historical costume maker, author Lara Flecker is the textile display specialist at London's Victoria and Albert Museum. She has worked extensively with the museum's world-class costume collection, preparing garments for display. Her simple mounting methods are clearly explained and can be used by people with a wide range of experience, including those with few sewing skills.

A heavily illustrated classic on the evolution of the handloom. The handloom-often no more than a bundle of sticks and a few lengths of cordage-has been known to almost all cultures for thousands of years. Eric Broudy places the wide variety of handlooms in their historical context. What influenced their development? How did they travel from one geographic area to another? Were they invented independently by different cultures? How have modern cultures improved on ancient weaving skills and methods? Broudy shows how virtually every culture has woven on handlooms. He highlights the incredible technical achievement of early cultures that created magnificent textiles with the crudest of tools and demonstrates that modern technology has done nothing to surpass their skill or inventiveness.

Handbags have been an essential part of the feminine attire for nearly 200 years. This all-inclusive book showcases hundreds of unique handbags, from pouches worn in the dark ages to contemporary clutches, illustrated in 450 beautiful color images. This book traces the handbag's evolution as it has related to fashion and been influenced by history. The handbags range from delicate beaded reticules, to bold metal ring mesh bags and rhinestone-accented velvet evening bags. Leather, silk, plastic, and even wooden handbags are shown, each with current market values in the caption. The factual text and period advertisements will appeal to enthusiasts. This book is an invaluable reference for collectors and antique professionals, and a great resource for designers.

Revealing the elaborate embroidery, intricate pleats and daring cuts that make up some of the 20th century's most beautiful garments, this book explores the specific techniques used by couturiers as tastes and textile technologies evolved. Work by designers such as Mariano Fortuny, Madeleine Vionnet, Paul Poiret, Hubert de Givenchy, Mary Quant, Yves Saint Laurent and Vivienne Westwood is rediscovered, and exquisite haute-couture pieces, from sequinned Chanel trouser suits and richly embroidered Schiaparelli jackets to striking Balenciaga creations and Dior evening gowns, are examined. Part of the 'Fashion in Detail' series, this updated edition features a revised introduction and list of designers followed by chapters dedicated to a particular technique. Each garment is illustrated through detailed photography and line drawings and is accompanied by a commentary by leading experts in textiles and fashion. An extraordinary exploration of the techniques used by couturiers in the construction of these exceptional garments, 20th-Century Fashion in Detail will delight all followers of fashion.

A fascinating history of Irishmen, woven through the clothes they wear. Taking the clothes they wore as a starting point, Paul Galvin skilfully weaves together a collection of stories of Irish men who defined the culture and mood of their time. In 'Push' he tells the story of the legendary Walker Brothers - cyclists and soldiers who pedalled through a storm for Ireland at the 1912 Stockholm Games. In 'Born Mad', discover another side to Samuel Beckett - sartor and prolific sportsman who had knockout power as a champion boxer in school. In 'Boland' we learn about Harry Boland's background as a trained tailor, and in 'Jack' we encounter Jack B. Yeats at the Olympic Games in Paris. These are just some of men who have inspired Paul's own fashion collections and whom he writes about here in a fascinating collection that shines a light on how history is woven into the clothes Irishmen wear.

Delve into a beautifully photographed exploration of the spectacular colors, rich textures, and treasured traditions of 65 of America's most remarkable quilts, each hand-selected from the permanent collection at the International Quilt Study Center & Museum, the largest public collection of quilts in the world. Each quilt is a precious historic heirloom in its own right, highlighted in stunning, color-saturated photos. You'll be inspired by the beauty, workmanship, and artistry of America's quiltmaking tradition in this lush coffee-table book for all lovers of quilts and textiles. (Patterns not included.)

Featuring over 450 archival photographs and line drawings, Chinese Dress traces the evolution of Chinese clothing from court and formal costumes to the everyday fashions of twenty-first century China. Author Valery Garrett skillfully weaves the story of Chinese dress in all its variations--elaborately embroidered robes, military uniforms, children's dress, wedding and funeral attire, working clothes, Mao-inspired fashion--against a backdrop of historical, cultural and social change. A comprehensive and sumptuously illustrated book, this book includes images of garments and accessories from museum and private collections, as well as unpublished or little-known archival photos and printed materials. Chapters include: Dress of the Qing Manchu Rulers 1644-1911 Dress of the Manchu Consorts 1644-1911 Attire of Mandarins and Merchants Attire of Chinese Women Republican Dress 1912-1949 Clothing of the Lower Classes Clothing for Children Dress in New China 1950-Present Day For both modern fashion inspiration and accurate historical representation, Chinese Dress is the essential reference for costume historians, fashion designers and collectors, as well as lovers of beautiful clothes!

For those seeking inspiration from these striking, tribal rug designs and those who want to own them, this is the perfect guide. It's packed with 235 big, striking color photos, and simply presented as a guide for both would-be buyers and for rug owners seeking the story behind their precious finds. Buying a rug can be a traumatic experience. Author and rug dealer Susan Gomersall sets out to answer the questions you always wanted to ask a rug dealer, but felt too intimidated to do so. Each chapter tells one tribe's story: a little bit of their history, a little bit about their present-day circumstances, and descriptions of the rugs they weave. Both antique and modern rugs can be found in each chapter, and some indication of what these generally cost in a retail situation.

The most colorful and complete book published on the most enduring souvenir ever invented: the Hawaiian shirt. Beautifully illustrated with hundreds of images, this book recounts the colorful stories behind these marvelous shirts: as cultural icons, evocative of the mystery and the allure of the islands, capturing the vibe of the watermen culture and lifestyle -- casual, relaxed, and fun. Valued by professional collectors and by millions of vacationers and fashionistos, these shirts are enjoying a fashion revival. Drawing from hundreds of interviews, newspaper and magazine archives, and personal memorabilia, the author evokes the world of the designers, seamstresses, manufacturers, and retailers who created the industry and nurtured it from its single-sewing-machine-shop beginnings to an enterprise of international scope and importance and its revival today. The Aloha Shirt is both a dazzling, fun-to-browse art book, and a fascinating chronicle of the world's love affair with Hawaii.

Arkansas Made is the culmination of the Historic Arkansas Museum's exhaustive investigations into the history of the state's material culture past. Decades of meticulous research have resulted in this exciting two-volume set portraying the work of a multitude of artisan cabinetmakers, silversmiths, potters, fine artists, quilters, and more working in communities all over the sate. The work of these artisan groups documented and collected here has been the driving force of the Historic Arkansas Museum's mission to collect and preserve Arkansas's creative legacy and rich artistic traditions.Arkansas Made demonstrates that Arkansas artists, artisans, and their works not only existed, but are worthy of study, admiration, and reflection.

Rich selection of scaled dressmaker's patterns from the popular late-19th century magazine The Voice of Fashion details 50 garments for women, from handsome daytime and evening dresses to casual tennis outfits, a riding habit, and undergarments This volume will not only find practical use among costume designers and students of fashion history but will also delight browsers and anyone intrigued by the evolution of clothing styles. 498 illus.

Shaker Fancy Goods tells the story of the Shaker Sisters of the nineteenth and early twentieth century who responded to the economic perils of the Industrial Revolution by inventing a lucrative industry of their own-Fancy Goods, a Victorian term for small adorned household objects made by women for women. Thanks to their work ethic, business savvy, and creativity, the tireless Shaker Sisters turned a seemingly modest trade into the economic engine that sustained their communal way of life, just as the men were abandoning the sect for worldly employment. Relying on journals and church family records that give voice to the plainspoken accounts of the sisters themselves, the book traces the work they did to establish their principal revenue streams, from designing the products, to producing them by hand (and later by machine, when they could do so without compromising quality) to bringing their handcrafts to market. Photographs, painstakingly gathered over years of research from museums and private collections, present the best examples of these fancy goods. Fancy goods include the most modest and domestic of items, like the pen wipes that the Sisters shaped into objects such as dolls, mittens, and flowers; or the emeries, pincushions, and needle books lovingly made back in an era when more than a minimal competency in sewing was expected in women; to more substantial purchases like the Dorothy cloaks that were in demand among fashionable women of the world; or the heavy rib-knitted sweaters, cardigans, and pullovers that became popular items among college boys and adventurous women.