Woven coverlets have appeared in several guises within the history of folk textiles. Created on four-harness looms, coverlets made in the nineteenth-century American South typically featured colored wool and cotton threads woven into striking geometric patterns. Although they are not as well known as other textiles and domestic objects, "overshot" coverlets were, and continue to be, significant examples of material culture that require tremendous skill and creativity to produce. They also express currents of conformity and dissent. In addition to being pleasing to the eye and hand, "overshot" coverlets have advanced a variety of social and political ends. At times exhibited in slave quarters along the seaboard in Georgia and South Carolina in association with plantation properties, they also appear in piedmont areas attached to the antebellum yeomanry, in the context of nationalist craft revivals, and in white-box contemporary art. With Overshot, Susan Falls and Jessica R. Smith analyze what we can learn by examining the exhibition and interpretation of these materials within American public history. By showing how geometric overshot coverlets can be understood in relationship to the global economy and within politicized cultural movements, Falls and Smith demonstrate how these erstwhile domestic, utilitarian objects explode the art/craft dichotomy, belong to a rich narrative of historical art forms, and tell us far more about American culture today than simply representing a nostalgic past, particularly with regard to ideas about race, class, nationalism, women's labor, and the separation of private versus public spaces.

The colour and shade of dyed textiles were once as much an indicator of social class or position as the fabric itself and for centuries the recipes used by dyers were closely guarded secrets. The arrival of synthetic dyestuffs in the middle of the nineteenth century opened up a whole rainbow of options and within 50 years modern dyes had completely overturned the dyeing industry. From pre-history to the current day, the story of dyed textiles in Western Europe brings together the worlds of politics, money, the church, law, taxation, international trade and exploration, fashion, serendipity and science. This book is an introduction to a broad, diverse and fascinating subject of how and why people coloured textiles. A fresh review of this topic, this book brings previous scholars' work to light, alongside new discoveries and research.

In an era of increasingly available digital resources, many textile designers and makers find themselves at an interesting juncture between traditional craft processes and newer digital technologies. Highly specialized craft/design practitioners may now elect to make use of digital processes in their work, but often choose not to abandon craft skills fundamental to their practice, and aim to balance the complex connection between craft and digital processes. The essays collected here consider this transition from the viewpoint of aesthetic opportunity arising in the textile designer's hands-on experimentation with material and digital technologies available in the present. Craft provides the foundations for thinking within the design and production of textiles, and as such may provide some clues in the transition to creative and thoughtful use of current and future digital technologies. Within the framework of current challenges relating to sustainable development, globalization, and economic constraints it is important to interrogate and question how we might go about using established and emerging technologies in textiles in a positive manner.

Printed cotton sacks are currently fashionable aspects for material culture research, particularly in the costume and quilt history communities. In the second quarter of the twentieth century, these mass-produced sacks were relied upon by rural America as a valuable source of free fabric for clothing, quilts, and home decor. This book is the catalog for the Museum of Texas Tech University's "Cotton and Thrift" exhibition, which showcases the Pat L. Nickols Cotton Sack Research Collection. The Nickols Collection includes white sacks, printed partial and whole cotton sacks, swatches of printed sacks, instructional booklets, garments, quilts, quilt tops and decorated white sacks. Combined with earlier and subsequent individual donations, the almost 6000 feed sack pieces held by the Museum of TTU make this the largest collection of feed sack materials to be assembled by an American university, and likely the largest such collection in public hands.

Textiles connect a variety of practices and traditions, ranging from the refined couture garments of Parisian fashion to the high-tech filaments strong enough to hoist a satellite into space. High-performance fabrics are being reconceived as immersive webs, structural networks and information exchanges, and their ability to interface with technology is changing how the human body is experienced and how the urban environment is built. Today, textiles reveal their capacity to transform our world more than any other material. "Textile Futures" highlights recent works from key practitioners and examines the changing role of textiles. Recent developments present new technical possibilities that are beginning to redefine textiles as a uniquely multidisciplinary field of innovation and research. This book is an important tool for any textile practitioner, fashion designer, architect, interior designer or student designer interested in following new developments in the field of textiles, seeking new sustainable sources, or just eager to discover new works that reveal the potency of textiles as an ultramaterial.

A hundred years after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the Museum Funf Kontinente is showing the special exhibition In trockenen Tuchern! Gewebtes und Besticktes aus dem Osmanischen Reich [A Stitch in Time! Woven and Embroidered Textiles from the Ottoman Empire]. The accompanying publication provides an insight into the different aspects of inhabitants' life during the Late Ottoman Empire, based on selected textiles and everyday items from the collections of the Museum Funf Kontinente as well as the private collections of Ther and Middendorf. Together with their rural counterparts featuring woven red and blue patterns, the napkins and hand towels from the 18th to 20th century, artistically embroidered with blossom, fruits, or architectural elements, accompanied people from cradle to grave and bear impressive witness to their craftsmanship. Today these textile objects are a significant part of the cultural legacy of Turkey. Text in German with partial Turkish translation.

The basic principles of the flat-pattern method are the foundation of producing effective apparel designs. Principles of Flat-Pattern Design, 4th Edition, maintains its simple and straightforward presentation of flat-patternmaking principles which is proven to be less intimidating for beginning students. Numbered and fully illustrated steps guide students through a logical series of pattern manipulation procedures, each beginning with a flat sketch of the design to be developed and ending with a representation of the completed pattern. A significant expansion of the introductory chapters in this 4th Edition aligns the patternmaking process with current industry practices, including technological advancements, design analysis, and production basics such as grading, marker making, and specifications.

In this innovative collaborative ethnography of Italian-Chinese ventures in the fashion industry, Lisa Rofel and Sylvia J. Yanagisako offer a new methodology for studying transnational capitalism. Drawing on their respective linguistic and regional areas of expertise, Rofel and Yanagisako show how different historical legacies of capital, labor, nation, and kinship are crucial in the formation of global capitalism. Focusing on how Italian fashion is manufactured, distributed, and marketed by Italian-Chinese ventures and how their relationships have been complicated by China's emergence as a market for luxury goods, the authors illuminate the often-overlooked processes that produce transnational capitalism-including privatization, negotiation of labor value, rearrangement of accumulation, reconfiguration of kinship, and outsourcing of inequality. In so doing, Fabricating Transnational Capitalism reveals the crucial role of the state and the shifting power relations between nations in shaping the ideas and practices of the Italian and Chinese partners.

An essential guide to the techniques and traditional craft of hand weaving. This practical and inspirational book is perfect for beginners who want to learn the techniques of the traditional craft of hand weaving. Step-by-step instructions show you how to weave on a frame loom, including changing yarns, mastering curves and using interlocking to create intricate patterns. There is also advice on spinning, dyeing yarns, designing your work, incorporating found objects, and constructing your own simple looms. Written by an experienced weaving teacher, this book contains all you need to know to get started on weaving beautiful objects, and includes projects to make your own 'weavelets', purses and wall tapestries.

The so-called chasuble of Thomas Becket (1118-1170) is one of the most magnificent medieval textiles in the Mediterranean region. Richly decorated with ornaments, fabulous animals and figures in lavish gold embroidery with Arabic inscriptions, this precious liturgical garment provides impressive proof of the reutilisation of the Islamic arts in the Christian world. Venerated as a relic of St Thomas of Canterbury, the chasuble was produced in Spanish-Muslim workshops and probably reached Italy as a donation to the Cathedral of Fermo in about 1200. Despite its outstanding artistic quality and fascinating history, this magnificent garment has never hitherto been the subject of a detailed study. Richly illustrated with numerous details, this volume investigates the meaning of the inscriptions and motifs, examines manufacturing techniques and the function of the chasuble, traces its "biography" and places it within the historical context of the political, economic and cultural situation in the Mediterranean region.

This beautiful and accessible book will deepen the understanding of anyone who loves textiles. It explores woven textiles thematically, through the work of contemporary artists and designers. Some make their art from unwoven threads, the raw material of which textiles are born. Others use digital technology so that elements of light, sound, and even motion are literally woven in the fabric. An excellent resource for everyone with an interest in contemporary woven textiles, this book features work by the following international selection of artists and designers: Gabriel Dawe, Ball-Nogues Studio, Susie MacMurray, Laura Thomas, Sue Lawty, Lauren Moriarty, Elana Herzog, Tamar Frank, Marianne Kemp, Dashing Tweeds, Hiroko Takeda, Christine Keller, Hilde Hauan Johnsen, Sarah Taylor, Astrid Krogh, Priti Veja, Salt, Ainsley Hillard, Philip Beesley, Maria Blaisse, Barbara Layne, Zane Berzina, Maggie Orth, Elaine Ng Yan Ling, Lucy McMullen, Philippa Brock, Grethe Sorensen, Christy Matson, Lars Preisser, Lise Frolund and Hanne Raffnsoe, Elin Igland, Alyce Santoro, Drahomira Hampl, Nadia-Anne Ricketts, Eleanor Pritchard, Aleksandra Gaca, Ismini Samanidou, Louise Bourgeois, Ane Henrikesen, Shane Waltener, Jeroen Vinken, Liz Williamson, Lucy Brown, Janine Antoni, Lia Cook, Petter Hellsing, Runa Carlsen, Wallace & Sewell, Ptolemy Mann, Missoni Home, ao for Gainsborough, NUNO Corporation, Norwegian Rain, Soukaina Aziz El Idrissi, Suzanne Tick, Travis Meinolf, and Anne Wilson.

Chloe Colchester's up-to-the-minute survey reveals a diverse, exciting and provocative field, one at the vanguard of extraordinary technological developments while also the source of astonishing works of beauty. From colour-changing, light-sensitive camouflage to emergency shelters of cement-impregnated fabric bonded to an inflatable plastic, from Eley Kishimoto's gorgeous patterns to the astonishing colours of Morphotex, this dazzlingly fresh sourcebook of original and inspiring designs will appeal to all designers and anyone with an interest in textiles.

Quilting, once regarded as a traditional craft, has broken through the barriers of history, art and commerce to become a global phenomenon, international multi-billion dollar industry and means of gendered cultural production. In Quilting, sociologist and quilter Marybeth C. Stalp explores how and why women quilt.
This close ethnographic study illustrates that women's lives can be transformed in often surprising ways by the activity and art of quilting. Some women who quilt as a leisure pastime are too afraid to admit to being a quilter for fear of ridicule; others boldly identify themselves as quilters and regard it as part of their everyday lives.
The place of quilting in women's lives affects core family and personal identity issues such as marriage, childcare, friendship and aging. The book's accessible and intimate portrayal of real quilters' lives provides a fabric for the sociology, anthropology and textile student to understand more about wider issues of cultural production and identity that stem from this very personal pastime.

A celebration of female inventiveness and aesthetic sensibility, Shedding the Shackles explores women's craft enterprises, their artisanal excellence, and the positive impact their individual projects have on breaking the poverty cycle. In the first part of the twentieth century, suffering from a legacy inherited from the Victorian era, craft skills, such as weaving, sewing, embroidery, and quilting were regarded largely as women's domestic pastimes, and remained undervalued and marginalised. It has taken several decades for attitudes to change, for the boundaries between 'fine art' and craft to blur, and for textile crafts to be given the same respect and recognition as other media. Featuring artisans and projects from across the globe Shedding the Shackles celebrates their vision and motivation giving a fascinating glimpse into how these craft initiatives have created a sustainable lifestyle, and impacted upon their communities at a deeper level.

Textile Technology and Design addresses the critical role of the interior at the intersection of design and technology, with a range of interdisciplinary arguments by a wide range of contributors: from design practitioners to researchers and scholars to aerospace engineers. Chapters examine the way in which textiles and technology - while seemingly distinct - continually inform each other through their persistent overlapping of interests, and eventually coalesce in the practice of interior design. Covering all kinds of interiors from domestic (prefabricated kitchens and 3D wallpaper) to extreme (underwater habitats and space stations), it features a variety of critical aspects including pattern and ornament, domestic technologies, craft and the imperfect, gender issues, sound and smart textiles. This book is essential reading for students of textile technology, textile design and interior design.

In 1996 more than two hundred mummies and skeletal remains accompanied by a rich array of burial offerings were discovered at a cliff side burial site overlooking Laguna de los Condores in the cloud forest of Chachapoyas. In spite of the humid climate in this remote corner of Peru's northeastern Andes, many of the organic remains, including textiles, were extraordinarily well preserved. The textiles are today stored or exhibited at the Museo Leymebamba. The find includes the best preserved and largest cache of Chachapoya textiles known to date, providing researchers with a unique opportunity to learn about little-known Chachapoya weaving techniques, iconography, style, politics, and trade connections, mostly from the Chachapoya-Inca period, ca. 1470-1532. This richly illustrated volume studies forty-five selected textiles, both burial offerings and mummy bundle wrappings, with chapters on Chachapoya iconography, culture, and quipus (talking knots), as well as a description of the project launched to rescue the finds and the construction of the Museo Leymebamba.

This volume brings together research into the process of commercialization of the folk crafts of Thailand: the conditions of its emergence, the parties involved in its development, the changes in the processes and organization of production which accompany it, the channels through which commercialized craft products are marketed, the nature of the audiences they reach, and the transformations in appearance and meaning which the products undergo as a result of their commercialization. The first part of the book explores the commercialization of hill tribe textiles, particularly those of the Hmong refugees from Laos. The second part presents a series of case studies of the various ways in which the products of lowland Thai "craft villages" became commercialized.

This updated edition of Volume 2 of the Photographic Guide catalogues the North American Indian baskets accessioned at the Peabody Museum between 1990 and 2004. Basket photographs and descriptions are grouped by geographic region and tribal affiliation. All catalogue information, including collection date, description of the basic technology used, provenience, function, materials, and maker, is specified when known. The guide serves as a valuable tool and stimulus for further research into North American Indian baskets, of which the Peabody Museum holds more than 3,000 examples.

Common Threads explores ideas of artistic identity and memory contained within the narrated stories of ten textile artists. It reveals how individuals bring a sense of linearity to fragments of memory and create a cohesive sense of self through telling their life's story.By employing a systems model, the author constructs new ideas of interrogating identity and art practice. The model, "Constructing Personal Narratives", brings into focus the hermeneutic circle of learning, and identifies the importance and need to provide opportunities for lifelong learning. The stories told by the participants who returned to the formal education sector later in life reveal the profound effects adult learning had upon their lives. The writer reveals how the model generated the interview questions that provided the rich biographical content that emerged within dialogues.The common threads of experience and feelings of the ten participants and the author are revealed, and from these emerge deepened understandings of both the place of stories within our lives and how stories can further an understanding of what it means to be an artist. Emerging from these stories are implications for teaching practice; these are presented as observations and questions in terms of how educators should be part of the learning experience with those they educate.