Substance Materials The centre of the handkerchief is a lightweight cream/white coloured habutai-like silk. It has slight slubbing. One direction of the weave is more pronounced than the other. Microscopic examination: Silk reference. Handkerchief fabric. The threads of the knitted/crocheted lace edge are shiny and cream coloured. Each thread is made of many individual fibres. … More Exercise 1.2 Substance and Story: Handkerchief

Exercise 1.1 Identify an archive and select three textile pieces to observe. As we are still in COVID-19 lockdown, I decided to use items from an old trunk that came from my husband’s paternal grandmother. The trunk was full of textiles, and many of the items were wrapped in newspaper dating from 1929, 1936 an … More Exercise 1.1 The Archive

Substance Materials There is no maker’s label on the article. The body of the collar is either a cotton or linen voile, with a very fine, open weave that renders it semi-transparent. Close up of voile. Microscopic examination of the fibre shows that piece is made of cotton. The fibres show the characteristic twist of … More Exercise 1.2 Substance and Story: Collar

Substance Materials There is no maker’s label on the article. The bed jacket is cream cotton voile, with a very fine, open weave that renders it semi-transparent. Microscopic examination of the fibre shows that piece is made of cotton. The fibres show the characteristic twist of cotton. Cotton reference. Jacket fibre. The threads of the … More Exercise 1.2 Substance and Story: Bed Jacket

Definitions A definition of textiles in the broadest sense: A textile is a material made of fibres. Micro-structure: fibres The first pre-requisite of my definition requires that a textile be made of fibres. Fibres is meant to encompass small threads or elongated pieces of any material. This can range from the traditional sources of fibre: … More What are textiles?