2022 is a Wrap. Here’s to 2023, and to you—our wonderful textilian friends! 2022 was peppered with covid, but in between we conserved, surveyed, examined, dressed, and prepped over 200 textiles thanks to our dynamic team of Julia, Kaitlyn, Katherine, Emilee, and Peyton. 3 wedding veils, 12 samplers, 2 Folk Art dolls from the 1960s, […]
The Fantasy Doll Show and Possum Trot
Caring For Textiles finds the delicate balance between original work and restoration In 1977, filmmakers Allie Light and Irving Saraf released the documentary Possum Trot: The Life and Work of Calvin Black with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. It’s a treasure and a treat; take a few minutes and watch it. In it, you’ll […]
Sparkling Smart Smithies Share Textiles Studio Time
We always look forward to the annual fall studio visit of the Smith College Museum Studies students, and this year was a dynamic group!
Through the Onlooking Glass: A View to Open Conservation
The goal of open conservation labs is to “connect with art, science, world cultures, and history in ways that engage and delight,”
Restoring The “Star-Spangled Banner” of Frederick Maryland: Part Two
By Kaitlyn Munro If you missed the first part of this two-part series, click here to read that post. Our introduction to Mrs. Shawbaker’s flag began with an initial assessment in 2020. It was mounted and framed in the 1980’s. The flag was puckered, distorted and wrinkled, with hundreds of disfiguring and damaging stitches done […]
The “Star-Spangled Banner” of Frederick Maryland: Part One
By Kaitlyn Munro Oh say, can you see” this remarkable flag? I think sometimes people tend to think of flags as ordinary textiles in the sense that we see them everywhere; outside office buildings, schools, homes etc. Though they remain symbolically powerful, we think of them as universally alike. When a flag tells an interesting […]
Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum Launches New, Moving Exhibition Of Victims’ Clothes
On Monday, December 27, 2021, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum launched a new, moving exhibition of victims’ clothes—Remembering S-21 Victims through their Clothes: Textiles Preservation at Tuol Sleng Museum. The exhibition is the culmination of four years of focused conservation triage, treatment, and training in order to preserve the clothing and textile […]
Adorable Alert: Christening Gown Photos…Baby Included!
We work on quite a few christening dresses here at Caring for Textiles. However, we don’t often get to see the final result once we send these precious pieces on their way. Imagine our delight when we received a greeting in the mail with two photos of a gown we had worked on—and the adorable […]
The Bobbinet Blog, or “Tulle Tales”
By Julia Brennan and Kaitlyn Munro Recently I met my lovely friend Claire Chen, who was wearing a gossamer tulle skirt, which fluttered around her like a butterfly. It was enchanting, so was she, and my curiosity about tulle was stirred. I started noticing the tulle explosion everywhere …… in the fashion magazines Chanel, Dior, Mango, […]
Field Trip: Williamsburg, Virginia
We visit “Printed Fashions: Textiles for Clothing and the Home” By Kaitlyn Munro Lauren and I recently returned from a fabulous trip to Colonial Williamsburg (Virginia) to attend the symposium, Printed Fashions: Textiles for Clothing and the Home. We were honored to present a paper “Burn Out”, about a range of conservation techniques for stabilizing […]
