Antique Textiles

Today the sun is shining and it makes me feel light and energetic, much in the same way that I felt when I read all of your kind and supportive comments regarding my bead journal Valentine. I feel so very good today and I'm pretty certain a lot of that is thanks to all of you, my kindred spirits, my friends. The power of the blogging and bjp community never ceases to amaze me...

And, so today, I'm sharing another amazing side of our blogging community...the sharing of information and images which there is no way we would be able to access if it weren't for the vehicle of blogs...Grap a cup of your favorite elixir, and here we go:

Trouvais --


Trish from Trouvais has a unique ability to combine images that she collects from print and digital media into the most cohesive and inspirational posts...


She has a love for antique beauty, French style and embroidery/textiles! Some of my favorite posts are Gilded Opulence; Darkly, Deeply, Beautifully Blue; Plum; Revelry and Reverie...not to mention the one of Fanny Brawne and Hogspear and many, many more! Thank you Trish for bringing us all of these found treasures!

Another find, yet completely different, is Sri Threads...the blog of a Textile Gallery in Brooklyn, NY specializing in antique folk textiles, particularly the indigo-dyed textiles worn by the everyday Japanese worker and the boro or pieces which have been patched or mended.


To me, these patched and mended pieces are some of the most beautiful examples of patchwork in the world. I particularly enjoyed this post on the intriguing story behind this magnificently pieced 19th century silk Han Juban - worn under a kimono.


And for those of you who aren't aware of Lacis, a little treasure of a shop for needleworkers in Berkeley, CA with the most significant library of international books on textiles, needlework and techniques I've found anywhere...not to mention their incredible textile collection housed in the Lacis Museum! I had the pleasure of visiting Lacis for the first time last Summer and three hours was not nearly enough!! They sell all forms of needlework supplies, often the very hard-to-find, on their website.

One of the greatest things about Lacis is their museum website where they photograph the current exhibition and put it into a slideshow. Check out the most recent slideshow on Bobbin Lace -- it's absolutely beautiful.


Not only that, they still have available all of their previous exhibitions online as well -- so, even if you missed one, you can go back and view it anytime. I particulary loved Memories in Beads, Beyond the Pattern and Whitework. And, if lace is your interest, there are oodles of exhibitions of the myriad types of beautiful laces made all over the world. Joining their mailing list is a MUST!

And last but not least, I found this little gem of a blog, The Helen Louise Textile Collection through Each Little World ( a magnificent garden blog with reading and textiles too!) . This blog is documenting the moving of a 13,000 piece textile collection to a new location. I have learned many interesting facts in caring for textiles from this new blog...and this post about the unique issues of conserving crazy quilts was very interesting...and this one on Chinese textiles, this one on a beaded bell pull, and this one on a German Sampler...

Phew! Hope you enjoyed your tour!