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!
Preserving The Clothing of Diplomacy
Celebrating French/American Relations Through These and Other Objects in the U.S. Ambassador’s residence in the Hôtel Rothschild Collaborative blog by Elizabeth Wise, Kaitlyn Munro, Katherine Hill McIntyre, Julia BrennanAll images are courtesy of Caring for Textiles unless otherwise noted. The Lights that Guide Us: A Celebration of Hôtel Rothschild et son Jardin Pontalba & the […]
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 […]
Textiles on the Range
By Julia M Brennan American quilts are truly a local art form and very much alive. In the little Western Slope Colorado town of Palisade (population 2,700) which is famous for its peaches, I found a quilt maker who has been creating rag rugs and quilts for the last 50+ years. Even now with limited […]
Slow Down and Listen to the Stitching
by Julia M Brennan and Anna Tendler Mulaney In these hurried days leading up to the holidays, we invite you to slow down and engage in a little stitching meditation. Listen. Pictured above is a late 19th c Meiji period Japanese uchikake, a ceremonial robe custom made for a bride. It is decorated with symbols from the […]
