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, […]
Gloriously Blessing the Baby…and Restoring the Glory to the Gown
Over the years we have cleaned, conserved, and repaired hundreds of historic christening dresses. Each one is different, short or long, tiered or sheer, embroidered or laced, pleated or smocked – each with its own family stories. Most have very yellowed ‘bib’ areas from sweet milky spittle, and often a host of rips and tears…..it […]
How to wash your Kimono 101
The tradition of the Araihari Shop By Kaitlyn Munro I recently travelled to Tokyo to visit family, and naturally found myself surrounded by beautiful textiles and traditions. One of my favorite museums was The Metropolitan Edo-Tokyo Museum, that tells the story of Tokyo during the Edo Period, 1603-present day. In the permanent exhibit, you can […]
Fit for a Queen: Remarkable Restoration, Exquisite Embroidery & Innovative Invisible Mannequins
In Celebration of Her Majesty’s 7th cycle Birthday 2016 July is always a busy month at the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles in Bangkok, as annual preparations take place for Her Majesty’s August birthday. This year was a big one—7 cycles of 12 is very auspicious and the museum pulled out all the stops. Two new […]
Puppet Masters: Conservation in Miniature
In the first partnership of its kind, I led the The Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles in Bangkok and the Taiyuan Asian Puppet Museum in Taipei for a puppet textile conservation training workshop. In the lively one-week session, conservators Nuchada Piranprasankit and Yaowalak Bunnag, from the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles, and I trained staff […]
Let’s Hear it for the Boys #3: The All-American Installment
The final post in Julia’s three-part series dedicated to the gentleman. If you missed my first two posts on ‘man-centric’ textiles (or if you just loved them so much and you want to reread) – you can find the first post here, and the second post can be found here. Over the years, Caring for Textiles has […]
Why we never run out of steam!
Here’s a story on a workhorse of our studio – our beloved Jiffy steamer!
The Technological Significance of Textiles
Today I’m thrilled to share with you an amazing article by critically acclaimed author Virginia Postrel. An exploration of the technological significance of textiles, Virginia examines fabric’s cultural importance – whether buried in antiquity, hidden in our language, or glamorized in glossy periodicals. It’s a fascinating read that is sure to leave your head spinning! […]
Making Fashion Pop
The intersection of disposable clothing and pop art. by Lauren Klamm Production of paper clothing began with a 1966 American Scott Paper Company promotion offering an inexpensive paper dress, and quickly become a popular fashion novelty, with a large number of clothing items such as men’s vests, bridal gowns and even underwear. Major retail outlets such […]
