Every day, as I discover yet another textile treasure or meet another impassioned and knowledgeable collector, I realize that there is much I don't know about these precious fabric links to the past. I'm sure we all can relate to that feeling.
It is through diligent research, many trips to museum collections, workshops and seminars, and conversations with curators, dealers and collectors that much valuable information and insight is gained.
I especially enjoy getting together with fellow dealers and collectors who share the same passion as I for those early pieces termed "ladies' work", for it is in those talks that we lay bare our attachment to the "soul" of the cloth, the rag, the fragment of some other woman's life journey that has survived to give us a small, precious glimpse of her story. There is something about that piece of cloth that makes our hearts jump, moves us to tears or just brings a simple smile to our faces... Could it be that, through that cloth worked by tireless fingers, a message centuries old has been conveyed? How could we possibly feel this woman's joy, or sorrow, her absolute exhaustion from a hard day's labor? The message in the cloth remains long after the woman has passed. Can one not look at an early cloth moppet fashioned by a loving mother for a precious child and feel otherwise?
I must acknowledge, as well, my love for those early woven pieces that were done by men: the village weaver, indigo dyer and others, for it is with them that the story of the transformed cloth truly starts.
I feel that a website should be more than just a place of business, but also an instrument of instruction and exchange of ideas: an organic entity that keeps growing and changing in scope. In that vein, my first attempt is to offer a basic reading list to those that wish to learn more about early textiles and costume. I'm sure you may be familiar with many of these. I'll be adding more during other updates, so do check when you can. Remember, these are just a starting point. |
Listed by topic:
Pennsylvania-related Textiles & Folk Art
- Rags to Rugs: Hooked and Handsewn Rugs of Pennsylvania
by Patricia T. Herr
- Amish Arts of Lancaster County
by Patricia T. Herr
- Quilting Traditions: Pieces from The Past
by Patricia T. Herr
- Farming, Always Farming:
A Photographic Essay of Rural Pennsylvania German Life and Land
by H. Winslow Fegley
- Pennsylvania German Farms, Garden and Seeds
by Irwin Richman
- Hempstone Heritage I: In Accordance with Their Wills; “All The Heckled Hemp She Can Spin”
by
Les Stark
- Arts of the Pennsylvania Germans
by
Scott Swank
- Coverlets of the Pennsylvania Germans
by
Guy F. Reinert
- Rural Pennsylvania Clothing
by Ellen Gehret
- Cloth and Costume 1750 to 1800 : Cumberland County, PA
by Tandy & Charles Hersh
- Country Cloth to Coverlets: Textile Traditions in 19th C Central PA
by Sandra Rambo Walker
- The Homespun Textile Traditions of the Pennsylvania Germans
by Ellen Gehret & Alan Keyser
- Forgotten PA Textiles of the 18 th and 19th Centuries
by Alan Keyser et al
- The Weaver's Craft: Cloth, Commerce and Industry in Early PA
by Adrienne D. Hood
- Mennonite Arts
by Clarke Hess
- Pieced by Mother (Symposium Papers)
by Jeanette Lasansky et al
- On the Cutting Edge: Textile Collectors, Collections & Traditions
by Jeanette Lasanksy et al
- Bits and Pieces: Textile Traditions
by Jeanette Lasansky et al
- Historical Needlework of Pennsylvania
by Margaret B. Schiffer
- 18th C Clothing from the Collection of the
Chester County Historical Society
by Sharon Ann Burnston
- This Is The Way I Pass My Time
by Ellen Gehret
Textiles & Needle Arts
- Hearts and Hands: Women, Quilts, and American Society
by
Elaine Hedges, Pat Ferrero & Julie Silber
- Findings: The Material Culture of Needlework and Sewing
by Mary C. Beaudry
- Toiles for All Seasons: French & English Printed Textiles
by Starr Siegele
- The Secret Life Of Textiles: Six Pattern Book Archives in North West England
- Quilts of Provence
by Kathryn Berenson
- A Flowering of Quilts
by Patricia Cox Crews
- Chintz Quilts: Unfading Glory
by Lacy Folmar Bullard & Betty Jo Shell
- The History of Needlework Tools and Accessories
by Sylvia Groves
- Quilts, Coverlets and Counterpanes: Bedcoverings from the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts and Old Salem Collections
by
Paula W. Locklair
- Quilts in A Material World: Selections from the Winterthur Collection
by Linda Eaton
- Quiltmaking in America: Beyond the Myths
by
Laurel Horton, ed.
- American Quilts and Coverlets
by Amelia Peck
-
Bed Hangings:
A Treatise on Fabrics and Styles in the Curtaining of Beds 1650 - 1850
by
Abbott Lowell Cummings
-
Bed Rugs: 18th and Early 19th C Embroidered Bed Covers
by
Jessie Armstead Marshall
- A History of Needlework Tools and Accessories
by
Sylvia Groves
-
Textiles in Early New England:
Design, Production and Consumption
by
Peter Benes, ed.
-
Textiles in New England II:
Four Centuries of Material Life
by
Peter Benes, ed.
-
Just New From The Mills:
Printed Cottons in America Late 19th & Early 20th Centuries
by
Diane L. Fagan Affleck
-
From Shaker Hands and Shaker Lands
by
M. Stephen Miller
-
A Child's Comfort: Baby and Doll Quilts in American Folk Art
by Bruce Johnson
- America's Printed Fabrics (1770-1890)
by Barbara Brackman
- The Ladies Worktable: Domestic Needlework in 19th C America
by Margaret Vincent
- Keep Me Warm One Night
by Harold & Dorothy Burnham
- Checklist of American Coverlet Weavers
- Clues in the Calico
by Barbara Brackman
- Plain and Fancy
by Susan Burrows Swan
- Labors of Love: Women and their Needlework
by Judith Reiter Weissman et al
- Shaker Textile Arts
by Beverly Gordon
- Early American Textiles
by Frances Little
- A Book of Handwoven Coverlets
by Eliza Calvert Hall
- Handwoven Textiles of New England
by Nancy Dick Bogdonoff
- For Purpose and Pleasure: Quilting Together in 19th C America
by Sandi Fox
- Small Endearments: 19th C Quilts for Children and Dolls
by Sandi Fox
- A People and Their Quilts
by John Rice Irwin
- The American Quilt
by Robert Kirakoffe
Clothing & Costume
- 17th & 18th Century Fashion In Detail
by Avril Hart & Susan North
- 19th C Fashion In Detail
by Lucy Johnston
- The Dress of the People: Everyday Fashion In Eighteenth Century England by John Styles
-
The Lady's Economical Assistant
by A Lady
(reprinted by Kannik's Korner)
- The Workwoman's Guide by A Lady
(reprinted by Piper Publishing)
- Fashion: A history from the 18th to 20th Century
The Collection of the Kyoto Costume Institute
- The Cut of Women's Clothes 1600-1930
by
Nora Waugh
- Clothes and the Child
by Anne Buck
- What Clothes Reveal
by Linda Baumgarten
Folk Art
- Expressions of Innocence & Eloquence: Selections from The Jane Katcher Collection of Americana
- Art UnderFoot: The Story Of Waldboro Hooked Rugs
by Mildred Cole Peladeau
-
Folk Art in Maine: Uncommon Treasuress
by
Kevin D. Murphy (ed)
- Beyond Necessity: Art In The Folk Tradition
by Kenneth L. Ames
- Rug Hooking in Maine 1838-1940
by Mildred Cole Peladeau
- American Hooked and Sewn Rugs: Folk Art Underfoot
by Joel & Kate Kopp
- Hooked Rugs: History and Continuing the Tradition
by Jessie A. Turbayne
- Animals in Folk Art
by Wendy Lavitt
- American Cat-alogue
by Bruce Johnson
- Cloth Dolls from Ancient to Modern
by Linda Edward
- American Fancy
by Sumpter Priddy
- Folk Hearts
by Cynthia V.A. Schaeffer and Susan Klein
- Waste Not Want Not: The Art of the Make Do
by Donald P. Naetzker
- No Longer Hidden: An Exhibition of Black Cloth Dolls (1870-1930)
by Roben Campbell
- American Folk Dolls
by Wendy Lavitt
- Small Folk: A Celebration of Childhood in America
by Sandra Brant & Elissa Cullman
- Anonymous Was A Woman
by Mirra Bank
- Artist in Aprons: Folk Art by American Women
by C. Kurt Dewhurst et al
Ah, The Ladies
- Founding Mothers; The Women Who Raised Our Nation
by Cokie Roberts
- Fabricating Women: The Seamstresses of Old Regime
France, 1675-1791
by Clare Haru Crowston
- On Women and Friendship
by Star Ockenga
- Remember The Ladies: Women in America 1750-1845
by Linda Grant De Pauw & Conover Hunt
- I Dwell In Possibility: Women Build A Nation 1600-1920
by Donna m. Lucey
- The Needle's Eye: Women and Work in the Age of Revolution
by Marla R. Miller
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