Scottish textiles

  By sharonb | May 12, 2004 - 9:00 am |
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There is more to Scottish textiles than tartans as the Scottish Textile heritage Online demonstrates. There are all sorts of nooks and crannies to be investigated on this site and I have yet to cover it fully. So far I have discovered a good glossary of terms linked in many cases to illustrated examples. This is going to prove very useful as I am always trying to explain this technique or that style of stitching. Articles on the care of textiles, paisley shawls, Scottish styles of needlework, embroidery and quilting are to be almost expected on such a site. I was surprised to discover article on the industrial history of textiles in Scotland however.

There are 300 images online which are easily searchable. I am afraid I lost an hour or so in this section alone. Simply put this site can provide a wealth of information for historians, and textile designers.

Needlelace:

  By sharonb | May 11, 2004 - 12:11 pm | , ,
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There is sometimes a bit of a spat between lace makers and embroiderers about needlelace. Lace makers claim it is lace because its is done ‘in the air’ or with no foundation fabric and embroiderers claim it is embroidery because a needle rather than a bobbin is used to make it.

Needlelaces that fall into this blurred area are Reticella, (Reticello) which is Italian and Hedebo which is a similar stitching style but is Danish. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston has an example of Reticilla in their collection. This 17th century sampler which is just delightful for sampler freaks such as myself can be examined closely if you use the interactive zoom feature.

If you feel you would like to try this type of embroidery and for those who need instructions for Reticella, and Hedebo are online.