A Textile Junkie's NYC: At the Met

It's a 3-day weekend starting tonight here in the US...and the Roommate & I are off to NYC.  We love going there, but really don't do it enough, partly because there's so much to do here in DC & we love our house & hate leaving Bella. 

However, we have friends to visit, a new baby to meet, artwork to pick up & exhibits to check out.  Although we're quite big MoMA fans, I think this weekend we'll spend most of our time at the Met.  Why?  Well, for textile fiends like the Roommate & I there are at least 2 exhibits, and really, if you add in our art deco fetish, there's 3.  Don't even get me started on the Dűrer exhibit!  And another on the Parisian Avant-Garde!  We may have to sleep there, just like Claudia & Jamie.

So, the first stop will probably be the Schiaparelli & Prada show, exploring the affinities between the two designers.  Check out the link for some great photos of their designs & the rather clear influence one had on the other. 

Second, we'll head over to see Textile Collectors in Egypt, which I'm sure will be fun, but a bit depressing.  Essentially, from 1880 - 1930, people went mad for textiles from the late Roman Empire to the early Islamic period.  As bodies were wrapped in several layers of cloth for burial, finding a gravesite could yield many pieces of fabric, which would then be trimmed & chopped up for sale to eager collectors, often without an archeologist present to record details--so knowing the age or background is impossible. 

Finally, depending on time & energy, we'll go to see the Modern Design highlights.  Many times the furniture has extra-cool vintage fabric upholstery!  I often want to just move into the living room on display...

A fun weekend, I just wish the Met had a better cafeteria, as it looks like we'll be spending the day there...I much prefer the MoMA's.

Caring for & displaying those darned textiles

When the roommate & I started travelling oh these many years ago, we spent some time trying to figure out what we could collect that pretty much all countries would have.  We also wanted something non-breakable & not too pedestrian.  Well, we did end up collecting lots of coins, paper money & stamps, but we finally settled on textiles.  We met a couple collecting ceramics!  Yikes.  Breakable & HEAVY!

Textiles are great, because they are not heavy, and they fold & mush, so are pretty easy to get into a backpack.  And often we ended up wearing what we bought (for instance, in Bali, it's polite to wear a shirt--not a t-shirt--plus a sarong, whether you're male or female to a temple or festival).  And in Nepal, we needed warm jackets--we got lovely woolen ones we still wear.  Our yukata & hapi coat (Japan) still serve as summer housecoats, though mine is on its last legs.

However, it wasn't until I worked at the Brooklyn Museum that I found out that, in terms of care, textiles are a royal pain in the patooti!  The BM was trying desperately to divest itself of its textile collection of 19th century items.  Why? Because textiles need to be kept out of the light, you can't touch them with your hands (oils!), they are hard to clean, and, unless you collect polyester, they will eventually disintegrate; and don't forget moths!  All of these things make textiles extremely labor intensive, and not really worth the $$ for a museum like the BM without a huge endowment, especially if it's not a textile-specific museum.

So, the roommate & I do our best.  I purchased 4 dozen pair of white cotton gloves (see photo).  We wear these whenever we're handling our treasures.  We never use the same pair twice & I wash & dry them over & over. When cleaning, we use a technique we learned at the Quilt Studies Center in Lincoln, Nebraska:  place a piece of screen (from a screen door) over the item, hold it down at the edges & vacuum.  This gets all the dirt sucked up, without hurting the item.  BTW, the Quilt Studies Center is great fun.  Amazing collection, great archives, and lots of helpful info.  Unfortunately I also learned there that you should re-fold your quilts every 3 months so the folds don't become permanent!  Which is a hassle, but we try...

If you'd like a more hints about caring for your textiles, the Textile Museum here in DC has a How-To-Care-For page, which also includes how to hang sturdy textiles, if you'd like to try that. There is also a once-a-month ask a curator/conservator meeting wherein you bring your treasures & they tell what it is, where it's from & how to care for it.

So what did I forget to tell you?  Any great hints or ideas you have had about caring for or displaying your collection?  Please let me know...

More on Japanese textiles

From a friend at the Brooklyn Museum:  Textile Designs from Classical Patterns for Dyeing, from the 1930s. Thanks, ACE!    

I can recommend the online archives from the Brooklyn Museum.  Amazing photos from the turn of the last century, scans of notebooks from Brooklynites in the 18th & 19th centuries, so many cool things.   

Japan - Textile Heaven on Earth

Front cover

Japan!  I'll start slow...there is so much great stuff in Japan, so many amazing techniques & so much style.  We have a ton of stuff (not enough, ever!).  When we lived there, we were poor & were saving for travel, so didn't spend much on souvenirs.  But in 2005 we went back for a week to see friends & our good friend, Noriko, took us to some antique shops.  We spent way too much, but even then, I didn't get a kasuri (ikat indigo) kimono.  What was I thinking?!  Anyway, in an antique store in outside of Tokyo, we happened upon this kimono pattern book. It's on heavy board, it would stand up by itself for the tailor, who would be working on the floor, as you can see on the photo below.

There are many styles of kimono in here, some very old-fashioned.  The book is about 14" tall - I've often wondered if I just cut the patterns out at this size if they'd work for a barbie doll?  

It was a real steal - about $5, and goes along well with our collection of weaving & textile tools collection (drop spindles, shuttles, fabric stamps, you get the idea).  

Fabric requirements

Pattern layout

On the picture above, you'll see 2 cotton kimono (my hapi, the roommate's yukata) which we've had since 1994.  Mine is about worn thru, so I'll probably use the fabric in something else soon, so I don't forget it.  The kanji (characters) on it are for the 4 seasons.  More Japanese  textiles later.  But now I'm going upstairs to work on my new dress!  More on that tomorrow...