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The Hand Of The Maker: The Importance Of Understanding Textiles From The "Inside Out", Beverly Gordon

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

This is a position paper of sorts, arguing that the experience of making a textile is an important component of understanding it, and we should be encouraging textile researchers to include hands-on experiments as part of their investigation. Some TSA members will take this idea for granted because they have first-hand experience with textile making, and may find it overly obvious. The point is hardly new, and archeologist Elizabeth Barber made a strong case for the value of textile "reconstruction" in her 1994 book, Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years. Nevertheless, this is not a universally shared assumption, and …

Competing Images: Silk And Rayon In Popular U.S. Publications Of The Nineteen Thirties, Jocelyn Gottschalk

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

In 1934, Mr. Paolino Gerli, President of the newly formed International Silk Guild, concluded his address at the Twenty-third Annual Convention of the National Retail Dry Goods Association as follows: "A new deal, a new era. . . Out of a glamorous past, not a Cinderella with a time limit beauty is beckoning to you, but a beautiful Princess, awakened by Prince Charming into a new consciousness of its eternal right to be the Queen of Fabrics." These lofty words, delivered before an audience of American manufacturers, retailers, and wholesalers, were a call to arms for the beleaguered American silk …

Siguas 1: A Newly Identified Early Horizon Culture, Department Of Arequipa, Peru, Joerg Haeberli

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

My interest in the valleys of Arequipa began in 1994. A curious set of textiles labeled Nasca was attributed to the "Sihuas" Valley, Nazca region, Peru, south coast." The iconography of these textiles was not Nasca but belonged to unidentified traditions. They most likely came from the Sihuas Valley in the department of Arequipa. In 1997 and 2000 I went to Arequipa to establish if their provenance indeed was the Sihuas Valley and other valleys in the department of Arequipa. This was confirmed in the field for the valleys of Sihuas and Vitor at four heavily looted cemeteries. In addition, …

Irish Viking Age Silks And Their Place In Hiberno-Norse Society, Elizabeth Wincott Heckett

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

The context: From the beginning of the ninth century AD people from Scandinavia, many from present-day Norway began to settle in Ireland. They founded the modern Irish cities and towns of Dublin, Waterford, Cork. Limerick and Wexford and developed lively and successful trading settlements that flourished until the Anglo-Norman invasion in 1169 AD. We know from the literature that the Irish prized and used silk cloth at that time but at present excavations have not disclosed any remains of silk in what can be identified as specifically vernacular contexts. The situation is different for the Viking Age settlements. In …

Appropriated Threads: The Unpicking And Reweaving Imported Textiles, Jessica Hemmings

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

The Silk Route has become synonymous with the movement of knowledge that accompanies the trade of objects. Many of the textiles discussed here were not traded along the Silk Route, but all are representative of the associations that are made with this artery of cultural exchange. The examples cited arrive from a range of cultures and geographies: Indonesia and Nigeria, the Southwest United States and New Zealand. From these vastly different regions, using a variety of materials, weavers painstakingly unpicked yams from woven fabrics for use in other weavings.

The term 'raveled yam' refers to threads that have been unpicked …

The Associated American Artists: Textile Art For The Masses, Karen Herbaugh

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

The American Textile History Museum acquired its first Associated American Artists fabric in 1996. From a curatorial viewpoint the fabric was intriguing because although it's rare that useful information is printed in the selvage, this fabric was labeled "A SIGNATURE FABRIC "GAY FACADE" © CREATED BY JOHN HULL OF ASSOCIATED AMERICAN ARTISTS." As the Museum expanded its collection of AAA fabrics it was discovered that most of these fabrics also have the date printed on them. The selvage inscriptions and the nature of the designs and fabric names prompted further exploration of the organization.

Organizational History

In 1934 the Associated …

Clothing Styles From A Provincial Inca Outpost, Grace Katterman

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

My recent study of Inca Period clothing has involved textile collections from three south coastal areas of Peru (Figure 1): Pachacamac, a large Inca center and temple complex just south of Lima (Uhle 1903/1991: Ch XXI: 89-96); Rodadero, a storage facility overlooking the Inca center of Tambo Viejo in the Acari Valley (Katterman and Riddell (1992:141-167); and Burial House #2, the western hillside cemetery affiliated with the Inca outpost of Quebrada de La Vaca in the Chala Drainage (Katterman 2003b). From the burial house (Figure 6), Dorothy Menzel and Francis Riddell collected and documented 120 burials plus an additional 140 …

Traces Of War: The Revival Of Silk Weaving In Cambodia, Morimoto Kikuo

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

This report is the outcome of the research commissioned by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). In this research, I visited more than 36 villages in 8 provinces between January and March 1995. Because of the civil war disturbance beginning in 1970, few information relevant to textiles remained in Cambodia. Even maps, which are indispensable for a field survey, were not available at first. My research, therefore, began with asking shopkeepers at the markets in Phnom Penh, "Where did this fabric comes from?" Then, I arrived at remote villages, where I heard weaving activities still continues. When I …

Creative Methods Of Reproduction: Two Japanese Weaving Innovations Developed In Imitation Of Complex Foreign Textiles, Keiko Kobayashi

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

When a certain effect in textiles can be achieved on two different weaving apparatuses, it is common practice to assume the simpler method to be the more primitive and thus antecedent to the more advanced technique. This paper will discuss two unique Japanese weaving methods that testify to the fact that simple techniques do not always predate their more sophisticated counterparts. In these examples, the simpler weaving methods were actually created in imitation of preexisting textiles from other regions that had been woven on more complex looms. The first of these examples is the Japanese method for voided velvet; the …

Jeweled Islamic Textiles - Imperial Symbols, Louise W. Mackie

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Soon after Islam was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad in Arabia in the early 7th century, his followers began spreading the faith. Within one century, Islam had been carried across North Africa to Spain and across the Middle East to Central Asia. Great centers of civilization developed in the political capitals, such as Damascus, Baghdad and Cairo, and later in Istanbul and Isfahan, accompanied by elaborate court ceremonies to promulgate their wealth and power. Imperial ceremonials were equivalent to theatrical settings, usually based on strict hierarchies and rigid protocol, in which luxurious textiles were vital symbols.

Four overt textile symbols …

Silk Underwear For Ny Swells In The Age Of Victoria, Diane Maglio

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

This appears to be an age of silk. The correspondent of a country paper, writing from New York, says that men are becoming very luxurious, and their... wardrobes and repositories for personal belongings display tastes more costly than those of women.... [as they put on] underwear of the softest, richest knitted silk.

During the last quarter of the 19th century affluent men of leisure and fashion had many hours every day to "loiter at the various clubs and discuss matters of taste." Those who displayed an exceptional interest in fashion were labeled "swells." This research was inspired by a fictional …

Textile And Embroidered Bookbindings Of Medieval England And France, Robin E. Muller

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

I am a textiles artist who has become interested in book arts, as have many others. In looking for historic precedents, I was amazed to learn that there was a history of books bound in fine fabric dating back to medieval Europe. These are rich, elaborately crafted objects that required binders to collaborate with craft persons skilled in needlework. Beautifully woven fabrics were used, some of which were made for clothing. Other fabrics had been made for smaller, more durable objects like books or perhaps hats and handbags. There are records of milliners making some of the bindings. The appearance …

"Dichotomies In Silk: Sheer And Opaque", Yuh Okano

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Since my days as a student of design, I was interested in fiber as a means to express myself creatively, influenced largely by Junichi Arai's innovative works in the 1980s. As an artist, I emphasize the material itself and how it takes on shape in the same manner as that of a sculptor. It is in my character as an artist and designer to play with diverse materials and experiment with an array of techniques that can be applied to them. Illustrated by slides, I would like to share my creative exploration using silk fabric and recent technical improvements in …

Weaving Traditions Along The "Wool Road" In India, Suzette R. Copley Patterson

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Introduction

Although the "Silk Road"' is by far the most famous network of trade routes connecting China, Central Asia, and India, there are other significant, ancient trade routes between these regions of which many may not be aware. One such trade route, known informally as the "wool road", connected the plains of the Punjab in India to Tibet, Central Asia and China. This route, and several others, passed through the Kullu and Kinnaur regions of the northern Indian state known as Himachal Pradesh. The "wool road", which was really merely a donkey trail, was the traditional main trade route in …

Why Embroidery? An Answer From The Ancient Andes, Anne Paul

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

In her meticulous classification of fabric structures, Irene Emery wrote that needlework "is basically one of the simplest crafts, a homely activity that can be practiced by almost anyone on almost any material. But, with fine and carefully chosen materials plus a high degree of skill and imagination in handling them, needlework can be raised almost to the rank of a fine art" (1966:246). I suspect that Emery would not object to my deletion of the word "almost" when discussing the examples of fine art embroidered by certain pre-Conquest Andeans.

Within the ancient Andean world, needlework is not exclusively identified …

The Silk Road Textiles At Birka: An Examination Of The Tabletwoven Bands, Cathy Ostrom Peters

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

On the Swedish Island of Bjorko, that today lies in Lake Malaren, is the Viking Age (eighth-tenth century) town of Birka. Between 1871 and 1895 Hjalmar Stolpe excavated approximately 1100 graves in the vast grave-fields lying outside the walls of this town. Stolpe's excavations provided not only one of the richest quarries for the archaeological interpretation of the Viking Age but revealed the diversity of the approximately 600-900 inhabitants who lived in this international trading town. Among these approximately 1100 graves, were a group of male graves that contained a various array of splendid silk textiles, embroideries and trimmings in …

Travels Of A Rayed Head: Imagery, Fiber, Structure And Connotations Of Early Textiles From The South Central Andes, Ann H. Peters

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

The "rayed head" image has long been identified as a central symbol associated with the Paracas tradition, also called the "sun face" and associated with the concept of "Oculate Being" developed by the Berkeley School. Prominently repeated on the central ground of the famous "Paracas Textile" at the Brooklyn Museum, this image has much earlier antecedents in the region. Scholars disagree on the extent to which many Paracas, Topara and early Nasca images with large round eyes, grinning mouths, and serpentlike appendages emitting from the head and body may also be manifestations of a particular "Oculate Being" or of more …

Hausa Hand-Embroidery And Local Development In Northern Nigeria, Elisha P. Renne

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Introduction

The Hausa people of Northern Nigeria have long been known for their production of voluminous robes known as babban riga (Heathcote 1972; Kriger 1988; Lamb and Holmes 1980; Perani and Wolff 1999; Picton and Mack 1979), which are handembroidered in a range of embroidery stitches, materials (mainly cotton and silk), styles, and designs (e.g., fig.l). Until recently, the embroidery of these robes was primarily done by men (Heathcote 1972, 1979). However, women have taken up this work (fig. 2) in the past twenty years, as men have turned to machine embroidery and other occupations, though women generally sell their …

Mildred T. Johnstone's Needlepoint Tapestries Of Bethlehem Steel: A Less Travelled Road, Ruta T. Saliklis

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

The steel mills in Bethlehem are quiet now, but Mildred T. Johnstone's boldly colored needlepoint tapestries vividly remind us of their awesome power in the 1940s and 1950s. Far from being realistic, literal renderings, these abstract and highly textural interpretations use steel making as a metaphor for modern life. The machinery is larger than life, crackling and spewing out the molten steel used to construct oilrigs and skyscrapers. The people in the mill are very small—the anonymous steelworkers in masks, the artist as a bewildered Alice in a Wonderland of Steel. Mildred Johnstone's needlepoints are personal and spiritual. Her …

American Silk From A Marketing Magician: H.R. Mallinson & Co., Madelyn Shaw

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Hiram Royal Mallinson, an ambitious and talented son of mid-nineteenth-century immigrants from Poland, entered the silk trade in 1893 as a salesman for the company of Pelgram & Meyer in Paterson, New Jersey. Just two years later Mallinson joined a new firm, Newwitter & Migel. headquartered in New York City, as head of sales. In 1900, Migel and Mallinson bought out Newwitter and renamed the firm M.C. Migel & Co.

Migel and Mallinson consciously targeted the novelty market and the high-end or "class" customer generally conceded to European concerns at the time. The company was regarded as progressive, its output …

A Simple Ikat Sash From Southern Okinawa: Symbol Of Island Identity, Amanda Mayer Stinchecum

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

INTRODUCTION

When I began this project in 1999, I set out to explore a large theme: the relation between ikat textiles and ritual in Yaeyama, the southernmost island-group of Okinawa prefecture. I hoped to trace direct links to Southeast Asia, imagined by many Japanese and Okinawan scholars as the source of Ryukyuan ikat.. I set out to pursue the histories of two ikat textiles—a sash and a headscarf—used on Taketomi, linked, in legend, to ceremonial or ritual contexts, and intended to include ikat garments worn by women on ceremonial occasions. As my study unfolded, the persistence of the legend associated …

On Women's Work In Silk Reeling: Gender, Labor, And Technology In The Historical Silk Industries Of Connecticut And South China, Janice E. Stockard

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Introduction.

This paper is part of a larger project that focuses on the historical sericultural industry of Connecticut, based in the town of Mansfield during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In this paper, I focus on one specific role in the production of raw silk: silk reeling. In the heyday of its sericultural industry, Mansfield was situated in Windham County, Connecticut. The particular perspective that I bring to this study of silk reeling is one shaped by my experience as an anthropologist who has conducted research on another sericultural area: Shunde County near Guangzhou (Canton) in South China. In …

Hand Spinning And Cotton In The Aztec Empire, As Revealed By The Codex Mendoza, Susan M. Strawn

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

At a lecture titled "Growing Up Aztec," art historian Jill Furst illustrated Aztec childhood with images from the Codex Mendoza, an extraordinary, post- Hispanic pictorial manuscript from central Mexico. The Mendoza specified the lessons, punishments, and even the number of tortillas appropriate for boys and girls during each year of childhood. Interestingly, the Codex Mendoza showed spinning as the only instruction given to Aztec girls between the ages of four and thirteen years. In 1992, the University of California Press published a full color facsimile of the Codex Mendoza with a translation into English and with extensive interpretation in …

The Klotz Throwing Company In Lonaconing: Opening Tut's Tomb, Rebecca M. Trussell

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

"At last have made a wonderful discovery in valley, a magnificent tomb with seals intact": Howard Carter described the opening of Tut's tomb. Carter's experience is so familiar to me. I need only to change a few words: "Darkness and blank space—but presently, as my eyes grew accustomed to the light, details of the room within emerged slowly . . . strange machines, bobbins, and silk—everywhere the gloss of silk .. . Packed tightly were scores of objects, any one of which would have filled us with excitement."

One hundred forty miles northwest of Washington. D.C., where Dans Mountain stands …

Contributors

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Contributing Authors

A-W

Nettie Adams

Monisha Ahmed

Gloria Seaman Allen

Jeni Allenby

Elizabeth Wayland Barber

...

Bobbie Sumberg

Rebecca Trussell

Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada

Stephen Wagner

From The Village House To The Urban Markets: The Evolution Of Silk Production In Laos, Linda S. Mclntosh

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

This paper examines the development of silk textile production in Laos (Lao People's Democratic Republic). Silk textiles have important socio-cultural roles in Lao society, as markers of identity and wealth in contemporary Lao society as they had in the past. The various Tai ethnic groups, including the Lao, who have been the political majority of Laos since the 14th century CE, are the producers of silk textiles in Laos. Women are historically the producers of textiles for domestic consumption and exchange at the village level and beyond. Silk textiles signify special occasions such as weddings, religious events, and funerals and …

Marketplace Handwork Of India: Impacts On Artisan Capabilities, Mary A. Littrell, Marsha A. Dickson

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

At the 1998 TSA Symposium in New York City, we presented a paper that documented the work of three textile artisan enterprises. All embraced a fair trade approach to their work. Known as Alternative Trade Organizations (ATOs), these enterprises are deeply committed to a mission of sustainable, people-centered development (Littrell and Dickson 1997). More specifically, this fair trade partnership between textile artisans and retailers involves joint commitment to:

• paying fair wages within a local context,

• providing healthy and safe working conditions,

• sustaining the environment,

• promoting capacity building through business and technical training, and

• honoring cultural …

Knitted Silk And Silver: Those Mysterious Jackets, Deborah Pulliam

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

This is a preliminary consideration of the late sixteenth/early seventeenth century gilt and silk knitted jackets, based on close examination of seventeen examples held in various collections in North America and Europe. Little is known about them, so that mostly speculation has been published as fact. They have been identified as jackets for men, created on knitting frames and on knitting machines, and in the past, were almost always identified as of Italian origin or manufacture.

My argument, having closely examined seventeen, is that

• they were in fact handknitted: the technology simply did not exist in the early seventeenth …

The Invention Of Machine Twist The Nonotuck Silk Company, From Moths To Millions, Marjorie Senechal

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Introduction. Cocoons and raw silk; thrown silk and dyed silk; spun silk yarns and fabrics; plain woven silks; lutestrings, sarsenets, satins, serges, foulards, tissues for hat and millinery purposes; figured silk piece goods, woven or printed, upholstery silks; crapes, velvets, gauzes; cravats, handkerchiefs, hosiery, knit goods, laces, scarves, ties, veils, all descriptions of cut and made-up silks; ribbons, plan fancy, and velvet; bindings, braids, cords, galloons, ladies' dress trimmings, upholsters', tailors', military and miscellaneous; machines for the manufacture of silk goods: the American silk industry's proud display "had the post of honor at the east end of the Main …

Entrepreneurship And Control In Eighteenth Century Silk Manufacture: The Case Of Philippe Lasalle, Lyonnais Silk Designer Extraordinaire, Lesley Ellis Miller

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

As early as 1787, the abbe Bertolon lauded the achievements of the Lyonnais designer and manufacturer Philippe de Lasalle (1723-1804). In the course of this now oft-cited eulogy, Bertolon called Lasalle variously designer, manufacturer, and businessman, three terms that Lasalle himself was happy to adopt from the late 1740s onwards. In the 1770s. Lasalle added to these social descriptors, those of inventor and Chevalier de I 'Ordre de Saint Michel, having been rewarded for his improvements to the drawloom, one of a long list of services and inventions for which he sought State subsidies from the late 1750s. While …