All posts filed under: Textiles & Costume

An early-19th century gown at the Honolulu Museum of Art

Over the last year I’ve been gradually showing you images that I took when I was last in Hawaii of some of the beautiful historical garments at the Honolulu Museum of Art. You’ve seen the amazing embroidered cisele velvet 18th century man’s suit, a late 19th century Turkish tea robe that had been altered for wear by a Western woman, and a teaser-taster of all the textiles. Today I’m showing you what was possibly my favourite of all the things I photographed: Can you guess why? Yep -it’s totally swoon-worthy, angels sing, yellow gold silk! And the fabric itself is just amazing: I’m not even sure how to describe the fabric – it’s a quite soft, lightweight silk, in a sort of brocade weave, but with the floating wefts reversed to the front of the fabric. Very unusual, and not something I think I’ve ever seen before. The small overall pattern, however, is quite common in early 19th century gowns. Those of you who have looked closely at the photo above will have noticed something …

Terminology: what are ikat, abr, warp-printing and chine?

Published by The Dreamstress

Ikat (also spelled ikkat), abr (also spelled ebru), warp-printed and chine (or chine a la branche) are different names for variants of the same technique: fabric woven from yarns which have been pre-dyed (using a resist method) or printed with the intended pattern, producing a characteristic soft, blurred pattern once the yarns are woven into a cloth. Strictly speaking, ikat and abr are created by pre-dying the threads with a resist dye method before weaving, and chine and warp-printing are created by printing the warp threads before weaving, though the line between the two different techniques, both in which fabrics are called which, and in how the fabrics are produced, is as blurred as those on the fabrics they describe. Ikat is the Indonesian term (from the Malay mengikat ‘to bind’), and is the most commonly heard name for the fabric in modern times. 18th century fashion enthusiasts will know the French name, chine or chine a la branche, which specifically refers to multi-coloured warp-patterned fabric, and Pompadour silk, a later English term for the …

Fragments of a 19th century Chinese Cloud Collar

Published by The Dreamstress

The Historical Sew Fortnightly ‘Eastern Influence’ challenge, and my Chinoiserie promenade gown seem like the perfect opportunity to show you my 19th century Chinese ‘cloud collar’ – or what remains of it. My cloud collar really isn’t a full example – it’s missing one full lobe that would sit on the proper left shoulder, and half of the back lobe, and is quite damaged in other places I found the cloud collar in a bin of textile rags at the East Bay Depot for Creative Re-use in 2002 or 2003. At the time, I didn’t know what it was, but I knew that it was Chinese, and I knew that it was old, and I knew that it was interesting, and I knew that at $5, even on a student budget, it was well worth buying! It’s been carried around in my stash ever since – brought out for talks, and as a study piece for my students. I’ve learned quite a bit about cloud collars in general since, and about the materials and make …