All posts filed under: Textiles & Costume

The 18th century man’s suit at the Honolulu Museum of Art

Published by The Dreamstress

One of the most glorious pieces I got to see at the Honolulu Museum of Art  was a formal 18th century man’s suit, complete with breeches, waistcoat and coat.  I suspect the outfit is French, and dates from about 1760, but menswear isn’t my area of expertise, so if you have a better idea, please let me know! The coat is of a three-dimensional pile fabric, probably a type of cisele velvet, with wine coloured velvet areas surrounding indented corded rectangles in muted gold.  This type of fabric seems to have been very common in mid-late 18th century menswear.  There is a similar but slightly later jacket here, an earlier jacket and waistcoat at the LACMA,  another full suit at LAD, and a suit with a slightly confused dating was sold by Augusta Auctions in 2011. The embroidery is worked mainly in satin stitch with highlights in stem stitch and french knots.  The silk embroidery threads are in shades of pale green, pale peach pink, sky blue, cream, aqua & yellow.  It features roses, cornflowers, …

Cotton in Hawaii

Published by The Dreamstress

As a child growing up in Hawaii I remember occasionally finding a cotton bush in someone’s yard, and being fascinated by them.  I would pick the cotton and use it to stuff little dolls pillows.  So I was aware of cotton in Hawaii, but it was definitely a novelty. On my latest trip back I noticed cotton bushes everywhere: in yards and semi-wild along the road.  Once again, I was fascinated.  Had someone started a trend for cotton as a landscape plant?  Had one bush seeded successfully across the island?  Had the wet summer provided the perfect conditions to start a cotton boom? I meant to stop and take pictures and investigate a bush so that I could tell you about it the whole trip, but there was always too much to do, and I was too busy.  Then, on the way to the airport to fly home we stopped at a neighbors house, and there was a cotton bush.  So here are my extremely rushed, 11th hour, cotton images. The bush itself isn’t that …

The Turkish tea robe at the Honolulu Museum of Art

Published by The Dreamstress

A bit back I showed you a taster of the lovely textiles that I was lucky enough to see in the textile store at the Honolulu Museum of Art, and promised to show more images and tell you about them. Today, let’s look at an intriguing garment made in Turkey: This garment is a robe of silk velvet in a rich burgundy red, heavily ornamented with scrolling florals in gold.  The gold is still bright and untarnished, indicating that it is real gold, probably made by  rolling or wrapping thread in tissue-thin gold leaf. The ornamentation is made in the most intriguing way.  First, paper models in the desired shapes were cut out.  Then, gold thread was wrapped around the paper shapes, completely covering the paper.  Then, the gold-wrapped shapes were sewed down to the garment. Some of the larger flowers must have been padded before wrapping, and are further highlighted by outlines in coiled gold wire, with details are picked out with knots coiled gold. The overall effect is of elaborate, sumptuous satin-stitch embroidery: …