An Archive of Stitches: The Living Histories, Geographies, and Biographies of our Clothes  Organisers: Dr Rebecca Collins and Prof Deborah Wynne  (both at the University of Chester) Holly Kirby, Assistant Curator at the National Trust's Attingham Park, talking about the sustainable ways of caring for the costume collection. This event, part of the Being Human Festival, the UK's annual Festival of the Humanities, took place in Chester's Forum Shopping Centre on Saturday 19th November. Holly Kirby, an assistant curator with the National Trust, was dressed in a wonderful Regen ..read more

  Textiles and English surnames Textile production has had a significant impact on English history and culture in a number of different ways. For example, we can see in the grand residences of the Cotswolds the way in which the industry generated wealth for the area in the Middle English and Early Modern English periods. These markers of the industry’s influence are often clear to see, yet there are other ways in which England’s textile-related history has had an effect on the country’s identity that often go unrecognised, such as the development of its names. By studying the frequency an ..read more

  Recently, a fascinating selection of historic fashion sketches were discovered at Attingham Park. Whilst undertaking inventory checking work in the textile collection store in 2018, a National Trust volunteer found this collection of sketches tucked inside an unassuming historic envelope. These sketches were created by Teresa Hulton, later the 8th Lady Berwick, between the ages of 11 and 15. Born in 1890, Teresa created the sketches in the early part of the 20th century. The sketches are a valuable resource showing what activities and interests wealthy teenage girls enjoyed ..read more

  Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-50458343 This is one of the ‘Little Books’ created by Charlotte Brontë in 1830 when she was 14 years old, an edition of The Young Men’s Magazine which she and her brother Branwell regularly produced from 1829 onwards. The size of a matchbox, it was recently bought at auction by the Brontë Parsonage Museum for £500,000. Its tiny size and neat but cramped handwriting charmingly suggest the miniature worlds of childhood.   Yet this homemade book conceals hidden stories. The paper on which Charlotte wrote her magazine was sca ..read more

Women’s clothing has often restricted their ability to walk freely and such clothing has then impacted on their freedoms in other areas of their lives. This blog post will discuss how some women overcame these restrictions. Dorothy Wordsworth walked every day around the Lake District with her brother William and their friends, and then wrote about these walks in her journals. Dorothy and her friend Mary Barker were the first women to both climb and write about Scafell Pike. This walk was re-enacted in period dress by Dr Jo Taylor, Alex Jakob-Whitworth and Harriet Fraser in 2018 (exactly 200 y ..read more

Here are a few book recommendations to help keep your mind off the COVID-19 lockdown. For those of you who are interested in books which relate in some way to textiles and/or clothing, here are a few suggestions: ·         Arnold Bennett, The Old Wives’ Tale (1910): This novel focuses on the lives of two sisters in a provincial draper’s shop, offering a considerable insight into the importance of such shops in Victorian communities. One sister manages the shop, while the other sister runs away to Paris. Lots of references to clothing and fabric in a no ..read more

Now are in 'lockdown' and unable to do our usual activities, many people are appreciating the therapeutic value of crafting. Here are some suggestions: Hillary Lette Last autumn I went to Blists Hill and saw a blanket that gave me some inspiration as a change to the knitted square blankets I had been making for the dementia ward at the hospital. So, I started knitting diamonds as opposed to squares. They don't take very long, use up any left-over wool (even tiny bits long enough to do a couple of rows) and when stitched together look kind of quilted.  I join them into bigger diamonds of ..read more

Holly Kirby, a National Trust curator at Attingham Park, has kindly explained what essential work is currently being done in the House during the Covid-19 closures. Usually, the Easter period is a very busy one at Attingham Park, but at the moment Holly works alone in large empty rooms protecting the textiles.  Here is Holly in a 'selfie' taken in the Sultana Room at Attingham Park This is what Holly’s working life is like at the moment: We have been cutting down on the number of staff in on any one day and working a distance apart to minimise the risk of the virus spreading. We are f ..read more

There was considerable excitement at Wrexham Museum on 29th February 2020 when people gathered for a unique occasion. The purpose of the event was to reveal some of the costumes which had been bequeathed to the museum in the 1980s but which had never been on display. Hidden Stories from a Costume Collection’ was co-organised by Professor Deborah Wynne, Wrexham Museum and the costumier and fashion designer Ruth Caswell.  The day began with Deborah interviewing Ruth about her long career as a designer and costumier, focusing on her work in Vogue and the costumes she created for the films Elizabe ..read more

By Professor Deborah Wynne The English programme at UCS began in 2015 and developed from strength to strength over the next few years.  As programme leader at the time, I wondered how we could find a way of celebrating the wonderful experience of studying literature next to the banks of the River Severn and close to Charles Darwin's childhood home.  I'd been involved in a community quilt project before, but only as an observer, rather than a participant.  I thought it would be a challenge for me, my colleagues, and the students on the programme to create a large textile banner as a permanent ..read more