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One of the over 200 feedsack samples from America currently being added to the TRC Catalogue online database, donated by Sherry Cook (TRC 2020.0815).As with so many cultural institutes and other groups around the world, the TRC Leiden is shut until the end of March, or possibly longer. Sadly we have had to cancel or postpone various events, workshops and courses.

But at the same time we are looking ahead and busily planning lots of activities for when things settle down, including a summer school, a quilting week, a two-day embroidery identification course, basic embroidery and knitting lessons, a 'making' weekend and so much more!

We are also working on several digital exhibitions, so that you can still enjoy the TRC Collection without actually physically having to come to Leiden (although it is always best to see the real things).

Example of bog oak jewellery from Ireland, with the Irish harp and shamrock (private collection).On Tuesday, 17 March 2020, TRC volunteer Shelley Anderson wrote:

Like jet, bog oak involves fossilized trees. Trees such as oak, pine, yew or fir fell into rivers and were covered in silt and mud. In Ireland, such wood was trapped in peat bogs. The wood became stained a dark brown or black, as minerals seeped in, and became semi-fossilized.

This semi-fossilized wood is called bog oak, no matter what tree species is being used. Bog oak can range in age from a few centuries to over 5,000 years or older. The Victorians loved bog oak, not only in furniture, but also in jewellery. Its dark black colour made it popular for mourning jewellery.

By the 1850s new techniques had been developed that made working with bog oak less difficult and it was used in a wide variety of jewellery, from necklaces and bracelets to rings and brooches. It was sometimes passed off as, or mistaken for, jet, although bog oak is lighter and warmer to the touch, and the wood grain is sometimes noticeable.

A patchwork quilt housed in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (T1-1996). It was made in 1993 to celebrate 75 years of women’s suffrage in Britain.In the last decade many countries have celebrated women winning the right to vote. I’ve been doing some research for a TRC mini-exhibition on suffrage movements and fashion and have come across some fascinating celebratory needlework.

Sometimes such needlework causes controversy. In 1994 two tapestries were hung in South Australia’s Parliament House, to commemorate the centenary of South Australian women winning the vote. The tapestries had been woven the year before, in public, on a loom set up inside the busy National Bank in Adelaide. Passersby were encouraged to both watch and to help weave themselves.

Hand knitted socks from the Shahsavan in northwestern Iran. Late 20th century (TRC 1998.0260a-b).The last few weeks we have been working hard on clearly understanding and projecting the future of the TRC, the approaches we want to take and which people we want to attract, and all of this should be based on the TRC principle that we want to be an inclusive centre, rather than exclusive!

The TRC is a textiles and dress institute. As for dress, we have already developed the idea of the language of dress: what do people wear in order to show who they are and want to be, and how others see them and interpret their clothing. This concept was broadly outlined in an article published in the July 2019 Newsletter of the International Institute for Asian Studies.

The other branch of the TRC, namely the textiles themselves, still needs to be further discussed. What does the TRC want to do with the study and presentation of textiles, which groups of people do we want to attract and support?

Not long ago I was talking with some visitors to the TRC. They suggested that we should focus on museum colleagues, academics doing research and students. They also wanted a few "hobbyists", but not too many. 

Hand knitted dress, by Eva Radu, Romania, c. 1970s (TRC 2020.0336a).What can you do if you want to be fashionable, but cannot afford the prices or even see the garments in the first place?

One solution has just been donated to the TRC Leiden! The lady in question was Eva Radu (1932-2019) from Romania, who was a professional hand knitter. She was brought up in a poor family during the Communist period when Western fashion items were not widely available.

Since she was twelve Eva Radu had been knitting and selling the garments she had produced. Later in life she made a range of garments copying and adapting Western fashions. Some of these garments she sold, other items she wore. Ideas for these garments came from East German and Hungarian fashion magazines. Sadly, Mrs. Radu died in 2019 leaving various items, including pieces from her wardrobe such as dresses, skirts, jumpers, cardigans, etc., to various family members.

Georg Stark invests a lot of time and resources on tracing the history of dyeing as well as preserving the craft in Germany. Image: Amrita DasThe block-printer and indigo dyer Georg Stark, from Jever, Germany, has been a frequent visitor to the TRC in Leiden, sharing his knowledge and experience with TRC staff. He is now retiring and wants to sell his atelier and its contents to a suitable successor.

For 35 years his workshop has provided the means for a full living and it is honoured by the UNESCO as a place of cultural heritage.

The workshop houses more than 1000 antique printing blocks together with rolls of linen, fine cotton and silk. The atelier and its new owner will not be bound to the town of Jever and its contents may be moved to another location.

For more information, click here, or go to https://bit.ly/39X8ctb.

Gillian Vogelsang, Sunday 23rd February 2020

Veerle van Kersen examining the Quseir textiles with a Dyno-lite microscope, at the TRC in Leiden, February 2020. Photograph by Gillian Vogelsang.Veerle van Kersen is a textile archaeologist who recently passed her MA exams in archaeology at Leuven University, On Wednesday, the 20th February 2020, she wrote:

In the past few weeks I have been spending some time at the TRC to study a collection of fifty medieval textile fragments from Egypt. They were found during archaeological excavations at Quseir al-Qadim in the 1980’s and consist mainly of resist-dyed cottons, manufactured in India for the Egyptian market.

Located on the Red Sea coast, Quseir al-Qadim was an important trading post both in Roman and Mamluk times. These finds come from the latter period, dating between the 13th and 14th centuries AD. I first started by matching the fragments to their excavation numbers, placing them in tissue paper, and giving them a new TRC number.

Next I have been examining the textiles in greater detail, and taking photographs. The textiles have been studied and published before, but modern methods might help to reveal more secrets. For the detailed analysis I made use of a digital microscope. This new instrument, one of which recently acquired by the TRC, has been incredibly helpful for textile researchers, and is often known as a “Dino-Lite” after the most popular manufacturer.

A Maya huipil from Patzicia, Guatemala, late 20th century (TRC 2019.1840).On the 17th February 2020, Dorinda Terhoeve wrote:

To tell the story of the huipil is to tell a story of resilience. This Mayan garment looks simple in its appearance, being a sleeveless rectangular tunic made of only two or three panels.

However, the embroidered colours, local variations, history and its makers are highly intriguing and fascinating. The huipil has changed little since the ancient civilization of the Maya’s. Even the Spanish conquest had little influence on how the garment was, and still is made and worn today by women in parts of Mexico and Guatemala.