Earlier this month I had the rare pleasure of taking a Costume Society of America (CSA) Western Region tour of Resplendent Dress from Southeastern Europe: A History in Layers, the current exhibition on at UCLA’s Fowler Museum, with one of the world’s foremost historians on the earliest known clothing. Dr. Elizabeth Barber is an expert [...]
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Due to hit shelves on April 9, the next issue of Knitting Traditions not only includes 25 historical knitting patterns (including an article about Knitting and the Brontë sisters), but also has two extra treat: an article I wrote on the 40-year history of Jack Frost Yarn and a pattern I derived from a booklet [...]
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
I was so excited when Knitting: Fashion, Industry, Craft by Sandy Black arrived on my doorstep. Black is a well-known clothing and textiles scholar from the London College of Fashion (who also founded the journal Fashion Practice). Sandy Black’s work in this book is not only fascinating, but satisfying to someone (me) who’s been looking [...]
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
This past weekend I had the distinct pleasure of visiting the de Sassiet Museum at Santa Clara University for a Costume Society of America Western Region program, led by Elise Rousseau, on the collection of liturgical vestments of the California Mission era. The skill and craftsmanship displayed within these examples are a beautiful sight to [...]
Thursday, November 8, 2012
The new book, Dreaming in Colour, an autobiography by Kaffee Fassett, presents the story of this well-known, eclectic textile designer. Born in Big Sur, California, Fassett designed knitwear for Bill Gibb, the Missonis, and private clients (including Lauren Bacall and Barbara Streisand). Though he trained briefly as a painter, his creative outlets have also included [...]
Also filed in Books & Resources, California & The West, Museums & Exhibitions, Uncategorized
|
Tagged California Designer, color, Knitting, needlepoint, sweater, Tapestry, Weaving, yarn
|
In September 2011, I embarked on what would become a very long knitting project – completed this month, July 2012. It was titled “Mondrian Skyline” and can be found in The Ohio Mills Knitting Book. It appealed to me for a number of reasons – I could wear it, simple construction, easy fitting, but most [...]
It all began in 1977, when the Santa Clara Valley Quilt Association opened in a Los Altos storefront. Now in its permanent home in downtown San Jose, the collection houses “850 quilts, garments and ethnic textiles, and a research library of more than 500 books on the history and making of quilts and textiles.” If [...]
On Thursday, May 10 at 12pm, The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco will play host to the Chavez Santiago family of the “famed weaving village of Teotitlan de Valle presents its story of this ancient art form, a family, a culture and preserving a way of life across generations.” The New York Times [...]
If you hurry, you can see the last of the UC Botanical Garden’s current display, “Fiber & Dye,” which highlights plant-based natural fibers and dyes, as well as natural fibers themselves (including bamboo, hemp, soya, abaca and pina). As sustainable and eco-fashion grow in popularity, so too will the public’s general interest in these longstanding [...]
Fashion Historia RSS
