Antique Textiles

Textile simply means cloth, while decoration can take many forms, the two combined produce infinite variety and skill. The finest examples of Antique Textiles can be described as an art form. Antique Textiles appeal on many levels, their tactile quality, color and decoration make them uniquely desirable. Textiles are universal in every culture, every age has utilized them, few other media are so versatile.

Antique Textiles are everywhere, clothing, furniture of limitless color and texture are an intrinsic part of our past. Modern mass production has led us to take plentiful, varied and inexpensive cloth for granted. This was not always so. Before the advent of the mechanized loom, every fragment of cloth was hand dyed, woven as in tapestry, printed as in toile or embroidered as in needlepoint. Extreme thought and skill were an intrinsic part of their creation.

Many fabrics have survived providing a richness of reference and from these archives, fashions and interiors of the past are evoked in the smallest fragments of antique textiles whether needlepoint, beadwork or tapestry.

If storing Antique Textiles take a look at the two sites below as they give a good guide on how to store antique textiles properly

Smithsonian Institute         Henry Ford Museum