Category: Textiles

  • Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee

    A recent addition to the textile collection shares a great link between textiles and music. Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee are two small characters from the “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” books by Lewis Carroll. The twins were made by artist Sharon Mitchell from Oamaru as part of an exhibition in her hometown of various characters…

  • TOTA – connecting cultures

    If you like reading about the many different ways in which people live around the world then TOTA might just be the ticket… From videos to stories and articles, from photographs to recipes, this website holds a wealth of information about culture. Although attitudes have changed since many of the articles were originally written, losing…

  • The unique look of Finland

    Finland has earned a name for its fashion. The country has had a long and colourful history but has maintained an independent, creative spirit despite war and invasion, and that creativity comes though in Finnish fashion, an industry that tells the world about how society works in the Nordic country. This article from business of…

  • Vodou flags

    Haitian Vodou is a religion that merged Catholicism and traditional African practices in the diaspora of the 18th and 19th Centuries, and its adherents traditionally made use of handmade flags called drapo. Drapo are decorated with embroidery and embellished with beads. Nowdays they are collector’s items and artists create drapo to sell to an international…

  • Linking the Coast and Shetland

    The textile studio in Māwhera Greymouth is gearing up for the arrival of the equipment from Shetland, and for the official opening which will be held in autumn. Summer has been busy, with tourists and locals alike coming in to see the studio and its progress. It is gratifying to have so many people saying…

  • The Dick Van Dyke show and a textile

    The small township of Ross is south of Hokitika on New Zealand’s West Coast and is an old gold-mining settlement. Ross is now a stop for tourists who come to look at the history of the area, walk the old gold-field paths, and experience gold-panning for themselves. It also has an op-shop, short for “opportunity…

  • Lighting the way

    Around the world lighthouses guide marine traffic safely in dangerous conditions. Lighthouses come in many forms but they all fulfil the same essential function: acting as beacons to warn of danger or act as signallers to safe havens. In Shetland some of the lighthouses that dot the coast were designed and built by the Stevenson…

  • This Week’s Spotify playlist

    Each week a playlist of audio on Spotify is curated to go along with the blog. Each item has something to do with the articles on the blog, although sometimes the links are not obvious. To wisent either click on the Player above or go to the Spotify app or website and search for “Music…

  • Baye Fall – patchwork in a Muslim community

    The Baye Fall, Senegalese Muslims, believe that hard work and service to their communities expressed their faith, but their clothes honour the founder of the movement. In the 19th Century Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba established the Mouride brotherhood, an offshoot of Sufi Islam, in Senegal. It is believed that Ibrahima Fall, the founder of Baye Fall,…

  • The start of creating yarns

    The challenge of finding 100% wool yarns in Aotearoa New Zealand that are suitable for weaving with is tricky. The yarns that The Shetland Tweed Company used in production came from the sheep on the islands, and are blended colours. The blend allows for different colours to be highlighted in the weaving and makes for…