Category: Textiles

  • Scott Norris

    A visitor to the studio in Māwhera/ Greymouth this week spoke about a friend, Scott Norris, who weaves words and images in labours of love. Scott Norris lives in Massachusetts in the United States, and works in a converted garage at Elam’s Widow. Fascinated by words and stories, Norris weaves images – vignettes of past…

  • Winter workshop series

    The West Coast Cloth Company’s series of workshops for winter is now open for bookings. If you love playing with fibre or colour or both check out the new series of weaving workshops. There is something for almost everyone, from beginners to experienced weavers who want to try something different. To see the list head…

  • Conserving Degas

    When it comes to textiles, conservation of art works requires care and meticulous attention to detail, not to mention hours of research. This video from 2018 by the Metropolitan Museum of New York explains how costume conservator, Glenn Peterson, worked on “The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer” by Degas so that it could continue to be displayed.…

  • Boy Knits World

    Jake Henzler is an Australian knitter, creator of whimsical figures and colourful architecture. Inspired by the tall houses of Copenhagen and Amsterdam while on an extended stay overseas, he also has designed patterns for houses in Sydney, native trees of Australia, and The Grand Hotel, an homage to Wes Anderson’s film: The Grand Budapest Hotel.…

  • Vadim Mikhailov

    A recent news article in the New York Times drew attention to Vadim Mikhailov, a protest artist who works with textiles. Repurposing cloth, carpets, costume and the like has long been the stock-in-trade of those who protest against what they perceive as injustice: Brazilian-Swiss artist, Eva de Souza, for example, or Korean-born Aram Han Sifuentes…

  • The Whitby Coast Bonnets

    Frank Meadow Sutcliffe, the famous English photographer, captured images of women wearing bonnets in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Thanks to these photographs we are able to see the patterns of the cloth, the evolution of the bonnets and the very practical reasons why they became everyday wear for women working on the…

  • Make a decorated egg

    Mr X Stitch often features work by textile artist, Christine Cunningham, and here is a post about making a decorated textile egg for the season.

  • Easter and the bonnet

    In your Easter bonnet with all the frills upon it,You’ll be the grandest lady in the Easter parade. In 1917 Irving Berlin wrote “Smile and Show Your Dimple”, a melody that would, 16 years later, become “Easter Parade”, with those opening lines. In 1948 Judy Garland and Fred Astaire were the stars of a film…

  • Winter workshops

    This winter the studio will be busy with classes and workshops. On Sunday 24th May we are going to be looking at twills, those fascinating structures that we are familiar with from the diagonal lines in denim. Twills are used in houndstooth, in diamonds, in triangles and many other patterns. The 13th June is a…

  • CTANZ symposium 2026

    The Costume and Textiles Aotearoa New Zealand’s symposium is open for registrations. Each year this event draws lovers of textiles and costumes together to share a weekend of exploration and enthusiasms. This year the symposium is in New Zealand’s only City of Design, a UNESCO designation: Whanganui. Registration for symposium is now open. Join us…