York, Quilt Museum and Gallery. 9 January - 20 March 2010. Wholecloths of Wales and Scotland. A Persian Journey in Felt

As always, two exhibitions running concurrently in the two galleries.  'The Celtic Fringe' focuses on quilt patterns native to Wales and Scotland, and 'Namad, A Persian Journey in Felt' looks at the variety and richness of embroidered Turkoman motifs.

More information here

http://tinyurl.com/yzkgw5a

University of Leeds International Textile Archive - 'ULITA'.

Feast your eyes on this little lot online: World Textiles, Japanese, Qing dynasty, Kashmir Shawls, Sample pattern books, North West Frontier, Egyptian, Indonesian.....and there's more.

http://ulita.leeds.ac.uk/wiki/mediawiki-1.10.1/index.php/Clothworkers_Digital_Archive

And two good exhibitions to start 2010, 'Natural Fibres: A World Heritage' and '75 Years of Stitching in Yorkshire' in association with the Embroiderer's Guild.

Exhibition 'A Material World' . Near Romsey, Hampshire. 1st-27th January 2010

Exhibition 'depicting the wide range of uses for textiles in furnishings, decorations and fashion'.  Demonstrations include spinning, weaving and lace-making.  Free Admission.  Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, three miles north-east of Romsey.

http://www.hilliergardens.org.uk/directions.html

Barcelona! Permanent Textile Exhibition

Oh dear, I really need a trip to Barcelona, just to spend a week in this place....

http://www.dhub-bcn.cat/en/museus/museu-textil-i-dindumentaria

The Woolly Way of Ireland

Up to now I haven't recommended blogs on this site, simply because it is so hard to draw a line under what is relevant to TextileHunter's remit.  But this one I just have to draw to your attention
http://www.woollyway.blogspot.com/ and having broken my duck I shall be adding others in the future.

I found it more than a week ago and still haven't had time to look at everything it has to offer (Christmas had something to do with that) but if you go no further than the Irish Textile Map link under Woolly Way Stuff you will be happy for hours.

At the heart of the Woolly Way blog is the same desire I have harboured for years, which is to create or tap into a definitive resource for anyone who wants to visit and/or research textiles wherever they may travel in the UK and Europe.  Stitchlily's blog entry for 19th December really struck a chord with me.  I've a long way to go to make TextileHunter as wide ranging as WoollyWay, but I thank Stitchlily for giving me the inspiration to carry on with what can sometimes feel like a thankless task.

If there is anyone out there reading, I wish you a 2010 filled with the joy of textiles, in all their forms.

Sally Tatters

'Unfolding', an exhibition of textile art. Weaver's Gallery, Ledbury. November 30th - December 6th 2009

I have brief information about this only, and can't find anything better online.

At the Weaver's Gallery, Ledbury.  An exhibition of textile art by Di Wells, Anne Weldon, Liz Broke Ward.  Until December 6th 2009.

Manchester Art Gallery. Costume Collection Online

Hours of lovely browsing on this site,  with the costume collection categorised in themes, and each page cross referenced with related themes. It is a masterpiece of website design, and an elephant trap for any textile lover who thinks they can take a quick look and then get on with something else.

The site describes the Gallery of Costume as housing 'one of the largest collections of clothing and fashion accessories in Britain, containing over 20,000 items.  The collection contains clothes worn by men, women and children, from the 17th century to the present day. '

The site themes are:

Designers; Dressing Up, Dressing Down; Clothes for Work; Recycled Fashion; Sexuality; Materials and Making; Close Up; Sports and Leisure; Underwear.....

http://www.manchestergalleries.org/our-other-venues/platt-hall-gallery-of-costume/the-collection/collection-themes/

Chichester, Weald and Downland Museum. Historic Clothing Project.

How I wish I lived near enough to take part in this group.  A weekly sewing group of volunteers who spend the day ' sewing and creating painstakingly accurate clothing for the museum's interpreters'.  Tudor, Victorian....seamstresses, knitters, quiltmakers...

There's an interesting YouTube video on the site explaining what they're doing.

http://www.culture24.org.uk/history+%2526+heritage/work+%2526+daily+life/art70426

Llangollen, North Wales. Quiltfest 2010

Quiltfest is a regular fixture in the quilting calendar, and this year they will be featuring the work of Effie Galletly.  I saw her work at the first Loch Lomond show, and was entranced by the landscapes worked in very fine tweed fabrics.  I don't think the pictures on the website do them justice, you can't see the softness of colour and texture.

The show is moving to new venues this year, a happy accident which sounds like an invigoration for the event as it will allow all-week opening and some dramatic new venues.

Information constantly being updated on their website:

http://www.quiltfest.org.uk/p_2010Exhibition.ikml

Preston, Lancashire. The Harris Museum. The Art of Fabulous Fabrics. Commences 14 November 2009

A BQTHL listmember has alerted me to this fascinating sounding exhibition at the Harris Museum, Preston. Textiles patterned by weaving, embroidery and printing.... fabrics embellished in gold...hidden treasures from the museum stores....warps, wefts, stitches, sequins, pigments and dyes.....  The description makes my mouth water.

It starts on 14th November, end date is not listed but there are some interesting special events in connection with it, some of which are into the New Year, so I'm hoping this is going to be a long exhibition in the costume gallery.

http://www.harrismuseum.org.uk/coming-soon/343-embellished-the-art-of-fabulous-fabrics.html

The following video talk is about the significance of the textiles in the Harris Museum, and the format of the exhibition:


Embellished: The Art of Fabulous Fabrics from Harris Museum on Vimeo.