Textiles

Coverlet

The 50,000 objects in the textile collections fall into two main categories: raw fibers, yarns, and fabrics, and machines, tools, and other textile technology. Shawls, coverlets, samplers, laces, linens, synthetics, and other fabrics are part of the first group, along with the 400 quilts in the National Quilt Collection. Some of the Museum's most popular artifacts, such as the Star-Spangled Banner and the gowns of the first ladies, have an obvious textile connection.

The machinery and tools include spinning wheels, sewing machines, thimbles, needlework tools, looms, and an invention that changed the course of American agriculture and society. A model of Eli Whitney's cotton gin, made by the inventor in the early 1800s, shows the workings of a machine that helped make cotton plantations profitable in the South and encouraged the spread of slavery.

Place: Massachusetts

Embroidered Table Cover With Bobbin Lace Border

Table cover embellished with brown geometric embroidery, mostly in satin stitch and inserts of ecru needle weaving. The brown and ecru bobbin lace border is probably Spanish from the 16th or 17th century. There are remnants of cross stitched initials (?) in black.
Description
Table cover embellished with brown geometric embroidery, mostly in satin stitch and inserts of ecru needle weaving. The brown and ecru bobbin lace border is probably Spanish from the 16th or 17th century. There are remnants of cross stitched initials (?) in black. Donor information: from Marian Hague
Location
Currently not on view
date made
16th or 17th century
Associated Date
16th century
17th century
ID Number
2013.0121.22
accession number
2013.0121
catalog number
2013.0121.22

Eunice Moore; coverlet, overshot; c. 1800; Massachusetts

According to an inscription sewn to this coverlet, Mrs. Eunice Moore of Worthington, Massachusetts wove this simple “Block and Table” overshot coverlet in 1800 from gold wool and natural cotton yarns. Moore was the grandmother of Armida Everett, mother of the donors.
Description
According to an inscription sewn to this coverlet, Mrs. Eunice Moore of Worthington, Massachusetts wove this simple “Block and Table” overshot coverlet in 1800 from gold wool and natural cotton yarns. Moore was the grandmother of Armida Everett, mother of the donors. The coverlet measures 92 inches by 70 inches and was woven as one length, cut into two panels, and sewn up the center. It was common practice to remove the center seam to wash coverlet as their size and weight when wet made them hard to deal with. The last time this coverlet’s seam was removed, the owner sewed it together again backwards. The central pattern would originally have been two side borders and the current outer edges would have been matched up to create a larger centerfield design.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca. 1800
maker
unknown
ID Number
TE.L6952
catalog number
L06952.000
accession number
113420

William Skinner and Sons silk Parachute Flare Cloth fabric length; 1941

William Skinner and Sons Parachute Flare Cloth silk plain weave fabric length; 1941.Sheer, originally stiff (now soft) fabric for making parachutes for flares. Plain weave, all-silk. Quality 9357, Lot. No. 19079. White colored. Thread count 130 x 108.
Description
William Skinner and Sons Parachute Flare Cloth silk plain weave fabric length; 1941.
Sheer, originally stiff (now soft) fabric for making parachutes for flares. Plain weave, all-silk. Quality 9357, Lot. No. 19079. White colored. Thread count 130 x 108. Woven in Holyoke, MA.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1941
ID Number
TE.T08576.000
accession number
161884
catalog number
T08576.000

William Skinner and Sons silk twill "Escape Parachute Cloth," or "Canopy Cloth", 1941.

William Skinner and Sons "Escape Parachute Cloth," or "Canopy Cloth" white silk twill fabric length, 1941.Lightweight, soft silk fabric used in making soldiers' parachutes. Commercial names: Escape Parachute Cloth or Canopy Cloth. Manufacturer's notes: Twill weave, 2 x 1.
Description
William Skinner and Sons "Escape Parachute Cloth," or "Canopy Cloth" white silk twill fabric length, 1941.
Lightweight, soft silk fabric used in making soldiers' parachutes. Commercial names: Escape Parachute Cloth or Canopy Cloth. Manufacturer's notes: Twill weave, 2 x 1. Quality Exp 302A, Lot No. 47539. Color white. Thread count 288 x 84. Used in World War II. Woven in Holyoke, MA by William Skinner and Sons. Small rivet-like indentions on one side of the length, spanning all the way across every few inches.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1941
ID Number
TE.T08575.000
accession number
161884
catalog number
T08575.000

Armenian Needle Lace Mat

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
2013.0121.12
accession number
2013.0121
catalog number
2013.0121.12

William Skinner and Sons black silk faille fabric length; 1932.

William Skinner and Sons black silk faille fabric length; 1932. Fabric known as faille or grosgrain. Soft, close, plain weave fabric, but with flat ribs produced by a coarse cotton filling yarn which is entirely covered by the very fine silk warp yarn. Used for women's shoes.
Description
William Skinner and Sons black silk faille fabric length; 1932. Fabric known as faille or grosgrain. Soft, close, plain weave fabric, but with flat ribs produced by a coarse cotton filling yarn which is entirely covered by the very fine silk warp yarn. Used for women's shoes. Yard-dyed black. Selvedge says "Skinner's" woven in black.
William Skinner emigrated from England to Massachusetts in 1843, finding work as silk dyer. He eventually opened his own silk manufacturing company, the Unquomonk Silk Co., making silk threads and yarns for weaving and sewing. In 1874, the mill was destroyed when the Mill River Dam gave way. Skinner moved his company a few miles away, to Holyoke, Massachusetts, and rebuilt the mill, expanding production to include woven fabrics (Skinner satins were nationally famous) and silk braids. He ran the company until his death in 1902, and the firm stayed in the family, and remained in operation in Holyoke, until 1961, when his heirs sold it to Indian head Mills, which immediately closed the Holyoke operation.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1932
ID Number
TE.T06934.000
accession number
117978
catalog number
T06934.000

Black Silk Bobbin Lace Edging Fragment

date made
1785-1795
ID Number
TE.T11881UU
accession number
113420

Armenian needlelace flowers (oya).

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
2013.0121.11
accession number
2013.0121
catalog number
2013.0121.11

Invention for Improvement in Looms for Weaving Piled Fabrics

For Bigelow’s invention of a “Loom for Weaving Piled Fabrics,” he received one of his many patents, which included patents for his celebrated looms for weaving Brussels, or looped, carpets.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
For Bigelow’s invention of a “Loom for Weaving Piled Fabrics,” he received one of his many patents, which included patents for his celebrated looms for weaving Brussels, or looped, carpets.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1851
patent date
1851-01-14
inventor
Bigelow, Erastus Brigham
ID Number
TE.T11411.014
accession number
89797
catalog number
T11411.014
patent number
7,898

Black Silk Bobbin Lace Edging Remnant

date made
1790-1800
ID Number
TE.T11881VV
accession number
113420

Milanese Bobbin Lace Runner With Tulips

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
2013.0121.27
accession number
2013.0121
catalog number
2013.0121.27

Bedfordshire Bobbin Lace Collar

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1850-1860
ID Number
2013.0121.48
accession number
2013.0121
catalog number
2013.0121.48

Rachel Breck's Sampler

This sampler features an alphabet, numbers, flowers, baskets, birds, and trees all worked in cross stitch, while the background is completely filled in with long vertical stitches.
Description
This sampler features an alphabet, numbers, flowers, baskets, birds, and trees all worked in cross stitch, while the background is completely filled in with long vertical stitches. The flower baskets symbolize friendship and love, and the birds on the trees would indicate her love of nature. The figure within the cartouche is balanced by a four-storied building, which may depict the school or academy that inspired the design. The sampler is stitched with silk embroidery thread on a linen ground with a thread count of 26/in warp, 24/in weft. The stitches used are cross, satin, chain, French knots, and straight. Rachel included the inscription:

Alas how transient all our earthly store
To-day we bloom tomorrow are no more
Rachel Breck / aged 11
Rachel Breck also stitched a silk embroidery in 1810 entitled “Charity” at the Misses Patten School in Hartford, Connecticut.
Rachel Breck was born July 22, 1792, to Joseph Hunt (1766-1801), a silversmith, and Abigail Kingsley (c1766-1846) Breck of Northampton, Massachusetts. In 1819 Rachel married George Hooker who was born 1798 to John and Sarah (Dwight) Hooker of Northampton. He went to Yale, class of 1814 and was a physician who resided in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. They had 8 children born between 1820 and 1833 and Rachel died in January 6,1879.
date made
1803
maker
Breck, Rachel
ID Number
2011.0256.01
catalog number
2011.0256.01
accession number
2011.0256

Mourning Embroidery

After a young lady learned to embroider a sampler, she might attend a female academy to make a silk embroidered picture. This was a more challenging technique that became popular in the early 1800s.
Description
After a young lady learned to embroider a sampler, she might attend a female academy to make a silk embroidered picture. This was a more challenging technique that became popular in the early 1800s. Subjects included classical, biblical, and historical scenes, as well as mourning pictures. The death of George Washington gave impetus to this new fad of the mourning picture. It included an assortment of plinth, urn, mourners, and trees in a garden setting.
This square embroidered picture depicts a young girl weeping, kneeling beside a plinth topped by an urn beneath a weeping willow tree. There was once an inscription glued on the plinth, but it is now missing from the oval. The girl is dressed in an ivory and pale gold Empire style dress with lacy edging around the square neck. The embroidered weeping figure, plinth, chenille tree and chenille ground are surrounded by painted water. A gold inscription on a black mat at the bottom says, “Wrought by Sophia W. Childs, Charleston, 1827.” It is stitched on a plain weave ivory silk ground with silk floss and chenille. The stitches are satin, long and short, laid, and straight.
This mourning embroidery contains the usual motifs of a plinth with an urn, weeping willow trees and a young lady mourning. The Regency style dress would have been the dress of the period and helps to date the picture.
Sophia Wyman Childs married Jeremiah Holmes Kimball (1802-1849) of Woburn, Massachusetts, on February 24, 1828. She died sometime before November 1832, when Jeremiah wed Jerusha Ann Richardson.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1827
associated date
1964-12
maker
Childs, Sophia Wyman
ID Number
TE.T19319
accession number
256396
catalog number
T19319

Bird, Nautilus and Floral Motif in Mechlin Bobbin Lace Fragment

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
2013.0121.34
accession number
2013.0121
catalog number
2013.0121.34

shuttle, tatting, lace

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
patent date
1868-08-04
inventor
Goodwin, Lizzie C.
Stockwell, Ira H.
ID Number
TE.T11416.054
catalog number
T11416.054
patent number
80,781

Charity

After a young lady learned to embroider a sampler, she might attend a female academy to make a silk embroidered picture. This was a more challenging technique that became popular in the early 1800s.
Description

After a young lady learned to embroider a sampler, she might attend a female academy to make a silk embroidered picture. This was a more challenging technique that became popular in the early 1800s. Subjects included classical, biblical, and historical scenes, as well as mourning pictures.

In an oval with couched chenille outline, a woman is followed by a child. She carries an infant and a basket of bread, and she is giving bread to a barefoot boy in patched clothing. Framing the oval are wheat-heads, stems, leaves, lilies, and a garland of roses with bow-knots held by a raised ¬work eagle with spread wings. It is worked on an ivory silk ground. The stitches used are satin, long and short, outline, French knot, seed, and couching. The threads are silk, chenille, and metal.

The source of the design is "Charity," an image engraved by C. Stampa in London, 1802. Charity is one of the three theological virtues and is often represented as a female figure. The eagle was a national emblem of victory through the blessings of God, and is often found on other embroideries done at the Misses Patten’s school in Hartford, Connecticut. Misses Sarah, Ruth, and Mary Patten, along with their mother Ruth Wheelock Patten, operated a very successful girls’ school in Hartford, Connecticut from about 1785 to 1825.

Rachel Breck was born on July 22, 1792, to Joseph and Abigail Kingsley Breck of Northampton, Massachusetts. She married George Hooker on June 20, 1819, and they had eight children. Rachel died January 6, 1879, in Long Meadow, Massachusetts. She attended Deerfield Academy in 1806, but embroidered “Charity” at the Misses Patten’s school in Hartford, Connecticut.

Location
Currently not on view
date made
1810
maker
Breck, Rachel
ID Number
TE.E388172
catalog number
E388172
accession number
182022

Black Silk Bobbin Lace Edging Fragment

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1790-1815
ID Number
TE.T14490.00B
catalog number
T14490.00B
accession number
277490

String of Knotted Needle Lace Flowers

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
2013.0121.04
accession number
2013.0121
catalog number
2013.0121.04

Armenian needlelace flowers (oya). green band

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
2013.0121.06
accession number
3012.0121
catalog number
2013.0121.06

These Are My Jewels

After a young lady learned to embroider a sampler, she might attend a female academy to make a silk embroidered picture. This was a more challenging technique that became popular in the early 1800s.
Description
After a young lady learned to embroider a sampler, she might attend a female academy to make a silk embroidered picture. This was a more challenging technique that became popular in the early 1800s. Subjects included classical, biblical, and historical scenes, as well as mourning pictures.
A Roman lady, with her three children, is depicted with a seated Roman matron holding a box of jewels. The standing lady holds the hand of the youngest child, who is admiring a brooch, and gestures toward her other two children - a boy carrying a scroll on which the letters “ABC” are visible, and a slightly older girl carrying a slate. The heads, arms, legs, and feet of the figures, the background sky, and the bushes are painted. Below the picture, embroidered in black silk stem stitch, is the inscription, "THESE ARE MY JEWELS." It has a glass mat reverse-painted white with a 5/8" gold, black, and violet geometric band. At the lower edge, in gold are the words, "WROUGHT by LYDIA BOWLES AUSTIN at MRS. SAUNDERS & MISS BEACH'S ACADEMY." The picture is worked on a plain-weave ivory silk ground with silk embroidery threads and is lined with linen. The stitches are satin, split, outline, and chain.
The title of the embroidery is taken from a Roman legend which tells of Cornelia, with her children, visiting a wealthy Roman lady who proudly displays her collection of jewelry and then asks to see Cornelia's jewelry. To this Cornelia replies "These are my jewels," indicating her children. The picture is a copy of an engraving by Bartolozzi, entitled "Cornelia Mother of the Gracchi" which was published in London in 1788, copied from a painting by Angelica Kauffmann.
In 1803 Judith Foster Saunders and Clementina Beach moved to Dorchester, Massachusetts, and started a school for young ladies. They used the services of John Doggett for much of the framing of the needlework pieces. The framing included glass mats that had the name of the embroiderer as well as the name of the school, which has made it easy to identify pieces from their school.
Lydia Bowles Austin, daughter of Joseph and Lydia Bowles Austin of Boston, Massachusetts was born in 1792 and died unmarried in Boston on July 18, 1824. Her father was a baker.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Austin, Lydia Bowles
ID Number
1996.0125.01
catalog number
1996.0125.01
accession number
1996.0125

Black Silk Bobbin Lace Edging

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1790-1820
ID Number
TE.T14587
accession number
277988
catalog number
T14587

Embroidered Cushion Cover With Bobbin Lace Border

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
2013.0121.23
accession number
2013.0121
catalog number
2013.0121.23

Armenian needlelace flowers (oya).

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
2013.0121.08
accession number
2013.0121
catalog number
2013.0121.08

Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.

If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.