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.

U.S. Army World War II textile sample, nylon

ID Number
TE.T09525
accession number
172295
catalog number
T09525

Point d'Angleterre Border Fragment

Linen border fragment in Point d'Angleterre bobbin lace. Ca. 1750-1780. Part lace with Droschel ground added after the motifs were made. Floral band goes diagonally across the border. Small scallops with picots. 1/4" entre-deux added.Currently not on view
Description
Linen border fragment in Point d'Angleterre bobbin lace. Ca. 1750-1780. Part lace with Droschel ground added after the motifs were made. Floral band goes diagonally across the border. Small scallops with picots. 1/4" entre-deux added.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1775-1800
ID Number
TE.T14365
catalog number
T14365.000

Amoy Lace Guild Bobbin Lace Sample

This sample of handmade Chinese made torchon bobbin lace edging is labeled as costing “$.25 per yard in US gold” and is made of linen. It was acquired from the Amoy Lace Guild, Amoy (Xiamen), China, through Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, Department of Commerce in 1913.
Description
This sample of handmade Chinese made torchon bobbin lace edging is labeled as costing “$.25 per yard in US gold” and is made of linen. It was acquired from the Amoy Lace Guild, Amoy (Xiamen), China, through Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, Department of Commerce in 1913. The Amoy Lace Guild was established by missionaries in 1885 as a charitable organization to provide a source of income to indigent Chinese women and children. Patterns and linen thread was imported from England and Ireland. Lace from the Amoy Lace Guild won a silver medal at the St. Louis exposition in 1904. This sample has roseground, spiders, half stitch trails, and Spanish fans
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1900-1912
maker
Amoy Lace Guild
ID Number
TE.T00949
catalog number
T00949.000
accession number
55643

Large Cape, Repurposed from Old Gros Point de Venise Lace

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1650-1660
ID Number
TE.T12813
catalog number
T12813.000
accession number
244655

Burano Lace School Made Cuff

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
end of 19th century
ID Number
TE.T11840F
catalog number
T11840.00F
accession number
198210

Pieced Together Collar

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
TE.E366799
catalog number
E366799.000
accession number
123794

Memorial Sampler for Rev. Samuel Hopkins

The entire text on this sampler is worked in black silk, using color only for the border and one crossband. The top center contains a 3 x 3 ½” space that is outlined with basting stitches in tan silk, but is completely empty.
Description
The entire text on this sampler is worked in black silk, using color only for the border and one crossband. The top center contains a 3 x 3 ½” space that is outlined with basting stitches in tan silk, but is completely empty. It probably was intended to contain a memorial monument or urn. Working the sampler in black indicated death and including a Bible passage on a sampler was common as most families owned that book. The sampler is stitched with silk embroidery thread on a linen ground with a thread count of warp 27, weft 28/in. The stitches used are cross and crosslet.
The sampler maker did not include her name, but was honoring a well respected minister. Samuel Hopkins was born on October 31, 1729, and married Sarah Porter on February 17, 1756. She was a widow with five children, and they had nine more children. After Sarah died, Samuel married Margaret Stoddard on October 16, 1776, and they had one child. He was ordained as the fourth minister of the church in Hadley, Massachusetts on February 26, 1755, and served until February of 1809, when he was struck with a paralysis which impaired his mental faculties. He died on March 8, 1811.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
unknown
ID Number
TE.E388183
catalog number
E388183
accession number
182022

Lace Collar in Mixed Bobbin and Needle Lace

Collar made with floral Bruges bobbin lace motifs with rolled edges connected with a point de gaze needle lace groundCurrently not on view
Description (Brief)
Collar made with floral Bruges bobbin lace motifs with rolled edges connected with a point de gaze needle lace ground
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
TE.T13176C
catalog number
T13176.00C
accession number
250794

lace, collar

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
TE.T13172
catalog number
T13172.000
accession number
250794

Bobbin Lace Sprigs on Droschel Ground

Brussels bobbin lace sprigs applied to handmade Droschel ground probably from the late 18th century.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Brussels bobbin lace sprigs applied to handmade Droschel ground probably from the late 18th century.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1790-1805
ID Number
TE.L7696
catalog number
L7696.000

Embroidered Net Border in progress

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1822
maker
Hotchkiss, Elizabeth Daggett
ID Number
1982.0579.07
catalog number
1982.0579.07
accession number
1982.0579

Early 18th Century Binche Bobbin Lace Border

Binche bobbin lace border from the early 18th century. Fine quality five-point ground also called virgin ground. The border was probably died brown in the third quarter of the 19th century. Two lengths have been joinedCurrently not on view
Description (Brief)
Binche bobbin lace border from the early 18th century. Fine quality five-point ground also called virgin ground. The border was probably died brown in the third quarter of the 19th century. Two lengths have been joined
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1720-1745
ID Number
TE.L7379A
catalog number
L7379.00A

Black Chantilly Parasol Cover

Black chantilly lace bought about 1863 by Evaline Williams Phillips, the donor's grandmother. Machine madeCurrently not on view
Description
Black chantilly lace bought about 1863 by Evaline Williams Phillips, the donor's grandmother. Machine made
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
TE.E378370
catalog number
E378370.000
?E378370.000
accession number
142512

Point de Gaze Needle Lace Flounce

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
1981.0902.05
accession number
1981.0902
catalog number
1981.0902.0005.000

Linen Cutwork Cover

Linen cutwork cover with a Punto in Aria border edged with a linen band finished with pointed bobbin lace.Currently not on view
Description
Linen cutwork cover with a Punto in Aria border edged with a linen band finished with pointed bobbin lace.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
early 17th century
ID Number
TE.L7655
catalog number
L7655.000
accession number
58000

Border Fragment Alençon Needle Lace applied to Machine Made Net

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
late 18th century
ID Number
TE.T13868
catalog number
T13868.000
accession number
266231

Sally Precinda Chaffee's Sampler

This sampler features two block alphabets of 26 letters, with numbers to 8.
Description
This sampler features two block alphabets of 26 letters, with numbers to 8. Below the alphabets is the inscription:

“Sally Precinda Chaffee 1849
11 years of Age”
This sampler was not done on fabric but on perforated paper, a light weight card that first became available in the 1820s and was commonly used for bookmarks and mottos. The sampler is stitched with cotton and wool embroidery thread on perforated paper with a count of 15/in. The stitches used are cross and tent.
Sally Precinda Chaffee was born on September 6, 1838, to Samuel and Ursula Selenda James Chaffee in Berkshire, Franklin county, Vermont. She died unmarried on August 30, 1857, in Berkshire, Vermont.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1849
maker
Chaffee, Sally Precinda
ID Number
TE.T09688
catalog number
T9688
accession number
173352

handkerchief, lace, embroidered

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
TE.T16036
catalog number
T16036.000
accession number
297965

U.S. Navy cotton sample; World War II

ID Number
TE.T09605
accession number
172665
catalog number
T09605

collar

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
TE.T11852A
catalog number
T11852A
T.11852A

U.S. Navy wool sample; World War II

ID Number
TE.T09618
accession number
172665
catalog number
T09618

Cheney Brothers Printed "Princess Satin" dress silk, 1915

A length of Cheney Brothers printed "Princess Satin" dress silk, 1915.
Description (Brief)
A length of Cheney Brothers printed "Princess Satin" dress silk, 1915. Lightweight, drapey satin-weave silk fabric, printed with Japanese-inspired modernist design featuring striped white and pink, orange, green, gray flower heads and sprays and black and white arcs on a purple ground. (W. 30 in., L. 36 in.) The diagonally striped flower heads are suggestive of Japanese textile printing techniques.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1915
maker
Cheney Brothers
ID Number
TE.T02637.000
catalog number
T02637.000
accession number
58458

Cheney Brothers Figured Silk Furnishing Fabric, 1913

Length of Cheney Brothers lightweight figured silk fabric, 1913. Broken twill weave ground with weft-float patterning of Chinese dragon roundels.Company term was "Broche", but this is not a brocade in the strict sense, just a weft float figure, no supplementary wefts. All silk.
Description (Brief)
Length of Cheney Brothers lightweight figured silk fabric, 1913. Broken twill weave ground with weft-float patterning of Chinese dragon roundels.Company term was "Broche", but this is not a brocade in the strict sense, just a weft float figure, no supplementary wefts. All silk. Piece dyed medium gray-blue. Circular medallions w/ five-toed dragons.Company literature says it was “Used for curtains. Jacquard loom warp of reeled Japan two-thread organzine. Filling Canton rereeled. Pure dye.” [Source: “The Upholsterer” 15 Feb. 1918 pg. 62, “The Upholsterer” 15 Aug 1924 pg. 105.] (W. 30 in., L. 36 in.)
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1913
maker
Cheney Brothers
ID Number
TE.T00095
catalog number
T00095.000
accession number
55080

Mechlin Bobbin Lace Border with Elaborate Floral Swags

Border with elaborate floral swags in Mechlin bobbin lace.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Border with elaborate floral swags in Mechlin bobbin lace.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1730-1750
ID Number
TE.L6897
catalog number
L6897.000

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