As the opening event of Power & Pomp: Fashion History Month at the Library Company of Philadelphia, curator Jade Papa gave a talk about the history of women’s roles in Philadelphia’s textile industries in the 19th century. Along with Jade,
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My name is David Kramer, and I am a textile design major at Thomas Jefferson University. My interest in textiles began as something I did not realize had a connection to textile design. Beginning in the first grade, I would create
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Dated between the 1880-1890’s, this bodice is one part of a two-piece gown constructed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which is identifiable due to the tag displayed on the center back of a woven twill waist tape within the garment. Some notable
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Sponsored by the Jefferson Alumni Association, this talk was presented by curator Jade Papa on International Women’s Day to celebrate some of the women whose works are included in the Textile & Costume Collection. Use the link below to view
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Recently, I’ve worked to bring to light hundreds of trims and ribbons that have been stored away in the collection. As I went through the boxes and boxes of these pieces, the vibrant colors and patterns instantly caught my eye. For this blog
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Gloves and handkerchiefs are often overlooked as accessories today, however, they were once used on a daily basis to communicate. In the 19th century, modesty and etiquette was a priority, especially in romantic pursuits.
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As we close out another year, we'd like to share some holiday nostalgia from our collection of handkerchiefs. These hankies were donated by Pamela Moses, who, along with her daughter Mary Beth Handler, collected hundreds of handkerchiefs over
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Most of the leaves have now fallen off the trees in our beautiful backyard at the Design Center. The days are certainly shorter and the semester is drawing to a close. Thinking about this caused me to reflect on all of the amazing work my staff
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Before computer-aided design, the work of the textile print designer was all done by hand. Designs intended for repeating patterns were hand-sketched and painted. This age of pre-digital textile design is documented in the Point Papers
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Uncovering mysteries and making connections are two of the many exciting occurrences I encounter every day that I work at The Design Center! My job here is to catalogue the large Textile Tools collection — assigning accession numbers to objects