Acquiring clothes in the pre- and early-industrial age

The sheer textile has a fascinating way with light, allowing or intercepting its passage through the weave. Its qualities have taken several centuries to prove useful as well as beautiful. Handwoven l

Time has made these roles obsolete, but could they be your next career?

Have you ever been tempted to collect old, or perhaps contemporary, quilts? As with any collectable, rare and desirable examples can cost significant sums of money. However, despite an increase in pop

Although we may imagine the bathing practices of our ancestors to be few and far between, in fact there exists a longstanding love story between bathing and the British Isles. This tale begins with th

As a child, Phoebe Gormley would watch in fascination as her grandmother, a talented seamstress in South Africa, used her sewing skills to turn fabric into beautiful well-fitting garments. Watching he

Life in the Victorian slums was balanced on a knife-edge; one late rent payment or missed meal could have fatal results. Born against the backdrop of the Industrial Revolution, urban areas swelled wit