Fabric: The Hidden History of the Material World
by Victoria Finlay
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Description
A magnificent work of original research that unravels history through textiles and cloth-how we make it, use it, and what it means to us. How is a handmade fabric helping save an ancient forest? Why is a famous fabric pattern from India best known by the name of a Scottish town? How is a Chinese dragon robe a diagram of the whole universe? What is the difference between how the Greek Fates and the Viking Norns used threads to tell our destiny? In Fabric, bestselling author Victoria Finlay show more spins us round the globe, weaving stories of our relationship with cloth and asking how and why people through the ages have made it, worn it, invented it, and made symbols out of it. And sometimes why they have fought for it. She beats the inner bark of trees into cloth in Papua New Guinea, fails to handspin cotton in Guatemala, visits tweed weavers at their homes in Harris, and has lessons in patchwork-making in Gee's Bend, Alabama - where in the 1930s, deprived of almost everything they owned, a community of women turned quilting into an art form. She began her research just after the deaths of both her parents -and entwined in the threads she found her personal story too. Fabric is not just a material history of our world, but Finlay's own journey through grief and recovery. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, which explored the history of fabric through a number of journeys taken by the author. I loved her previous books on color and jewels. She inserts herself into this one more, which sometimes enhances and at other times detracts from the narrative, but the stories of the fabrics remain fascinating. I was especially surprised at just how interesting the man made fabrics were, from serendipity ( gore-Tex Kevlar) to adventure (space suits) this book had something for everyone
A patchwork love letter to the labors and connection of women
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Awards and Honors
Awards
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 2021-11-11
- Epigraph
- Sometimes the quilts were white for weddings, the design made up of stitches, and the shadows cast by stitches. And the quilts for funerals? How do you sew the night?
‘The Design', by Michael Longley - Dedication
- For the Maisin of Papua New Guinea, the weavers of Harris, the Kent makers of Ghana, the ajrak woodblock printers of Sindh, and all those many, many others who are still painting, weaving, pressing, knitting and sewing hidden... (show all) magic into their cloth.
- Blurbers
- Shulman, Alexandra; Shemilt, Jane; Hicks, Sheila
- Original language
- English
Classifications
- Genres
- General Nonfiction, History, Nonfiction, Art & Design
- DDC/MDS
- 677.009 — Technology Manufacturing Textiles Standard subdivisions History, geographic treatment, biography
- LCC
- NK8806 .F56 — Fine Arts 3600-(9990) Other arts and art industries Decorative arts Other arts and art industries Textiles
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 283
- Popularity
- 113,335
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (4.08)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 7
- ASINs
- 3
