Blog

Embroidered sampler worked by Elizabeth Brooks in England, in 1737, showing the two tablets with the Ten Commandments (TRC 2020.3317).Before Covid-19 turned the world upside down the TRC Leiden was in discussion with the Bijbels (Bible) Museum, Amsterdam, about a group of objects they were de-accessioning. They were reorganising their whole structure and way of working and numerous items were looking for new homes, including a variety of textiles and garments. Last week the objects in which we had shown an interest arrived and we were not disappointed.

The objects include several 18th century samplers, notably a beautiful example (TRC 2020.3317) that dates to 1737 and has a central design of two stone tablets with the Ten Commandments (in English, and with embroidered corrections of the spelling), which are surrounded by embroidered flowers in silk.

The other sampler dates to 1793 (TRC 2020.3321) and depicts a range of plants, animals, birds and the image of two men carrying a large bunch of grapes (King James version, Numbers 13:23: “And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs.”).

Amber Butchart's 'Dirty Laundry'For the last few years the TRC Leiden has been working together with British fashion and textile historian, Amber Butchart. She has visited the TRC on various occasions, including opening our exhibition about hand knitted socks and stockings (2019).

Amber gave a fascinating lecture at the opening on the use of decorative silk stockings by various European kings, notably fashion-conscious Louis XIV of France and Charles II of Britain. Her theme was how these kings used silk stockings to show off their power and virility (very masculine and well-defined legs).

Amber has a series of video blogs called 'Dirty Laundry" based on items in her wardrobe and collection. In these videos she explores the history and significance of the garments. The latest one is about an Uzbek tunic she bought in Istanbul and how it is not quite 'right'!

The TRC was involved in the production of this video. A link to Amber's video can be found here.  Well worth watching!

Gillian Vogelsang, 1st July 2020

We are very busy working on the TRC’s next exhibition that is about the (domestic) history of the Second World War and The Netherlands told through the medium of textiles, dress and accessories. In addition, there will be a section on Mennonite relief quilts that were made in the USA and Canada and sent from 1945 onwards to war-torn Europe. The exhibition opens on the 16th September 2020.

Photograph of a woman displaying the Red Cross scarf designed by Prince Bernhard (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, NG-1988-9-20). 

We have many items for the exhibition, but I have just read about a piece that would have a special place in the exhibition, but we do not have an example in the TRC Leiden collection!

The piece in question is a scarf whose design includes the emblems of the Dutch Navy, the Merchant Navy, Airforce and Army, as well as the texts: Je Maintiendrai and Nederland zal herrijzen. The scarf was designed by Prince Bernhard, the husband of the then Princess Juliana of The Netherlands (she became queen in 1948). The scarf was produced in 1945 as a means of raising funds for the Red Cross and for the Prins Bernhard Fonds.

So far we only have a photograph of the scarf, but if you have one you would be willing to donate to the TRC so that we can use it in our exhibition, please let me know as soon as possible! Our email address is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Gillian Vogelsang, Sunday, 28 June 2020.

Photograph of Annemro Sundbø, winner of the Sørlandets litteraturpris for 2020.It is lovely to have some good news in these strange times. We have recently heard that Annemor Sundbø, a frequent and popular visitor and lecturer at the TRC, has just won a major Norwegian literary prize for her book Koftearven: Historiske trader og magiske mønster (‘Cardigans: Historical trades and magical patterns’). More specifically: the prize is the Sørlandets litteraturpris for 2020. A video of the event can be seen here.

It is a beautifully illustrated book, which looks at many cardigans that come from various parts of Norway. We reviewed the book in the NewTextileBooks review series of the TRC. There are discussions about technical, historical and design aspects. The design section is the ‘magical’ element.

This year, the TRC in Leiden is exhibiting a large number of American quilts. The TRC does so through the current American Quilts exhibition, and from September as part of an exhibition about textiles, dress and World War II. This display will include a number of relief-quilts made by the Mennonite community in the USA and Canada during the war to be sent to Europe to provide warmth and protection to the refugees in war-torn Europe. 

The Bible Quilt, completed by Harriet Powers in 1886.

Dress with long train from the island of Socotra (TRC 2017.0242). The dress is more than two metres long; the front reaches to the knees. The back of the dress includes the long train. Socotra is a small island in the Gulf of Aden, between the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. You may never have heard about it, but this weekend it reached the world’s headlines because of an attempt by some of the local people to make themselves independent of nearby Yemen. Mainland Yemen has been devastated by a civil war that still continues, so the attempt to cut links with Yemen are understandable.

I won’t go into the political details, but what struck me was the information that journalists must desparately have been collecting about this place, in order to provide some couleur locale. They could have written something about its human history, which goes back for thousands of years. The island features already in a two thousand year old sea manual for the trade between Roman Egypt and India. But what the media came up with was that the island was famous for a particular tree, the Dragon’s Blood tree, and for the Socotra cormorant, which is a type of sea-bird.

Now trees and birds are enormously important, but my well-informed spouse also knew about the island, not because of its ancient history or a type of sea-bird, but because of a particular type of dress worn by the local women. It has a very long train that is, so we assume, wrapped around the body, forming some sort of second covering. In all, the dress is more than two metres long, and decorated with embroidery and/or silver-coloured bands on the front and back.

The Textile Research Centre in Leiden has two examples of this unique form of garment, both dating to the late twentieth or early twenty-first centuries (TRC 2015.0551 and TRC 2017.0242).

The cover page of the latest issue of The Journal of Dress History shows a detail of an early nineteenth century lace veil, which is now housed in the collection of the TRC in Leiden (TRC 2014.0381). The veil once belonged to Queen Anna Paulowna (1795-1865), a daughter of the Russian czar Paul I. She was the wife of the Dutch king, Willem II. The photograph was taken by Joost Kolkman, one of the TRC webmasters and a professional photographer.

Summer 2020 Cover

T-shirt referring to the legendary eye-sight test of the British official, Dominic Cummings, to Barnard Castle (TRC 2020.3015).The TRC has now been officially open for two weeks and things are (slowly) beginning to get back to normal. Visitors are coming in – usually by appointment, but very occasionally simply drawn in by the wonderful and colourful quilts that are on display in the Gallery.

Throughout our premises there are bottles of soaps and hand cleaners. There are face masks available should people wish to use them. These are important because guided tours, courses and workshops have started again. We have to get used to the smaller numbers of participants, but it makes it more personal and more time can be spent on the many questions and comments. Because of these limited numbers we are repeating various workshops on different days and many events are already full. So if you are interested in attending something (see the programme), please email and register as soon as possible (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).