Textiles : Resources by Topic

This LibGuide provides a very small portion of textile-related resources that are available. Textiles involve a multi-disciplinary (including, but not limited to: art, art history, archaeology, anthropology, business, chemistry, geography, and history) approach to study and there exists overlap in the relationships between different disciplines of study.  With respect to the hundreds of fields, aspects, and geographical orgins associated with textiles, this LibGuide touches upon four general topics:

• Design
• Fiber
• History
• Images
• News/Blogs
• Preservation

Design addresses aesthetic components and choices relative to textile design and focuses on two aspects: color and surface design.  "Color" touches upon the human perception of color and the values that can be associated or measured with color; some people have based their entire education and professional work in the study of color and color systems alone.  "Surface design"  refers to a few examples of affecting different aesthetics and/or textures to textile materials.

Fiber touches upon fiber classification, creating textiles from fibers, sustainable fibers, and textile quality and control standards. Because there are an infinite number of options regarding technique and stylistic interpretations, this is a very basic introduction to the basic components of textile production.

History focuses on the resources about the history of textiles as well as historical resources about textiles. Because textiles have origins before the written word, this LibGuide will not extensively delve into the history of textiles. 

Images offers a few resources to find visual examples of textiles through keyword searches in databases containing relevant images.

News/Blogs provides links to seven different web pages and blogs through RSS feeds: Textile Exchange, the TAFA (Textile and Fiber Artists) List, Textile Source Blog, The Textile Blog, R. John Howe's Textile and Text Blog (associated with The Textile Museum), Puff and Flock, and 2Modern Design Talk.

Preservation offers some suggestions for how to care for and preserve textiles and lists the most common "enemies" of textiles. Additionally, a list of books on the topic of textile preservation are included.

These topics are meant to be starting points for you research and/or curiosity about textiles.  Hopefully, they will inspire you to explore further and enjoy the world of textiles!