Textile arts

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Textile arts

, 45 x 29 1/2 in. (114.3 x 74.93 cm), Qing Dynasty, China, mid-18th century, LACMA textile collection]] Rumal
Rumal

File:Chamba Rumal .jpgA Rumal is a piece of clothing similar to a handkerchief or bandana. It is worn by Sikh men who cut their hair and other male guests when they are in a Gurdwara....
with scenes of gopi
Gopi

Gopi is a word of Sanskrit origin meaning 'cow-herd girl'. In Hinduism specifically the name gopi is used more commonly to refer to the group of cow herding girls famous within Vaishnava Theology for their unconditional devotion to Krishna as described in the stories of Bhagavata Purana and other Puranas literatures....
s worshiping Krishna

Krishna

Krishna is a deity worshiped across many traditions in Hinduism in a variety of different perspectives. While many Vaishnava groups recognize him as an avatar of Vishnu, other traditions within Krishnaism consider Krishna to be svayam bhagavan, or the supreme being....
. Late 18th to early 19th century, Himachal Pradesh

Himachal Pradesh

Himachal Pradesh is a state in the Punjab region in north-west India. Himachal Pradesh is spread over 21,629 square mile , and is bordered by the Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir on north, Punjab on west and south-west, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh on south, Uttarakhand on south-east and by Tibet on the east....
, India. Ceremonial/ritual furnishing, silk embroidery on cotton. LACMA textile collection]] Textile arts are those art

Art

Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music and literature....
s and craft

Craft

A craft is a skill, especially involving practical The Arts. It may refer to a trade or particular art.The terms is often used as part of a longer word ....
s that use plant

Fiber crop

Fiber crops are field crops grown for their fibers, which are traditionally used to make paper, cloth, or rope. The fibers may be chemically modified, like in viscose or cellophane....
, animal

Animal fiber

Animal fibers are natural fibers that consist largely of particular proteins. Instances are silk, hair/fur and feathers. The most commonly used type of animal fiber is hair....
, or synthetic

Synthetic fiber

Synthetic fibers are the result of extensive research by scientists to improve upon naturally occurring animal and plant. In general, synthetic fibers are created by forcing, usually through extrusion, fiber forming materials through holes into the air, forming a thread....
fiber

Fiber

Fiber or fibre is a class of materials that are continuous filaments or are in discrete elongated pieces, similar to lengths of yarn. They are very important in the biology of both plants and animals, for holding tissue s together....
s to construct practical or decorative objects.

Textile

Textile

A textile is a flexible material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by Spinning raw wool fibres, linen, cotton, or other material on a spinning wheel to produce long strands known as yarn....
s have been a fundamental part of human life since the beginning of civilization

Civilization

A civilization is a society or culture group normally defined as a complex society characterized by the practice of agriculture and settlement in towns and city....
, and the methods and materials used to make them have expanded enormously, while the functions of textiles have remained the same.

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Krishna

Himachal Pradesh

Art

Craft

A craft is a skill, especially involving practical The Arts. It may refer to a trade or particular art.The terms is often used as part of a longer word ....
s that use plant

Fiber crop

Fiber crops are field crops grown for their fibers, which are traditionally used to make paper, cloth, or rope. The fibers may be chemically modified, like in viscose or cellophane....
, animal

Animal fiber

Animal fibers are natural fibers that consist largely of particular proteins. Instances are silk, hair/fur and feathers. The most commonly used type of animal fiber is hair....
, or synthetic

Synthetic fiber

Fiber

Textile

Civilization

International trade

International trade is exchange of Capital , goods, and services across international borders or territories. In most countries, it represents a significant share of gross domestic product ....
. Tyrian purple

Tyrian purple

Tyrian purple , also known as royal purple, imperial purple or imperial dye, is a purple-red dye which was first produced by the ancient Phoenicians in the city of Tyre, Lebanon....
dye

Dye

A dye can generally be described as a colored substance that has an Chemical affinity to the Wiktionary:substrate to which it is being applied....
was an important trade good in the ancient Mediterranean. The Silk Road

Silk Road

The Silk Road is an extensive interconnected network of trade routes across the Asian continent connecting East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean world, including North Africa and Europe....
brought Chinese

China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
silk to India

India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
, Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
, and Europe

Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
. Tastes for imported luxury fabric

Fabric

A fabric is a textile material.Fabric may also refer to:*a production unit or similar practical organism, such as an ecclestiastical Fabrica Ecclesiae...
s led to sumptuary law

Sumptuary law

Sumptuary laws are laws which attempt to regulate habits of consumption. Black's Law Dictionary defines them as "Laws made for the purpose of restraining luxury or extravagance, particularly against inordinate expenditures in the matter of apparel, food, furniture, etc."....
s during the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
and Renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe....
. The industrial revolution was a revolution of textiles technology: the cotton gin

Cotton gin

A cotton gin is a machine that quickly and easily separates the cotton fibers from the seedpods and the sometimes sticky seeds, a job previously done by hand....
, the spinning jenny

Spinning jenny

The spinning jenny is a multi-spool spinning wheel. It was invented circa 1764 by James Hargreaves in Stanhill, near Blackburn, Lancashire in the northwest of England ....
, and the power loom

Power loom

File:Strickmaschine im Museum.JPGThe first power loom, a mechanized loom powered by a drive shaft, was designed in 1784 by Edmund Cartwright and first built in 1785, it was refined over the next 47 years till a design by Kenworthy and Bullough, made the operation completely automatic....
mechanized production and led to the Luddite

Luddite

The Luddites were a social movement of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland textile artisans in the early nineteenth century who protested—often by destroying mechanized looms—against the changes produced by the Industrial Revolution, which they felt were leaving them without work....
rebellion.

Concepts

The word textile is from Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
texere which means "to weave", "to braid" or "to construct". The simplest textile art is felt

Felt

Felt is a non-weave cloth that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing fibers. While some types of felt are very soft, some are tough enough to form construction materials....
ing, in which animal fibers are matted together using heat and moisture. Most textile arts begin with twisting or spinning and plying

Plying

In the textile arts, plying is a process used to create a strong, balanced yarn. It is done by taking two or more strands of yarn that each have a twist to them and putting them together....
fibers to make yarn

Yarn

Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibers, suitable for use in the production of textiles, sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery and ropemaking....
(called thread when it is very fine and rope
Rope

A rope is a length of fibers, twisted or braided together to improve strength for pulling and connecting. It has tensile strength but is too flexible to provide compressive strength ....
when it is very heavy). The yarn is then knot

Knot

A knot is a method for fastening or securing linear material such as rope by tying or interweaving. It may consist of a length of one or more segments of rope, string, webbing, twine, strap, or even chain interwoven such that the line can bind to itself or to some other object?the "load"....
ted, loop

Loop

A loop is generally something that closes back on itself such as a circle. The closing can appear in time or in space....
ed, braid

Braid

A braid is a complex structure or pattern formed by intertwining three or more strands of flexible material such as textile fibers, wire, or human hair....
ed, or woven

Weaving

Weaving is the textile arts in which two distinct sets of yarn, called the Warp and the filling or weft , are interlaced with each other to form a textile....
to make flexible fabric or cloth, and cloth can be used to make clothing

Clothing

A feature of all human societies, except perhaps the most primitive, is the wearing of clothing or clothes, especially in public. The primary purpose of clothing is functional, as a protection from the weather....
and soft furnishings. All of these items – felt, yarn, fabric, and finished objects – are collectively referred to as textiles.

The textile arts also include those techniques which are used to embellish or decorate textiles – dyeing

Dyeing

Dyeing is the process of imparting colours to a textile material in loose fibre, yarn, cloth or garment form by treatment with a dye....
and printing

Textile printing

Textile printing is the process of applying colour to textile in definite patterns or designs. In properly printing fabrics the colour is bonded with the fiber, so as to resist washing and friction....
to add color

Color

Color or colour is the visual perception property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, yellow, blue and others....
and pattern; embroidery

Embroidery

File:Kazakh rug chain stitch embroidery.jpgEmbroidery is the art or handicraft of decorating Textile or other materials with sewing needle and yarn....
and other types of needlework

Needlework

Needlework is a broad term for the handicrafts of decorative sewing and textile arts. Anything that uses a needle for construction can be called needlework....
; tablet weaving

Tablet weaving

Tablet Weaving is a weaving technique where tablets, also called 'cards', are used to create the Shed the weft is passed through. The technique is limited to narrow work such as belts, straps, or garment trim....
; and lace

Lace

Lace is an openwork fabric, patterned with open holes in the work, made by machine or by hand. The holes can be formed via removal of threads or cloth from a previously woven fabric, but more often open spaces are created as part of the lace fabric....
-making. Construction methods such as sewing

Sewing

Sewing or stitching is the fastening of cloth, leather, furs, bark, or other flexible materials, using Sewing needle and yarn. Its use is nearly universal among human populations and dates back to Paleolithic times ....
, knitting

Knitting

Knitting is a method by which yarn may be turned into cloth. Knitting consists of loops called stitches pulled through each other. The active stitches are held on a needle until another loop can be passed through them....
, chrochet, and tailoring, as well as the tools and techniques employed (loom

Loom

A loom is a machine or device for weaving thread or yarn into textiles. Looms can range from very small hand-held frames, to large free-standing hand looms, to huge automatic mechanical devices....
s, sewing needle

Sewing needle

A sewing needle is a long slender tool with a pointed tip. The first needles were made of bone or wood; modern ones are manufactured from high carbon steel wire, nickel- or gold plated for corrosion resistance....
s, and pleat

Pleat

A pleat is a type of fold formed by doubling textile back upon itself and securing it in place. It is commonly used in clothing and upholstery to gather a wide piece of fabric to a narrower circumference....
ing) and the objects made (carpet

Carpet

A carpet is any loom-woven, felted textile or grass floor covering. The term was also used for table and wall coverings, as carpets were not commonly used on the floor in European interiors until the 18th century....
s, coverlets

Woven coverlet

A woven coverlet or coverlid is a type of bed covering with a weaving design in colored wool yarn on a background of natural linen or cotton....
) all fall under the category of textile arts.

Functions

From early times, textiles have been used to cover the human body and protect it from the elements; to send social cues

Social interaction

Social interaction is a dynamic, changing sequence of social actions between individuals who modify their actions and reactions according to those of their interaction partner....
to other people; to store, secure, and protect possessions; and to soften, insulate, and decorate living spaces and surfaces.

The persistence of ancient textile arts and functions, and their elaboration for decorative effect, can be seen in a Jacobean era

Jacobean era

The Jacobean era refers to the period in England and Scotland history that coincides with the reign of King James I of England of England, who was also James VI of Scotland....
portrait of Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales

Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales

Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales was the eldest son of King James I of England and Anne of Denmark. His name comes from grandfathers Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley and Frederick II of Denmark....
by Robert Peake the Elder

Robert Peake the Elder

Robert Peake the Elder was an English painter active in the later part of Elizabeth I of England reign and for most of the reign of James I of England....
(above). The prince's capotain

Capotain

A capotain, capatain or copotain is a tall-crowned, narrow-brimmed, slightly conical hat, usually black, worn by men and women from the 1590s into the mid-seventeenth century in England and northwestern Europe....
hat

Hat

A hat is a headcovering. It may be worn for protection against the elements, for religious reasons, for safety, or as a fashion accessory. In the past, hats were an indicator of social status....
is made of felt using the most basic of textile techniques. His clothing is made of woven cloth, richly embroidered in silk

Silk

Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be weaving into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from Pupa#Cocoons made by the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity ....
, and his stocking

Stocking

A stocking, sometimes referred to as hose, is a close-fitting, variously elastic clothing covering the foot and lower part of the leg. Stockings vary in color and transparency....
s are knitted. He stands on an oriental rug

Oriental rug

An authentic oriental rug is a handmade carpet that is either knotted with pile or woven without pile. Oriental-design rugs made by machine, made through hand-tufting or any method other than hand-knotting or hand-weaving are not considered authentic oriental rugs....
of wool

Wool

Wool is the fiber derived from the specialized skin cells, called follicles, of animals in the Caprinae family, principally domestic sheep, but the hair of certain species of other Mammalia such as cashmere goat, llamas, rabbits and keeshonds may also be called wool....
which softens and warms the floor, and heavy curtain

Curtain

A curtain is a piece of cloth intended to block or obscure light, or drafts, or water in the case of a shower curtain. Curtains hung over a doorway are known as porti?res....
s both decorate the room and block cold drafts from the window. Goldwork embroidery

Goldwork (embroidery)

Goldwork is the art of embroidery using metal threads. It is particularly prized for the way light plays on it. The term "goldwork" is used even when the threads are imitation gold, silver, or copper....
on the tablecloth

Tablecloth

A table cloth is a cloth used to cover a table . Typically table cloths are made of cotton or artificial fabrics. They are often designed to be easy to wipe clean....
and curtains proclaim the status of the home's owner, in the same way that the felted fur hat, sheer linen

Linen

Linen is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant, Linum usitatissimum. Linen is labor-intensive to manufacture, but when it is made into garments, it is valued for its exceptional coolness and freshness in hot weather....
shirt

Shirt

A shirt is a cloth garment for the upper body. Originally an item of Undergarment worn exclusively by men, it has become in American English a catch-all term for almost any upper-body garment other than outerwear such as sweaters or Coat , or undergarments such as brassiere ....
trimmed with reticella

Reticella

Reticella is a needle lace dating from the 15th century and remaining popular into the first quarter of the 17th century.Reticella was originally a form of cutwork in which threads were pulled from linen fabric to make a "grid" on which the pattern was stitched, primarily using buttonhole stitch....
lace, and opulent embroidery on the prince's clothes proclaim his social position.

Textiles as art

Traditionally the term art was used to refer to any skill or mastery, a concept which altered during the Romantic

Romanticism

Romanticism is a complex artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Western Europe, and gained strength during the Industrial Revolution....
period of the nineteenth century, when art came to be seen as "a special faculty of the human mind to be classified with religion and science". This distinction between craft and fine art

Fine art

Fine art describes any art form developed primarily for aesthetics and/or concept rather than utility. This type of art is often expressed in the production of art objects using Visual arts and performing art forms, including painting, sculpture, dance, theatre, architecture, photography and printmaking....
is applied to the textile arts as well, where the term fiber art
Fiber art

Fiber art is a style of fine art which uses textiles such as Cloth, yarn, and natural and synthetic fibers. It focuses on the materials and on the manual labour involved as part of its significance....
or textile art is now used to describe textile-based decorative objects which are not intended for practical use.

External links

Sarah Lowengard,, Columbia University Press, 2006

Textile arts

Concepts

Functions

Textiles as art

See also

External links