Textiles: a history

by Fiona McDonald

A fascinating and accessible history of textiles, including the key personalities and inventions which revolutionised the industry, together with the East End workshops and the creation of artificial materials such as rayon. Textile expert, Fiona McDonald, includes tips on the care and repair of materials and advice on what’s worth collecting and the best materials to wear, as well as safe cleaning, tips on collecting. As well as a handy glossary of textile terms, there is an A-Z of different textiles, full of interesting facts – did you know that velvet was originally made from silk and its name derives from the Latin word, vellus, meaning fleece or that cabbage was the term used in the rag trade to refer to the extra outfits clever cutters created and sold off the books by careful placement of the pattern. A fascinating and often surprising subject area explored at an accessible but informative level.

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Nicola Bugg]

I'm not sure this is the most well written book in the world- there are several hilarious typos (Magna Carter, anyone?!)

There are some really interesting pieces of information, however- I was particularly interested in the paragraph on Ghandi using spinning as a form of meditation, as well as a form of protest.

Overall, the information in this book would probably earn it 4 stars, but the typos got on my nerves so it got three.

[Charleigh]

A book with a definite British bias and many typos. I enjoyed learning more about silk, wool, linen, and hemp. I tolerated the rambling sections on the history of guilds and taxes and royal charters. I remain haunted by the Industrial Revolution. (The city of Bradford England increased in population by 800% in 50 years! That's wild!!)

[Matthew Lord]

This book contains a wealth of information.

It is a bit confusing that there are so many typos, repetitive statements/topics, and perhaps misplaced or seemingly unorganized paragraphs.

Still, a great book I found.

[Alan Stewart]

Certainly a lot of interesting information, but poorly organized and poorly written. Often technical terms are introduced with no explanation of their meaning. I also would have appreciated more depth and particularly more illustrations of weaving and sewing techniques.

[Taylor Friese]

I always hate giving books a bad review, but sometimes I feel I must. There are so many silly typos. There was a lot of good information but a lot of it was needlessly repeated and hard to follow.