Textiles
Textiles are “string art” formed when fibers are twisted or connected together. In addition to our separate quilt and coverlet collections, textiles assembled by the Old Church Gallery include weaving, crocheting, tatting, sewing, and embroidery pieces.
The cotton warp threads are clearly visible crossing the weft made from strips of scrap materials on this rug. Beulah Harman Shelor wove this rag rug in the 1950s using the loom passed down from her grandmother Elizabeth Dodd Bishop (read about this loom in our Tools Collection).
Until the latter part of the nineteenth century, all clothing and household linens were made at home. Socks were knit from wool sheared from the family sheep. Linen towels woven from farm-grown flax hung near cookstoves. Sheets sewn from bleached feed sacks became softer with repeated use. Snowflake forms of tatting and crocheting brought a feminine grace to pillowcases and table coverings.