10/10/2024
In the textile conservation lab, a three-piece 1890s cotton muslin ensemble arrived for treatment!
9/18/2024
You ever have had a project lingering around your house or work that just … bugs you? A thing that needs to be done if only someone would just DO it? This bodice was one of those projects!
7/18/2024
Wanting to do a little more analysis of this piece, I took the jacket back to the museum’s Conservation lab and created a toile, which is like a test version of a pattern used to study and perfect how an original flat pattern works.
6/20/2024
It was time for the ladderback chairs in Gallery 218 to get a refresh! The chairs’ silk upholstery wasn’t original and over the years, while on display, the fabric had grown dingy and stained. Curator of Decorative Arts & Design Amy Dehan selected some appropriate, modern fabric in consultation with me, and I recovered the seats!
5/23/2024
Remember the blue dress from a few weeks ago? This week she’s back—with a secret.
4/25/2024
This week in the textile conservation lab, I am working on a day dress dating to the 1910s. It has a very delicate silk net stand-up collar edged with a metal ribbon and stiffened with wire stays.
2/29/2024
These elegant pale blue kid leather shoes came to the lab for a new storage tray and interior padding, but they are interesting because they bear tell-tale damage from a specific collection pest: silverfish.
2/1/2024
Something is afoot with these shoes! Can you put your finger (or toe) on the difference?
1/4/2024
Check out some small wonders from the world of textile artwork!
11/16/2023
We’ve got it all! All the width of this 1920s embroidered voile (fine soft sheer fabric), that is.
9/21/2023
There are few things more satisfying than seeing some really dramatic “before and after” photos when a conservation treatment is complete! Conservation of Elizabeth Hawes’ “flag dress” or Geographic (1940) has wrapped up, and now you can flip through a whole album of “before/after” pairs showing the transformations of many of the flags that cover the dress.
8/24/2023
The forecourt display case in the Conversations Gallery is fresh! A new rotation arrived last week, and it is practically aglow with summery white freshness. How does a 150-year-old child’s dress look this crisp and breezy?
7/27/2023
How would you like to travel in a custom “sleeping bag”? These three dresses designed by Ann Lowe (American, 1898–1981) are headed to the Winterthur Museum in Delaware for the exhibition Ann Lowe: American Couturier, snuggled in soft surrounds for a safe and comfortable trip.
6/21/2023
What is one of the best things about being a textile conservator? To me, it’s that I sometimes have the chance to “converse” with my fashion design heroes through their work.
5/25/2023
This week, grab a sneak peek at “coming attractions” with this Indian floor spread! She’ll be the “star of the show” in our Anu and Shekhar Gallery of South Asian Art when installed at the end of June.
4/27/2023
Does crisp spring weather make you crave a snuggly blanket? The Cincinnati Art Museum has several!
3/30/2023
Treatment is complete for this 1920s silk chiffon and velvet dress which showed loss in several places, including the right shoulder.
3/2/2023
Are you a pal of Indian textiles? Then be sure to see the palampore currently on display in the South Asian Gallery!
1/5/2023
Heat and moisture melted the missing sequins on this 1925–1926 party dress at the wearer’s armpit.
12/1/2022
We are “dyeing” to find the perfect shades of pink silk chiffon to repair this 1920s dress!
10/27/2022
Our textile conservator got to wear all these “hats” this week to address some spots on this settee in Gallery 209, the British portraiture gallery.
9/29/2022
Take a peek into preparations for the reopening of the South Asian Galleries, December 2023.
8/4/2022
A whole team helped clean the galleries in a gallery-wide dust-up (or down!). Next time you visit the museum, take a minute to think about all the unseen work that goes into keeping all parts of the museum looking their best.
6/9/2022
This carpet is a whopping 25’ by 18,’ easily one of the largest textiles in the collection.
5/12/2022
This beaded bag from the 1920s is in the textile conservation lab for some stabilization where some of the beading threads were broken, but it presented a special challenge...
4/14/2022
This silk chiffon scarf--part of a dress by designer Anna Jeanne Hallée designed in 1924—is undergoing conservation for significant loss and weakness where only shreds and threads remained around the central section.
3/17/2022
The Fashion and Textile Collection has a new gift! And it’s part of a set!
2/17/2022
It’s true that fashions come back around!
1/20/2022
It’s getting weavy weird in the textile conservation lab this week!