The TRC Newsletter Spring 2013 has just been published and will be sent this week in both Dutch and English to all our friends and other interested contacts. The English version can already be downloaded here. The TRC Spring 2013 Newsletter contains information about the current exhibition on Iranian clothing, the upcoming exhibition on embroidery; the intensive textile courses, etc.

From 23 January until 29 August 2013, the TRC presents a spectacular exhibition of clothing from Iran in its Leiden gallery. Visitors will be struck by the sheer diversity, the bright colours and multitude of shapes, which constitute such a marked contrast with the dominant perception of Iranian clothing as being dull and uniform.

TRC exhibition "Beyond the Chador". Photographer: Andrew Thompson.

Iran is a country with a very ancient and proud history. It is also a country with a harsh climate, with deserts and mountains and an overall lack of water. Formerly known as Persia, it lies at the crossroads between Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Iran is also the homeland of many empires, including the Persian Achaemenids, the Parthians, the Sassanians and the Safavids. Over the centuries numerous groups crossed the country, in both directions. Some of the newcomers settled down, others moved on. Nowadays Iran shares frontiers with (clockwise) Iraq, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The country’s geography, climate and human history have thus created a complex tapestry that reflects a wide diversity of cultures and traditions. Although rapidly vanishing in some areas due to national pressures and globalization, many aspects of these traditions can still be found in the regional dress of the country, especially that worn by women.

Most of the outfits in the exhibition date from the late nineteenth and the twentieth centuries and are now housed in the collection of the Textile Research Centre, Leiden. Many of the garments were collected during long periods of field work in Iran between 1998-2003 by Gillian and Willem Vogelsang. The garments originate from among most of the main ethnic groups, plus some smaller ones.

Perhaps you want to see a brief film of the exhibition, then please click here.

Read more: BEYOND THE CHADOR: Dress from the mountains and deserts of Iran

TRC Intensive Textile Course, October 2011

The Textile Research Centre, Leiden (TRC) is offering a series of three and five day intensive textiles and dress courses and special weekend workshops. All of these courses are held at the TRC, Leiden, The Netherlands. Language of communication for the courses is English, unless all the participants understand Dutch. For the weekend workshops, language of communication is Dutch, unless otherwise agreed. All courses are taught by Dr Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, director TRC.

• Three-day course, Identification of Basic Weave Techniques, 4-6 February 2013
• Weekend workshop on Pharaonic Egyptian Textiles and Dress, 16-17 March 2013
• Weekend workshop on Iranian Textiles and Dress Throughout the Ages, 27-28 April
• Five-day Intensive Textile Course,13-17 May 2013;
• Three-day course, Identification of Painted and Printed Textiles, 17-19 June 2013; 
• Three-day Embroidery Identification Course, 12-14 August 2013
• Weekend workshop on Embroidery in the Arab World, 24-25 August 2013
• Weekend workshop on 'Coptic' Textiles and Dress, 21-22 September 2013
• Five-day Intensive Textile Course, 14-18 October 2013 .
• Weekend workshop on Veils and Veiling, 23-24 November 2013

For further information, please click here.

For Dutch tax payers, donations to the TRC can by highly advantageous. The TRC is an officially recognised ANBI organisation (Algemeen Nut Beogende Instelling), and within that structure the TRC is also recognised as a Culturele Instelling ("Cultural organisation"). Financial gifts are therefore tax deductible, up to 125% for individuals, and 150% for companies. Please click here for more information. Gifts can be transferred to bank account number ING 2982359, "Stichting Textile Research Centre"

TRC welcomes groups of visitors who want to visit the current exhibition, listen to a lecture, or attend a tailor-made workshop on spinning, weaving, dying, or trying on ancient Egyptian clothing replicas, and so forth. Or simply would you like to come together in a congenial environment? Please contact the TRC. We will be happy to organise a wonderful programme, during the week, in the evenings, or even during the weekend, set up especially for your group or company. In this way you can give any excursion or festivity some extra cachet.

Photograph of Henrietta Braunstahl (1885-1983). Collection TRC.

Wednesday, September 4th 2013, will see the presentation of the TRC’s next exhibition (which can be visited until December), entitled What is Embroidery? The term embroidery is being used in its broadest ‘umbrella’ sense. The exhibition will include (among others) historical and modern examples of free style and counted thread forms, as well as appliqué, couching, drawn and pulled thread work, patchwork, quilting and smocking.

The first part of the exhibition will be used to show technical details such as equipment, thread, ground cloths, and means of transferring a design. The second section will use examples of embroidery from the TRC’s extensive collection, and present a wide range of forms and uses of this decorative technique from around the world. Truly a source of information and inspiration !

The third section is about a young lady called Henriëtte Braunstahl from Den Haag (1885-1983), who was presented 1904 with a diploma from the Industrieschool voor Meisjes (‘s-Gravenhage) as a handwork teacher. The TRC was given her collection of exercise books, water colour albums, photographs, as well as samples of her work, by Henriëtte Braunstahl’s family a few years ago. The TRC embroidery exhibition is seen as the moment to show the embroidery skills of a girl from over 100 years ago and to illustrate the teaching methods of the time.

If you don’t know what all these embroidery terms, such as appliqué, couching, drawn and pulled thread work, patchwork, quilting and smocking, mean exactly, then come and have a look. If you do, then there will be many items on display that will surely inspire you to explore further the amazing world of embroidery!

The TRC is always looking for embroideries for inclusion in the collection. In particular we are interested in examples from North, Central and South America, and Africa (both North and Sub-Saharan Africa). If you have any pieces that you are willing to donate to the TRC, please let us know!

The Textile Research Centre wants to stimulate people to discover the World of Dress at home. The TRC therefore is gradually expanding its shop and its range of products. You can buy new and secondhand books on textiles and dress, including Dutch regional dress, but also on the history of fashion, and 'how-to-do' subjects. The shop has craft items from all over the world, in particular handmade jewellery. There are woven Syrian sheep bands, knitted objects from Peru, embroidered Turkish lavender bags with oya decoration, gaudily decorated caps from Afghanistan, and many other beautiful and interesting objects. We also sell a wide range of picture postcards of textiles and costume.

The shop also sells collection care items, including acid free paper and boxes for storing your delicate textiles and articles of dress, rolls for more compact storage of long textile items, heads and wigs for display purposes, etc. The TRC sells a range of tools, materials and threads for spinning, crochet, embroidery, hairpin lace production, and silk cocoons for making silk paper.

A new line in this assortment is a wide range of beads for making or restoring Dutch regional dress items, including imitation garnets, blood coral and jet, plus all sorts of metal and glass seed beads for embroidery. You can find all these items in the TRC shop for very reasonable prices. You are very welcome to visit the TRC shop at our premises along the Hogewoerd, but you can also visit the shop at home, via our website. It is very easy to order books or other objects digitally.  Click at "Shop". We hope you will enjoy it.

To see the range of articles that are for sale in the TRC shop, and/or place your order digitally, go the the SHOP heading at the top of this page.