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The Layton jacket is an example of an early seventeenth century English woman’s jacket (sometimes described as a waistcoat, using the seventeenth century meaning of the word, namely a coat that came to the waist). It is an example of the type of garment worn on formal occasions by English women at the end of the sixteenth and in the early seventeenth centuries.

Cha long phra ong khrui is a Thai term used to describe a very formal coat worn by the Thai king on important ceremonial occasions. The coat is basically made from a gold net embellished with gold embroidery. The garment is classed as a sua khrui, which means the ‘official or insignia robe,’ but the term cha long phra ong khrui refers specifically to the king’s version.

Sua khrui is a term that was used in Thailand to describe a particular type of court garment that indicated the rank of the male wearer. It is a loose-fitting outer garment with long sleeves. It is open down the front and usually reaches to the knees or mid-calves.

In 1960, King Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit of Thailand embarked on an extended tour of the world. As part of this trip the Queen wanted to wear Thai as well as Western style garments. It was soon realised, however, that the Thai court dress for women, especially that worn from the early twentieth century, was a mixture of Western and Thai elements and this dress was regarded as unsuitable, because visually it was not Thai enough.

The Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles is a specially designed textile and clothing museum that was opened on 9th May 2012. It is named after Queen Sirikit, wife of the former King, and is housed in the grounds of the Grand Palace, Bangkok. The museum contains textiles and garments from Southeast, South and East Asia with an emphasis on the textiles and clothing associated with Thailand and its royal court.

Margaret Browne (Brown, Brawne; c. 1590-1641) was the daughter of a wealthy London merchant and the wife of Francis Layton (1577-1661) of West Layton and Rawdon (W. Yorkshire, England). Her portrait, probably by the Belgian artist, Marcus Gheeraerts (the Younger; 1561-1636) and painted in about 1620, together with the embroidered jacket actually worn by the sitter, are now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Sampler making was a long established occupation for many young girls around the world from the sixteenth century onwards. Many of these samplers were intended to help the girls to acquire and show various decorative embroidery skills. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries samplers of plain (structural) sewing rather than with decorative needlework, were often made in schools.

Rabat is the modern capital of Morocco and is located along the Atlantic Ocean. It has long been known for its trade and the production of embroideries, and of embroidered door curtains (izar, pl. izur) in particular.

Rabat is the modern capital of Morocco and is located along the Atlantic Ocean, at the mouth of the river Bou Regreg and opposite the city of Salé. Rabat has long been known for its trade and the production of textiles, including embroideries.

The Stanhope Adult Education Institute, Queen Square, London, was an adult education institute that was in operation from the mid-twentieth century until 1981.