Tegan Kehoe

 Many months ago, I co-wrote a couple of posts with Camille Myers Breeze, director of Museum Textile Services, about the history of rayon fabric. I left Museum Textile Services last summer to start my graduate studies at Tufts, but I recently noticed that I never re-posted those last few blog entries here. In November, I had the pleasure of working with Camille again as a panelist in a round-table discussion she led at the New England Museum Association conference. I presented on our experience with e-Hive, a cloud-based collections management system. Below is the introduction to the rayon posts, and links to read for yourself. "A surprising number of historic clothing and textile items we’ve treated at Museum Textile Services in 2013 have been made of rayon -- and we've added some rayon pieces to our study collection, such as the "reliable" rayon yarn we blogged about in April. This has prompted us to refresh our knowledge of this important fiber and take n...

This lovely sample of wartime-era yarn was recently donated to the Museum Textile Services study collection by Mig Ticehurst of Keswick, Cumbria, England. The company that made this yarn has gone by several names, but at the time, it was Robert Glew & Co, Ltd. We love the slogan on the label of this yarn – “Reliable rayon for dainty garments.” Read more...

Parallels to the Past from Needlecraft Magazine Apart from the familiar finds that I described in previous blog posts, and the fashions that are now vintage, the trove of old Needlecraft Magazines that Camille picked up contains some interesting parallels to the past. Since most of the issues we have copies of are from the early 1930’s, the concerns of the Great Depression are readily present. Much of it sounds familiar in our economically aware times – not just the concerns, but the way people turn to home crafts and do-it-yourself projects to save money or just to find new and affordable hobbies. Article from Needlecraft: The Home Arts Magazine, July 1934, page 11. Read more... Museum Textile Services is New England's premier textile conservation studio. I work there as a collections management and textile conservation intern, and contribute to the blog on a semi-regular basis.

Familiar Finds in Needlecraft Magazine Part II In Part I of this series, I shared examples of crewel embroidery conserved at MTS and the early-20th-century Needlecraft Magazine article teaching needleworkers how to practice this craft. In Part II, we explore two more textile genres. The article "Gay Posies on a Quilted Coverlet" appeared in the July 1934 issue of Needlecraft: the Home Arts Magazine, p. 8. Museum Textile Services is New England's premier textile conservation studio. I work there as the collections management and textile conservation intern, and contribute to the blog on a semi-regular basis.