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Sutra cover, detail, made from rank badge
China
1500-1644
The Textile Museum 51.37
Acquired by George Hewitt Myers in 1932 |
Second Lives: The Age-Old Art of Recycling Textiles
February 4 - July 10, 2011
Throughout the world, textiles historically held such high intrinsic value that threadbare fabrics
were seldom completely discarded. This exhibition will highlight the ways people in various
cultures ingeniously have repurposed worn but precious fabrics to create beautiful new textile
forms. Examples include a rare sutra cover made from a 15th-century Chinese rank badge, a
vest fashioned from a Pacific Northwest coast Chilkat blanket, and a large patchwork hanging
from Central Asia stitched together from small scraps of silk ikat and other fabrics. Also featured
are a pictorial kantha from India embroidered with threads recycled from old saris, a coat
from 19th-century Japan painstakenly woven from rags, and other recycled textiles.
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