Edwina Ehrman: The study room is the heart of the Clothworkers’ Centre and this is where visitors come for their appointments, because what we have here is not a library of books, but a library of textiles and fashion.
This is probably one of the most popular textiles in this newly created display. It’s the oldest known dated British sampler. It was made to commemorate the birth of a baby called Jane Bostocke who was born on 23rd November in 1596. And because these textiles are glazed in acrylic we can lend them [visitors] magnification aids and then they can really look in detail at the tiny, tiny stitches used to create it.
This is an example of late 20th century fabric. It was created by Zandra Rhodes and it’s her famous lily motif.
This is great fun, it’s one of my favourites, it was produced in 1924 and it shows the cartoon character Felix the Cat. It’s the sort of fabric that might well have been made into an apron for a little girl, or a pinafore - people would have been able to buy the yardage and then make those garments at home.