Many thanks to NELG member, Jeri from Maine, for posting on Arachne that the Victoria and Albert Museum’s (V&A) textile and fashion collection will be re-opening on October 8, 2013 in brand new facilities at The Clothworkers’ Centre for the Study and Conservation of Textiles and Fashion. The Centre is in Olympia, London which is approximately 2 miles from the V&A’s main museum in South Kensington.

The Centre will be open by appointment (there is no charge) to individuals and groups who would like to study and research objects in the collections. While many NELG members will not have the opportunity to visit the collection in person, they can take advantage of the huge online resource that the Centre provides. The Centre’s webpage (http://www.vam.ac.uk/page/c/clothworkers-centre/) features various links, and while there is a wealth of information to look at here, if you want something more specific about lace, then select ‘Textiles’. The resulting page (http://www.vam.ac.uk/page/t/textiles/) is a good place on which to enter ‘lace’ in the search box.

Jeri states that there are 75 search results. This will undoubtedly provide enough reading and ‘eye candy’ to last a long time. Having taken a very quick look around, I noticed that a lot of the images can be downloaded, which will give the opportunity for extended examination. Hopefully those who visit the website (or are lucky to visit the collection in person) will post their comments.

Thanks again to Jeri, who I trust will forgive my paraphrasing of her original post on Arachne.

Jill