Internet Resources for Fibre Arts
- Useful Starters
- Artists
- Museums
- Online Bookstore
- Professional Organisations
- Embroidery
- Quilting
- Tapestries
- Textiles
For general information see the guides :
Useful Starters
- All Fiber Arts (opens in new window) this site provides a variety of links to fibre arts lists and resources
- Complex Weavers (opens in new window) is a site for those interested in complex weaving. Members' interests include crepe, custom yardage, compound looms, coptic weaving, card weaving, crackle colour and weave, colour, coverlets and computer aided design
- Craft-Search (opens in new window) supports and promotes all crafts people and craft businesses
- Dana's Textile Travels (opens in new window) provides information on traditional textiles in India, Australia and Malaysia. Maintained by Dana McCown
- Internet
Craft Fair (opens in new window) contains details of crafters, suppliers, craft guilds, organisations and forthcoming
craft events. UK
- Rugweavers.com (opens in new window) is
dedicated to weaving. It provides instruction and help with rug weaving problems
- Textile Sites (opens in new window) provides links to various sites relating to textile crafts and education. Maintained by the Embroiderers' Guild (UK)
- White
House Collection of American Crafts (opens in new window) contains works in all forms including fibre. It provides both images and text
- Wool Works: the Online Knitting Compendium (opens in new window) is a non-commercial site containing information for hand knitters. It provides many links to sites on resources, discussions and patterns
Artists
- Anne Field Studio (opens in new window) this website is of noted weaver, spinner and author Anne Field. It provides links, books, lectures and commissions
- Contemporary
Tapestry Weaving (opens in new window) is a studio and gallery displaying the tapestries of Ulrika Leander
- FiberScene (opens in new window) is an artist resource and fine art gallery with the aim of promoting the San Francisco Bay area fibre art. Created by Susan Taber Avila and Myra Goodall Block
Museums
- Costume Institute (opens in new window) possess more than 75,000 costumes and accessories from 7 centuries and 5 continents. Produced by The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Costumes and Textiles (opens in new window) commenced in 1876, this collection is one of the United States' oldest and longest collections of costumes and textiles. Produced by Philadelphia Museum of Art
- Textile and Fashion Arts (opens in new window) holds an extensive collection of textiles, fashion, embroidery, needlework, costumes and fans. It houses over 27,000 objects. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (US)
- Textile
Museum (opens in new window) is committed to its role as a centre of excellence in the scholarly research,
conservation, interpretation and exhibition of textiles, with particular
concern for the artistic, technical and cultural significance of its collections.
Washington DC (US)
- Textile
Museum of Canada (opens in new window) is devoted to the collection, exhibition and documentation of textiles from
around the world. It contains items such as embroidered Chinese hats, African
indigo cottons, Indian silk saris and Turkish folk art rugs
- Textiles (opens in new window) contains
more than 8,000 objects, the textile collection at The Minneapolis Institute
of Arts spans 15 centuries, and represents more than 70 countries. The collection
demonstrates the talents of European and Asian court artists as well as the
pride and artistic identity of many ethnic groups (US)
- Textiles (opens in new window) the
holdings of the textiles department contains more than 13,000 textiles as
well as sample swatches ranging from 300BC to the present. Produced by the
Art Institute of Chicago (US)
- Weaving Art Museum and Research Institute (opens in new window) was established to promote increased appreciation for the historic weaving arts of the Eastern Mediterranean region. Specialised examples created within indigenous weaving communities (US)
Online Bookstore
- Telos (opens in new window) an online bookstore specialising in textiles and textile artists
Professional Organisations
- Association of Guilds of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers (opens in new window) aims to preserve and improve the craftsmanship in hand weaving, spinning and dyeing, for the benefit of the public and the promotion of public education in such craftsmanship (UK)
- Association of Northwest Weavers' Guilds (opens in new window) is a non-profit organisation supporting the fibre arts. The purpose of the web site is to provide a useful resource for members and the fibre community
- Australian Forum for Textile Arts (opens in new window) (TAFTA) began in 1974. It supports all textile arts through publication, forums, conferences, workshops, advice and resources. It also publishes Textile Fibre Forum
- Basketmakers
of Victoria (opens in new window) is a non-profit organisation formed in 1986 to foster the craft of basketry
- Black
and Coloured Sheep Breeders Association (opens in new window) aims to encourage the breeding and improvement of black and coloured sheep for
the production of good wool types. Victoria, Australia
- Black & Coloured Sheep Breeders' Association of New Zealand (opens in new window) founded in 1976, there are now 12 branches of this organisation in New Zealand with shared objectives which include producing the best possible sheep and wool, and promoting coloured wool for its special qualities (NZ)
- Computer Textile Design Group (opens in new window) is an association of people who work with computers in embroidery, surface design, screen printing, patchwork, knitting, beading, lacemaking and other textile activities (UK)
- CraftACT (opens in new window) is the industry body for contemporary craft and design in the Canberra, Australia
- Craft Australia (opens in new window) focuses on the creation of sustainable economic advantages for the sector by actively supporting existing markets for Australian craft and developing overseas markets
- Craft Victoria (opens in new window) is the industry body for contemporary craft in Victoria, Australia. It also publishes Craft Magazine and various catalogues
- Crafts Council Online (opens in new window) provides information and links to a wide variety of craft-related resources, activities, and exhibitions. Of special interest to craft enthusiasts visiting the UK, there is a craft map of Great Britain which includes details of Craft galleries and shops throughout the country (UK)
- Creative Fibre (opens in new window) this is the web site of the New Zealand Spinning, Weaving and Woolcrafts Society. It brings together spinners, weavers, knitters, dyers, flax workers, felters, crocheters, free form fibre artists and all other people involved in the use of fibre (NZ)
- Embroiderers'
Guild of South Australia Inc. (opens in new window) was formed in 1965 to promote the practice, study and appreciation of embroidery
in all its forms, and to encourage excellence by practice and example (Australia)
- Handweavers
and Spinners Guild of Victoria Inc. (opens in new window) has courses, publications and an email discussion group, and also provides links
to major events and members' home pages (Australia)
- Handweavers
Guild of America, Inc (opens in new window) is a non profit organisation dedicated to encouraging excellence, inspiring
creativity and preserving fibre tradition through education (US)
- Jam
Factory (opens in new window) is an integrated organisation for the design, production, exhibition and sale
of work by Australian designers/makers located in South Australia
- Kuranda
Arts Cooperative (opens in new window) is a cooperative of Northern Queensland artists committed to production of quality
works of art with an emphasis on fibre craft (Australia)
- Leatherworkers
Guild of NSW Inc (opens in new window) aims to promote leather craft in all its various forms (Australia)
- National
Association for the Visual Arts (opens in new window) (NAVA) is the national advocacy and research organisation for the visual arts,
crafts and design in Australia
- Surface
Design Association (opens in new window) is the colouring, patterning, structuring, and transformation of fabric, fibre,
and other materials. This organisation promotes contemporary textiles,
printing, dying, weaving, stitchery, embroidery and computer assisted textile
design through publications and conferences (US)
- Textile
Institute (opens in new window) is a forum for imparting information about textile activities. It is a worldwide
professional association for people working with fibres and fabrics, clothing
and footwear, interior and technical textiles
- Victorian
Tapestry Workshop (opens in new window) aims to develop a centre for the production of contemporary hand woven tapestries.
Its main function is the weaving of tapestries for local and overseas markets.
The workshop is renowned for its artistic approach and its traditional
handmade Gobelin style (Australia)
- Wagga
Wagga Handweavers & Spinners (opens in new window) is an organisation for those interested in spinning and weaving in the Wagga
Wagga area (Australia)
Embroidery
- Embroiderers'
Guild (opens in new window) site is for anyone who's interested in textile art and craft, but especially
for children and young people. It's the junior part of the Embroiderers'
Guild in the UK. This is a wonderful site which also features the work
of many of its members
- Macedonia Folk Embroidery (opens in new window) Auburn University - includes images of over 20 Macedonian textiles. Details of embroidery techniques used on the textiles displayed make this a very instructive site for embroidery enthusiasts, and for those who love to see detailed work
Quilting
- Northwest Quilters (opens in new window) information about this association, plus a very extensive listing of links of interest to quilters and textile enthusiasts
- QuiltEthnic.com (opens in new window) quilting and/or fiber-related art, craft and textile traditions of diverse ethnic groups from contemporary, traditional and/or historical perspectives
Tapestries
- Bayeux Tapestry (opens in new window) is an embroidery that is approximately 20 inches tall and 230 feet long. It tells the story of the events leading up to and including the Battle of the Hastings Oct 14, 1066
- Quaker Tapestry (opens in new window) this tapestry is housed in the Friends Meeting House, Stramongate, Kendal, Cumbria, England and the site explains its significance
Textiles
- Barbara Clemens (opens in new window) provides links to textile related museum resources, and sites on both fibre and fibre artists
- Heavens' Embroidered Cloths (opens in new window) a selection of images from an exhibition of Chinese textiles from the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, previously on display in 1995 at the Hong Kong Museum of Art
- Hmong Textiles (opens in new window) images of over twenty Hmong Textiles. Southeast Asian Archive, University of California, Irvine Libraries
- Koelz Textile Collection (opens in new window) is an extensive selection of beautiful textiles from South and Central Asia and Iran. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan
- Lao Textiles Revisited (opens in new window) an exhibition featuring images of woven silk wall hangings which were exhibited at the Museum, Fashion Institute of Technology, New York in 1995 (US)
- Symmetry and Pattern: The Art of Oriental Carpets (opens in new window) is a collaborative work between The Textile Museum (Washington DC), and The Math Forum, and discusses the history of oriental carpets, plus illustrated mathematical aspects of carpet design
- For further information please contact the Ask Desk at any campus of the University of South Australia
- If you find any links have changed or you have some additions or feedback please contact LBY-EASS-DivLibrarians@unisa.edu.au
- Education, Arts and Social Science Virtual Library