Visit to National Museum of Scotland

Yesterday I together with other members of Thistle Quilters paid a visit to the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh where we were treated to a tour concentrating on the textiles in the collection. As I was dashing about yesterday I didn't have time to show you the pictures then so here they are today. The textiles covered many centuries but one thing that has remained very much the same over time is the iron! It's surprising to see how little it has changed in all that time.

 A beautifully embroidered part of a bed hanging.

 An old weaving loom 

This was part of an old part of machinery which we happened to be passing during our tour and which I couldn't help but photograph for that wonderful pattern. By the way photography is allowed in most parts of the museum apart from special exhibitions but flash isn't, and most exhibits are displayed in glass cases which makes taking good pictures rather hard. I took mine as best I could and mainly to remember those things I found particularly interesting.

A fabric sample book

 Above one page from a book of paisley pattern samples. I would have loved to see more of this book but sadly that wasn't to be. I'm quite pleased with the picture I managed to take as it shows the details of the design beautifully.

It inspired me this morning to get out the Paisley shawl I inherited from my mother-in-law. Contrary to most shawls of this kind this one isn't woven but embroidered and I thought I would share some of the beautiful details with you. It dates back to the later part of the 19th Century and is in quite a bad state as it had been folded over a long period and also has a lot of moth damage. However the amazing skill of the person or persons who worked on this embroidery can be seen clearly.

Also since I pictured these details this morning I can use one of them for my daily blip today!