Recommended Reading: Books about Textiles

It’s been a few years since I’ve had the week off between Christmas and New Year, so when it was announced that we would be closed for the week, I quickly requested a pile of books from the library. My goal was to spend my week off, snuggled by the fire, reading books, and I succeeded. Here are 3 textile/fiber-related books for you to add to your reading list. [ These were all recommended to me by Megan Auman, who might as well be my personal librarian].

Worn

A People’s History of Clothing

By: Sofi Thanhauser

I’ll share more about this one once I’m done reading it. This is one that I own, so it keeps getting bumped as books from the library become available. 

Vanishing Fleece

Adventure in American Wool

By: Clara Parkes

This is a short and enjoyable read, that is if you’re interested in the lifecycle and history of wool. Clara’s approach has also inspired me to create some learning plans of my own, something that I’ve done in the past, but I’m going to do a in a bit more formal way this year. I’ll also share that with you soon. 

“We are makers, but it’s also important to remember that we are consumers. In each step of our own creative process, through our purchases and our attention, there is an opportunity to reinforce the work of those we believe are moving us forward in a positive direction. It’s a collective power that has the potential to become great. 

This means being aware of where our yarn and clothing comes from. It also means being more cognizant of the people, communities, cultures, corporations, and traditions that our money is helping to support. These people’s products will become an intimate part of our daily lives, bending and stretching and breathing right along with us. Just as we are vigilant about the food that goes into our bodies, so we must be more mindful of what we put on them.” 

The Fabric of Civilization

How Textiles Made the World

By: Virginia Postrel

The Fabric of Civilization is a wonderful way to learn about culture and history through the lens of textiles. The thing that I thought about the most while reading this book, was how much we don’t know about textiles, and how we tend to downplay textile-related processes. They are oversimplified and often presented as unimportant.

“Spinning trains the hands, but weaving challenges the mind. Like music, it is profoundly mathematical. Weavers have to understand ratios, detect prime numbers, and calculate areas and lengths. Manipulating warps turns threads into rows and rows into patterns, points into lines and lines into planes. Woven cloth represents some of humanity’s earliest algorithms. It is embodied code.” p72

I can’t share a reading list about textiles without also mentioning my children’s book, The Weaving Book.