Textiles

Textiles touched every aspect of life from birth to death and every level of society, including the enslaved, the middling sort, and the aristocrat. Expensive and elaborate textiles were more than functional: they proclaimed wealth and status. Spanning four centuries, the textile collections at Colonial Williamsburg include clothing, needlework, quilts, carpets, and textiles from several continents. Many of the textiles are masterpieces of workmanship and design, but the unique strength of the collection lies in the modest but scarce objects that interpret the lives of everyday Americans. Among these rarities are the faded sampler on which a little girl practiced her marking stitches, the quilt made by an African-American woman in her home, and the valance that retains the nail holes where it was tacked to the bed frame.

Embroidered textiles in the collection range from clothing, bed furnishings, and schoolgirl samplers to early British raised-worked boxes, and silk mourning pictures. Nearly every type of needlework technique is represented, from cotton and linen whitework to colorful embroidery with silks, crewel wool, and metallic threads. Many are products of housewives and their daughters, while others were created by professional men and women who spent arduous days performing hand embroidery for sale.

Household furnishing textiles include white linen tablecloths, homespun sheets, and woolen blankets, in addition to printed cotton bed hangings, chair covers, and—for the wealthy—expensive carpets from Asia and Europe.