Chapter 4 Textiles
PAUL GARSIDE^1 AND PAUL WYETH^2
(^1) AHRC Research Centre for Textile Conservation and Textile Studies, and Textile
Conservation Centre, Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton
Winchester Campus, Park Avenue, Winchester SO23 8DL, UK
(^2) Textile Conservation Centre, Winchester School of Art, University of
Southampton Winchester Campus, Park Avenue, Winchester SO23 8DL, UK
1 THE VARIETY OF TEXTILES
According to the dictionary definition, a textile is ‘a woven fabric or any kind of
cloth’, leading us to think of fashionable costume, for example ceremonial ban-
ners and interior furnishings, however, this belies the range of amazing artefacts
and further fascinating challenges that are routinely presented to a textile
conservator.
To illustrate the point, the Textiles section of Conservation News (May 2004),
the magazine of the United Kingdom Institute for Conservation of Historic
and Artistic Works, carried reports on three international meetings held in 2003.
The reviews highlighted something of the wonderful variety of textile arte-
facts: Henry VIII’s tapestries, the Bishop of Winchester’s Gothicankle boots,
17th century doublets, the original American Star Spangled banner,English
Trades Union banners and 18th century Parisian furniture upholstery.
Textiles then represent a vital element of our material legacy, each with a tale
telling of international trade, social history, agricultural development, artistic
trends, technological progress and so on. Yet such stories are easily lost. Textiles
are ephemeral artefacts. They are composed, in the main, of organic materials
which decompose naturally under the influence of the environment, degradation
leading to the weakening of fabrics, embrittlement of the fibres and fragility.
It is the job of the textile conservator to ensure, as far as is possible, the
longevity of such objects, for all to enjoy. The conservation scientist can help to
inform the decisions that the conservator must make about the treatment of
the objects. The constituent materials have to be identified, requiring both