Sometimes our quilterly eyes are bigger than our quilterly stomachs and we bite off more than we can chew! Such is the case with our current March/April 2014 issue of Generation Q Magazine. Thanks to associate editor Megan Dougherty, we’ve got a fine list of 25 stitchy places you can visit on your upcoming summer travels. And here’s the overflow…so many places to visit, both in the U.S. and abroad! Road Trip! Got the keys, got the passport…who’s going with me? Where, oh where, do we begin?
The Virginia Quilt Museum This is located in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley, just under 3 hours (and several quilt shops) from Washington, D.C. The museum is dedicated to Virginia’s quilt history, and has a collection of nearly 300 quilts, a permanent Civil War Gallery of quilts and other related memorabilia, English Teas and currently, a beautiful raffle quilt!
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Lacis Museum of Lace and Textiles Lace is a textile genre all its own with a rich, diverse history that can serve as an inspiration for quilt making. Just a quick peek in the window would be enough to draw us in to see the beauty inside in the form of beautiful laces and textiles, vintage and antique sewing machines and other tools and lace-making classes. The original shop opened by Kaethe Kliot in 1965; it became a museum in 2004 with gorgeous examples of lace, quilts and other textiles.
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London Sewing Machine Museum If you’ve ever had an interest in the beauty and history of sewing machines (and what quilter doesn’t love a beautiful sewing machine), this is the place to visit! With more than 600 machines to see–and do they ever have some beauties including one owned by Queen Victoria’s oldest daughter, Princess Victoria Louisa. How cool is that?
Singer Sewing Machine Circa 1890
Victoria & Albert Museum Simply searching for “quilt” on the V & A website shows the rich quilting history in England from quilts and textiles that have been x-rayed to learn more about them (no, really!) to exquisitely complex military quilts and quilted garments. (This place is now on my bucket list!)
D-Day Museum Wow! Just wow. Pouncing might be a newish technique to some of us Q-bies, however this embroidered linen shows it’s an age-old technique. Holy schmoly, talk about exquisite work! This museum gives us the opportunity to once again see how quilting and textiles are affected by life
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Fashion Museum A quick glance at Fashion Museum’s Dress of the Year will show you why a trip to this museum is well worth it! Fashion and quilting style come together in a beautiful and unusual way. Talk about a Modern beauty!
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Jane Austen’s House Museum From Pride and Prejudice to Sense and Sensibility Jane Austen has captured our imaginations and our hearts as a writer. But did you know that Jane made a patchwork quilt? Fact!
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Mountmellick Embroidery Museum Often, when we think of Ireland we think: potatoes, whiskey, fabulous dance, great music but embroidery? Well, I’m sure the Irish know about the fab embroidery and it’s rich tradition. Young girls were taught white on white embroidery in both plain and fancy design as a way to earn money for their books at the local Quaker School, and a stop at this museum can teach you even more.
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Embroidery Museum Simply stunning would be an understatement for the fine white on white embroidery featured at this Italian textile museum. And it’s as much about the development of women’s employment in this country (and the beginnings of the development of our embroidery industry) as it is the artwork that it houses!
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The Costume Museum We’ve known for years that the Japanese have taken the art and precision of quilting to a level that just simply amazes. The Costume Museum does no less in its small-scale displays recreating the dress of the Heian nobility and the exquisite needlework involved.
If you know about any other must-see places that any self-confessed stitcher/textile fanatic must see, add a comment below. And if you have the great fortune to see a place on our list, either here or in the March-April issue, send us a postcard!
