Sewn in America exhibition at the DAR Museum. Part 1.

Рет қаралды 7,831

2 ай бұрын

In this video, curator Alden O'Brien takes us through her latest exhibition at the Daughters of the American Revolution Museum in Washington, DC. Filmed April 25 & 26, 2024.
Sewn in America is on view through December 31, 2024.
Thank you for watching!
Please like this video and subscribe to my channel.
xoxo,
Tara Miller
The Quilt District

Пікірлер: 35

@cynthiahawkins2389 Ай бұрын

Just wonderful. I restored a Cajun themed quilt I found in the trash. Looked like a pack of dogs had been at it. Over the space of three months....I lovingly cut it down, re configured it in a smaller size, imitated the original hand stitching and cannibalized all the pieces to create the same quilt, but winnowed down. Textile art and hand made garments have a place in our cultural history. I am always drawn to these...what a story they could tell......

@jayneterry8701 Ай бұрын

Seeing the inside of garments is on point in our day and age! 👍💗 The curator mentioned the many diaries listing information is wonderful. When she mentioned putting away the basics when company came for the fancier stitching made me laugh . You dont want to be visiting while the husband's drawers are being repaired 😂. Looking forward to part 2 tyfs🩷🍁

@banthony8545 2 ай бұрын

Thank you so much for showing the dresses inside out- a world of information there for the sewer. The curator, Alden did a informative and entertaining job of narration. Such quality.

@QuiltDistrict Ай бұрын

Wasn't that brilliant of Alden to show them inside out?? I was thrilled to see it. I had never seen the inside of an antique garment before. It was just wonderful!

@promisso 4 күн бұрын

Absolutely fascinating, informative and knowledgeable descriptions of historical garments and sewing. Really enjoyable Many thanks

@grumpy_poo Ай бұрын

I love the stories involved in the underground quilts....

@christinevanzyl5951 Ай бұрын

I remember my granny in 1960 doing fancy stuff and teaching me embroidery when her guests come. Wonderful video thanks ❤

@jaynewood6714 Ай бұрын

I am a retired seamstress, designer , pattern drafter and very much appreciate all your research. My history (immediate) includes 1 grandmother who taught me the finer ladies ‘ needle arts- the knitting, crocheting, needle point, embroidery that her mother and aunts taught her . My other grandmother, the daughter of generations of farmers, taught me the utilitarian daily sewing skills. Patchwork, darning and dressmaking/shirt making were her weekly chores.

@effieshead Ай бұрын

Such an engaging, informative interview!! Love to hear from a curator who clearly really knows her dress history, and understands and appreciate the skills involved. So often dress exhibits are just about the fashion (which is also interesting), it's refreshing to see such a deep look at the changing roles of sewing & dress in women's lives. Kudos!

@GerriBauer Ай бұрын

Absolutely fascinating. Thank you.

@BridgeMD Ай бұрын

I went to this exhibit in early April and it was wonderful. Thanks for spreading the word about it.

@ParadiseBlue1866 26 күн бұрын

I stumbled across this channel. Wow! Such an interesting and informative talk. Well done to DAR for this exhibition.

@beckyscheller9358 Ай бұрын

As a quilter I loved this. ❤

@user-ij2fx8sh5x Ай бұрын

Thank you for this marvelous video!

@QuiltDistrict Ай бұрын

I'm so happy you enjoyed it! I've just posted Part 2...

@christiecrawford1907 Ай бұрын

As a quilter, and admirer of vintage and to modern quilt making as well as the history of the craft, thank you for sharing this exhibit.I do not come from a background of quiltmakers but my one grandmother was milliner who taught me to hand sew and work with needle and thread.

@shirleybewley6646 Ай бұрын

LOVE that you show the inside!!!

@karenb1073 2 ай бұрын

this was wonderful. Thank you!

@QuiltDistrict Ай бұрын

Thank you so much!

@HKExpat50 Ай бұрын

What a wonderful video. Just fascinating. The exhibit looks amazing. And the building. Wow

@Riderules73 Ай бұрын

Surprised this channel has not been discovered by many yet - this is high quality content - thank you so much!

@BookZealots Ай бұрын

I completely agree. I just found out about this channel today.

@QuiltDistrict Ай бұрын

Thank you so much, @riderules73 and @bookzealots !

@suzannecooke2055 Ай бұрын

at 6:25: Sheets with center seams. My mom had such a sheet handed down from either her mother or her mother-in-law - my grannies. This was a heavy linen (or matis) sheet that had a felled seam down the center sewn edge to edge (not the right-side-together we all know from home sewing patterns). I would describe that seam as a "baseball" seam. If the center of the sheet became worn or stained, the seam was easily taken apart and then the other (outer) edges could be stitched together to give the linen a longer life as a sheet. When that also became worn, the fabric would become pillow cases, eventually aprons or diapers as the usable bits became smaller. I will FOREVER regret that I had no idea of its value either as a family artifact or just as fabric no longer woven. CONFESSION: I cut holes in it and made a ghost costume one Halloween.

@QuiltDistrict Ай бұрын

Thank you for sharing that memory! Give yourself some grace... you didn't know. And I'll bet you had a fun Halloween. (Besides, that's also reuse and repurpose, isn't it?)

@sarahyates6055 Ай бұрын

Very interesting thank you for sharing this. I love your coat/jacket and dress, really pretty. I had to smile when you said way back when the women recycled, restitched, repurposed, the youngsters of today think they “invented” this as a part of the whole “eco-warrior “ /“Greta Thunberg” fad. Whereas women , out of necessity most often did this from the beginning of us wearing clothes really. It’s only really in the post Second World War years that we became such a throw away society. Not all progress in life is a good thing!

@bwktlcn Ай бұрын

Sewing was the space between the words in the life of women until very recent times.

@QuiltDistrict Ай бұрын

Absolutely true.

@judyfargo8162 Ай бұрын

I enjoyed this so much and learned a great deal from it. Thank you for sharing your expertise and the exhibit.I particularly liked seeing the inside of the dresses. I didn't know they were made like that with the extra fabric still there.

@QuiltDistrict Ай бұрын

Wasn't seeing the inside amazing?? I had never seen the "way it was made" like that before.

@sherylsims278 Ай бұрын

Thank you! Very interesting video! Didn’t servants/enslaved women do a lot of the sewing as well?

@QuiltDistrict Ай бұрын

They absolutely did. Alden and I discussed that briefly at the very beginning of this Part 1. Servants and enslaved women performed all levels of sewing tasks, from the very plain sewing to the very elaborate and ornate. I'll soon be posting video of my visit to the MESDA exhibit of early bedcoverings on show at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, and you'll see there an example of how museums are becoming much more inclusive in their language around this (the DAR is doing this, too, I just didn't capture it on film). It has long been the practice to attribute a quilt or other "fancy" sewing to the "woman of the house," as it were. I'm seeing now much more often an item attributed to "The household of...." when we don't know the names of the servants or slaves, as is often (tragically) the case. Thank you so much for your thoughtful question!

@DonnaHawkTx Ай бұрын

Totally missed the opportunity to discuss how the Rational Dress movement had a large part in the evolution to less rigid, less fitted garments in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The direct predecessor of 1920s tubular look as everything was hung from the shoulders instead of the waist.