Following the
Thread Lines
An exploration of the Textile Resource Center object collection 

The Textile Resource Center is a hands-on collection housed within the Fiber & Material Studies department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. That means a collection of textiles from around the world, from different time periods, that you can pick up, hold, smell, feel, and engage with. The rare opportunity this intimate access provides, as well as the needs of students who may be less familiar with textile process, prompted me to create a methodology for approaching them. Following a combination of key texts in Micro/Macro, particularly Tim Ingold’s Anthropology of Line and Shari Tishman’s book Slow Looking, I’m creating a straightforward methodology to use when examining objects in the TRC, whether individually or the collection as a whole. This methodology is based on the principle of learning directly from the textiles themselves. No textbook, no lecturer to just tell you what’s going on, but a non hierarchical approach of learning directly from the object based on time spent engaging with it. 

This project was born from an interest in looking at the collection as a whole and considering how seemingly separate objects may be in dialogue with each other. After several attempts at trying to classify and categorize the objects within the TRC in a way that would make sense to future viewers, I landed upon the basic tenets of the Micro/Macro course itself: to look slowly and follow the line. The professor of the class, Isaac Facio, and I agreed that expanding upon the Micro/Macro methodology of looking made the most sense for approaching this collection. Isaac has contributed greatly to this research, and had already formed the basis in the outlines of the class. He went far beyond his requirements as an educator. This was also not without the help and guidance of Delaina Doshi, our T.A., and my classmates, Lydia Mudge, Lee Miko Romero, Lily Burkhalter, Leontine Van Cleef, Erin Sugg, Rivers Zhu, Sitong Yin, as well as Nancy Feldman, the TRC manager. While working on their own individual projects they provided valuable feedback and their willingness to share their first hand experience of this process is greatly appreciated. This methodology is made with the intention of being a beginning point for those interested in learning from textiles. It is not set in stone in any way, and I hope that there will be changes and improvements made in the future as they are needed. 

My methodology for examining TRC objects, or any textile, is simply one of following the line. Every textile is made up of lines in many different scales and layers. A simple overview of the process involves following single threads of creation as they build to create complex structures. Raw fiber, becomes threads, which become textiles, which themselves are shaped into new objects. Guided by a human hand, lines create infinite variations in this way. I’ve always been amazed and fascinated at the ability of a single piece of thread to form something solid and durable. The TRC gives us a unique opportunity to directly interact with historical objects: feeling them, smelling them, and seeing them in person, allowing for us to engage in a more intimate way than is usual for historical textiles. 

Two primary texts, along with Isaac's already developed exercises of looking, have formed the foundation of this work. Shari Tishman’s, Slow Looking: The Art and Practice of Learning Through Observation, outlines a framework for learning directly from objects or images/ artwork. While Tishman’s text emphasizes visual learning, she specifically notes that all senses can be used for direct observation. This makes it a good fit for the type of collection we are working with, as well as providing a structured way of learning directly from objects by engagement. Tim Ingold’s text Lines provides an anthropological look at lines, considering their history and roles they’ve played through time. Ingold’s text helped establish the idea of how lines can work in layers, and how layers often depend on each other in communal ways. An embroidered hankie must always be woven into cloth before its surface can be embroidered. Ingold also acknowledges how the word ‘line’ carries many different meanings depending on the context. He includes this list from one of the first english dictionaries below:

“Dr. Samuel Johnson compiled a list of seventeen different meanings of the word ‘line’ for his Dictionary of the English Language of 1755. They are:

1. Longitudinal extension

2. A slender string

3. A thread extended to direct any operations 

4. The string that sustains the angler’s hook

5. Lineaments, or marks in the hands or face

6. Delineation, sketch

7. Contour, outline

8. As much as is written from one margin to the other; a verse

9. Rank

10.  Work thrown up; trench

11.  Method, disposition

12.  Extension, limit

13.  Equator, equinoctial circle

14.  Progeny, family, ascending or descending

15.  A line is one tenth of an inch

16.  A letter; as in, I read your lines

17.  Lint or flax

(Ingold 2015, 41)

Approaching lines in layers and how they build up and depend on each other answered a lot of questions about how to consider all of the parts of a textile. This led to deciding on four major types of textiles within the TRC: interlooping, interlacing, intertwining, and entanglement. So far, I have been able to fit all of the textiles I’ve come across in the collection under one of these categories. I’ve defined them as follows:

Interlooping: lines that move in loops.

Examples: knitting (weft), warp-knitting, crochet, cross-looping, simple looping, most needlework, knots, etc.

Knitting, a structure we commonly encounter in our clothing, is made up of interlocking loops. In conventional hand knitting the line of loops are added in a horizontal (weft-direction) to determine width and and increase vertically to create a cloth structure with a single continuous line.

Knots are also formed by looping. Many types of knots exist that perform different functions. Some are made by  lines of loops with two or more threads such as macrame, and some are made by one continuous line of thread.  Check out Lee Miko Romero’s incredible work with knots for more examples.

Interlacing: lines that move under and over each other 

Examples: Weaving is made of lines in a perpendicular arrangement; Braids are made of lines in an oblique arrangement (neither parallel nor at a right angle to a specified or implied line; slanting).

Weaving is noted by its perpendicular arrangement, meaning lines always intersect with each other at right angles. Weaving can produce endless amounts of variation, all while based on this simple foundation of perpendicular arrangement.

Braiding is another form of interlacement, but with braiding the angles are oblique, meaning they are neither parallel nor perpendicular. Braiding is used individually to create bands as well as to become components of other textiles.

Intertwining: lines that twist or link together 

Examples: certain types of bobbin lace, plied threads, certain types of rope, twined baskets, knots, sprang, etc.

The most common intertwined example is plied thread. I would argue that most textiles are made up of plied threads. This technique applies a twisting motion, causing separate threads to become one. As you can see in the four-ply cable, already plied threads can be plied again. Multiple layers of plying is how certain types of rope are made. 

Bobbin lace is a technique that includes both interlacement and intertwining in its construction. The piece above features a sampler made entirely of an intertwining structure. By following individual thread lines we can see that they link and twist together to create the design. 

In the square piece below you can see the different places where thread lines are interlacing and look like small weavings, and where they intertwine to make larger lines.

Bobbin lace is a great example of a technique that blurs between the borders of categorization. There are bobbin laces made only of interlacements, some entirely of intertwining, and many that incorporate both. Lace in general requires a unique approach to classification. Unlike most textile techniques, laces are identified by their significant use of negative space in their design. This means any approach to creating lace is valid as long as the negative space is an important part of the design. 

Intertangled: lines that are in a random arrangement or adhere and mat together

Examples: “non-wovens” like felt (multi-directional orientation of staple fiber where scales of wool interlock), paper (multi-directional orientation of staple fiber, locked in place by the friction of the fiber to fiber morphology), and naturally derived fibrous mesh like bark cloth (multi-directional orientation of cellular arrangement in plant structure, and/or with manipulation of fibrous mesh through weight and friction)

Finding a name for this category of textiles was challenging. I’m still not convinced that it’s the right choice. Originally, I called it “Felting'' as the category name because that is how Irene Emory labeled it. That name doesn’t address the way that lines move to create the variety of textiles in this group, so I’ve been looking for something more accurate. Instead of relying on older names, Isaac encouraged me to create a new one to apply here. The other category names we’ve used above are based on the movements of the thread lines that make them. Following that methodology we can consider how these lines move to create the structure. They’re harder to follow because they are working at a smaller scale, but they are still working in a predictable way. As stated in the examples, these textiles work together by intertangling with each other at a small scale, whether through a process of abrasion as in felt (see below), or cellularly, as in barkcloth. Other names considered were: arbitrary entanglement, intermingled, non-linear, random, interlocked, and interfacing. As with all things in this methodology, this word can and should be changed in the future if someone finds that another term would better describe them. 

Felt is created when the scales of wool become locked together through friction. The scales act like hooks that lock together as demonstrated above. This happens on the level of individual fibers. Once they become locked together they cannot be undone. If you’ve ever put your wool sweater in the washer you’ll be familiar with this. The more the lines felt together the denser it becomes. Using this process, scientists have been able to create bulletproof felt.

The definitions might feel basic, but they are the fundamental paths lines take when creating a textile. Some textiles might be able to be listed under several of these categories, for example if a piece is made up of woven fabric and with applied embroidery, it can be listed under interlacing and interlooping respectively. For some it seems unclear where they belong in the first place. If a fabric is woven first and then felted, does it belong in entanglement or interlacement? Or both?

It is my intention that this project should remain adaptable and open to change. Perhaps there are objects I haven’t accounted for that would create new categories, or maybe in the future there is reason to approach the collection in a different way. This remains as a starting point and an aid for those exploring textiles individually and the collection as a whole.

Lines are complex and present in all aspects of textile production. A beginning example of how we can use this methodology to learn from an object follows: 

For this example, we are looking at a piece that the donor says is from Scandinavia. The tag attached says “TRCO 2.79 Scandinavian Overshot Monks Belt Pattern Fragment 1920-1950 weaving wool” That’s the beginning information along with the object itself. It was located inside of the ‘weave’ drawer in the TRC. 

By taking a closer look with our eyes, we can determine that this is a woven textile. The threads that make up the cloth are consistently meeting each other in right angles, moving in straight lines, either going above or below the thread that is perpendicular to them. Woven threads fall under the category of interlacing, one of the four major textile types within the TRC. 

If we have good eyesight, or get out a basic magnifying glass to help us, we can take a closer look at the individual yarns themselves. 

Looking at the red threads featured in the picture here, we can follow one of them individually and discover that they are actually made of 2 threads wrapped around each other. So what we previously thought was one single line traveling across the fabric is actually two intertwined around each other and acting as one. At this scale of looking, we can also take a look at how the two different yarns are interacting, by following one of the red lines for example, we see how the design is formed by the changing interlacements of the two types of thread. 

If we were to zoom in even further with the help of a microscope we enter an entirely new world made up of lines.

At this scale we begin to see that the lines we were originally following are actually made up of many lines themselves! Before they’re turned into thread, all fibers exist in a raw unprocessed state. For wool, which is what the red thread is made up of, it exists as the wool on a sheep. Just like human hair, the wool has many individual lines of hair. Just like people have different types of hair, sheep have varying types of wool. The behavior of the individual hairs determines a lot about the characteristics a thread will have once its been spun. In the picture below you can see two different breeds of wool and how different their fibers are. 

These preliminary stages are very important for the future of the thread and the textile they will become. The treatment of these individual lines as they become one unit is another example of small concrete steps building into something brand new. 

All textiles come from some sort of raw material. Abi Li, a previous student in the Micro/Macro class, did a research project on bast fiber that provides a wonderful in depth example of the different layers of lines that exist from the raw state of plant matter through the different stages of transformation as it becomes thread. 

How we got here:

For people following this line of research in the future I thought seeing the process of getting here could be helpful.

When I first began trying to approach the collection as a whole, I tried to categorize the types of objects in the collection. I had wanted to look at the range of techniques and structures represented within the library. At the time I had been personally researching an uncommon type of lace, filet lace, and thought that I might be able to help the library by creating some tutorials for less common techniques featured there. The first step in this seemed to be taking a look at all of the techniques featured in the collection, seeing what existed in the greatest numbers and where similar techniques may be being used in different ways or to different ends. 

I quickly realized how enormous of an idea and undertaking it was, not to mention how it would be mostly working on a spreadsheet typing in data. I began to understand the concept of collections management and how these enormous systems may operate in large collections like the Art Institute of Chicago. While this didn’t end up being the project that I continued on to finish, it was an important stepping stone to arrive at this method, even though it seems like a roundabout way now. The TRC online database contains a lot of this information already. Being a continual work in progress means that some pieces are filled out with more information than others. I used a lot of this information as a starting place to get a sense of the collection as a whole.

Working on the original data started me on considering textiles at the most basic level and how they build up to become structurally and visually complex objects. As I started trying to categorize them I quickly found gray areas and overlapping categories. For example, if I am looking at a quilt block such as TRC Object 6.55 

There are many already developed systems of categorization both for textile collections specifically as well as object collections such as entire museums. The Textile Thesaurus is one such system, as well as the Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus that are both listed in the bibliography. Irene Emory’s book The Primary Structures of Fabrics has been especially influential because of its thoroughness and similar subject matter. The move away from these already existing methodologies is to focus on a system that follows the method of slow looking. While following the line is creating its own path, it is heavily influenced by these extant texts.

I can definitely classify it as piecework and as part of a quilting tradition. But should I also be paying attention to the woven fabric that it is made up of? It was created with machine plain weave fabric, which is typically what is used for quilting. This means that on a mechanized loom a fabric was created by having threads repeatedly going over and underneath each other. Was the fabric dyed after it was woven? Or maybe before? Either way, the quilt block wouldn’t exist without the woven fabric having been created first.  After the woven fabric was created  it was cut apart and different pieces of the woven fabric where then stitched back together to create the quilt block we see now.This kind of slow investigation can lead to a wealth of info on an object, but taking the time to do this for every object in the collection, or even 50 of them, expands way beyond the time frame of a semester. 

From that point I thought, no, I cannot take a look at every single object in the collection and categorize it.  

I started thinking I would just try and make a list of the techniques in the TRC. I moved forward by using the Museum Textile Thesaurus created by the Textile Museum located in Washington D.C. This complex thesaurus includes categorization for just about anything textile that you can think of, from textile techniques, to materials, to uses. At this time I was also told about the Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus Online, an easy to use tool for considering the hierarchies of techniques and how to classify them. Though it isn’t textile specific, it includes an incredible amount of information and depth on textiles. 

The names entered on the left are the most specific terms and processes. The middle is an intermediary, and the right is the most basic form of construction that the process falls under. For example ‘plain weave’ in column A is a type of ‘Woven’ fabric as seen in column B, and weaving falls under the broadest category of ‘Interlacing’ in column C. It is a hard to read system which is a big part of why it didn’t work out. 

This approach ended up being helpful for establishing a basic hierarchy among the processes and beginning to understand the different relationships between them. It had me slowing down even more and considering the close relationships of the things and really following the movement of the line. Were the threads moving in spiraling loops? Or under and over each other repetitively? Did one process always rely on some earlier process in order for it to come to life? This approach, while engaging and insightful, also began turning into a large seemingly unachievable project. (It also taught me how hard it is to make any charts more complicated than a pie chart, and that I don’t know anything about working with spreadsheets.)

Working with Isaac, I decided on some overarching categories for all of the processes, which helped lead to the final methodology of approaching the textile. It ended up being much simpler than all of the above, and brought me full circle to the tenants of the class: looking slowly and following the line. 

Bibliography:

adrienne maree brown. 2017. Emergent Strategy : Shaping Change, Changing Worlds. Chico, Ca Ak Press.

adrienne maree brown’s book Emergent Strategy  discusses the way complicated structures and systems emerge from small repetitive actions. This is usually presented in the context of social engagement and politics, but I found myself thinking about it quite often while doing this research. The relationship of simple repetitive actions turning to complex structures is a critical one to consider when engaging with textiles. 

“Art & Architecture Thesaurus (Getty Research Institute).” n.d. Www.getty.edu. https://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/aat/.

The Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) is a broad ranging collection of data for cataloging and categorizing art, architecture, and other material culture. It has proven to be very detailed and holds a wealth of information on regional textile techniques, often including their original names in their original languages. 

Emery, Irene. 1966. The Primary Structure of Fabrics : An Illustrated Classification. Washington D.C.: Textile Museum.

A primary text from foundational textile structures. This book includes its own categorization of textile structures and in depth explanation of the techniques as well as clear photographs of the structures. Several of the photographs in this text have been pulled directly from this text and are labeled as such. 

Gilles Deleuze, and Félix Guattari. 1(980) 2017. A Thousand Plateaus : Capitalism and Schizophrenia. London [U.A.] Bloomsbury.

The chapter 1440: The Smooth and the Striated is a philosophical discussion of different types of surfaces and spaces in the universe and provides a new look at how they could be categorized. This chapter has not been used directly in this blog post or methodology but is relevant to a larger and more abstract conception of ambiguity between lines and spaces. 

‌Gunzberger, Cecilia, and George Washington Textile Museum. 2005. The Textile Museum Thesaurus. Washington: The Textile Museum.

The Textile Museum Thesaurus is an essential text in the field of textile classification and organization. Created by Cecilia Gunzberger of the George Washington Textile Museum, it is an incredibly thorough categorization system of all things textile. This includes not only structures, but regions, types of usage, materials, etc. 

‌Ingold, Tim. 2015. The Life of Lines. Abingdon ; New York Routledge.

Tim Ingold's work on lines has been pivotal to the creation of this methodology. Most of the work in this research has been led by his look at lines from an anthropological perspective. The chapter, Traces, Threads, and Surfaces, has been particularly helpful in its discussion of the transformations that threads can make in order to become surfaces. This text is critical for anyone trying to look into this methodology with more depth. 

Sonday, Milton. 1982. Lace in the Collection of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum. New York: Smithsonian Institution

Textile scholar and expert Milton Sonday’s Lace in the Collection of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum is an organization of the different types of lace. Milton categorizes lace by their structures in this text, comparing different methods of making and their end result This brief text includes images of lace as well as brief descriptions of their history. 

Tishman, Shari. 2018. Slow Looking : The Art and Practice of Learning through Observation. New York, Ny: Routledge.

Shari Tishman’s book Slow Looking : The Art and Practice of Learning through Observation, is one of the key texts in the methodology of following the line. The book addresses ways of learning directly from objects (which can be art, textiles, plants, anything really) by the act of slowing down and paying attention. Her developed methodology of slow looking outlines many different systematic approaches to engaging with the objects one on one. This text is not only important for the methodology we have created by following the line, but is useful for anyone who would like to learn more from the world around them.