Y'all ever open a book on a new subject, read a little bit, and have to put it back so you can process the way in which your mind was just expanded?
The textile book: okay here is some of the ways that textiles are important to human life
me: Okay!
The textile book: Clothes separate the vulnerable human body from the conditions of the outside world, and in doing so absorb the sweat and debris of human existence, accumulating wear and tear according to the lives we live. In this way, various lifestyles and professions are represented by clothing, and the clothing of a loved one retains the imprint of their physical body and their life being lived, as though the clothes absorb part of the wearer's soul
Me: ...oh
The textile book: The process of weaving a garment and the process of a child being formed in its mother's womb are often referred to using the same language. Likewise, when a baby is born, a blanket or other textile material is the first material object it encounters and protects it. Textiles can create the idea of two things being inextricable, as with being "woven together," or can create the sense of separateness, as with a curtain or veil that separates two rooms or spaces, even separating the living from the dead, or separating two realities, such as a performance ending when the curtain falls
Me: ...oh God
The textile book: Odysseus's wife Penelope undid her weaving in secret every night to delay the advances of her suitors. In this way she was able to turn back the passage of time to allow her husband to come home. Likewise the Lakota tell a story of an old woman embroidering time by embroidering a robe with porcupine quills. If she finishes the embroidery, the world will come to an end, but her faithful dog pulls out the quills whenever her back is turned, turning back the clock and allowing existence to continue.
me: ...is...is...is that why we refer to the fabric of space and time?
The textile book: The technological revolution of textile making is sadly underappreciated. The textile arts are possibly the most fundamental human technology, as once people created string and rope, they could create nets for catching fish and small animals, and bags and baskets for carrying food. In the earliest prehistoric times, the first string or cord perhaps came from sinew, found in the body of an animal. Because of this perhaps the body of a living being could be understood as made of a textile material. Indeed textiles have the function of preserving life, as with a surgeon stitching back together the human body or bandages being placed on a wound. Textile technologies are being used to create life-changing implants to restore function to injured parts of the body, as though a muscle or tendon can be woven and made in this way. Cloth can be used to create a parachute that will save a human's life as they plummet out of the sky. Ultimately, the textile technologies are used to enter new parts of the universe. [Photo of an astronaut and details explaining the astronaut's suit]
Me: STOP!! MY MIND IS NOT STRONG ENOUGH FOR THIS
The book is "Textiles: The Whole Story" by Beverly Gordon
:D this is it! The post that got me to borrow this book from my library! This book is constantly rewiring my brain and parts of it constantly slap me in the face when I am going thru daily life and notice textiles.
Like, fiberglass ANYTHING can be considered a textile! Paper? Textile! Chain link fence? Textile!
And more than ever now when I see something like fabric on a couch or mosquito netting I wonder just how much work it would have taken if it was non-factory made. How many people have still had their hands in making it now.
I never understood why so many cultures placed such importance on textile gifts as ritual, like many native americans gifting blankets. I get it now.
Tons of other stuff too and it's all the time!
And I'm only halfway through!
Anyways OP thank you for bringing this into my life it's literally reshaping the way I think in a way I'm constantly in awe of <3
(the book if anyone was curious)
Here! I found it in an online archive!
It functions as a digital library, so you have to sign in and wait your turn. I'm not sure why you have to do that with a digital book, but it's free so i don't care.
