Dear Jess,

Spending January 1st with you at the V&A, surrounding ourselves with beautiful textiles at the Fabric of India exhibition was a wonderful start to a new year!

The colours, textures, skill and provenance of the textiles made me feel as if I were in my ‘happy place’ and gave me so much inspiration for future weavings. Although all pieces on display were outstanding, my personal preference were the utilitarian textiles, which told us something about the lives of ordinary people and the importance of decorative textiles in even the humblest of homes.

Here’s a sketch I did of some cotton wrap-resist dyed turban cloth from Rajastan c1860. I love the colours and chevron designs!

It was also interesting to learn of the huge impact Indian textiles have had worldwide, and the key role that the weavers and the textiles mills played in galvanising India’s movement towards independence. Gandhi called for the people to take up spinning yarn, weaving and wearing simple hand-woven clothes in opposition to the industrialisation in Europe, which was threatening India’s indigenous industries. What an inspiration his message is to us, as we spread the Saori ethos!

source: wikipedia.org

I look forward to continuing to learn about textiles from across the World and through History, and to sharing our experiences throughout 2016!

All my love,

Mum x

(Amanda)