Many of you have probably heard of CoCoVid, the initiative by the costube community to bring a little of costume college to YouTube. I loved the idea as soon as I heard it (I’ve never been to costume college, but definitely want to one day). So I got thinking about what I could contribute, and ended up with chintz. It’s something I’ve read quite a bit about, but I know there are fewer English sources, and that people are often looking for more information.
Of course, I don’t have a YouTube channel (something about spare time, and wanting to spend what I have sewing, mostly), so I had to find someone who would be willing to collaborate. And then I saw that Rebecca from Timesmith Dressmaking was starting a chintz sack-back gown project. I’d met her last year in Edinburgh (she was the initiator of the Isabella project), so this seemed like a perfect opportunity. I reached out to her with the idea, and she agreed to collaborate on this!
We spent a bit of time preparing topics, a lot of time geeking over our shared love for 18th century textiles, and eventually recorded our conversation. I also went over the images I took of chintz in various exhibitions over the years, so that the talking would be supported by some pretty imagery, and Rebecca edited everything together.
I really enjoyed making this contribution to the CoCoVid program (full information on the schedule is here), and I hope you all enjoy the video! It can be watched on the Timesmith Dressmaking Youtube channel here.
Or via this link directly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVisX929J6I
And, if you want to read a little more, these are the blog posts I did on chintz in the past:
Chintz in the Fries museum – color & pattern
Chintz in the Fries museum – how chintz was worn
Book recommendations:
Dutch books:
Sits, Oost-west Relaties in Textiel (Out of print, but can be found second hand. Great for the information, not that many color pictures)
Sits, Katoen in Bloei – Gieneke Arnolli (Exhibition catalogue book from the Fries museum. Great for pictures)
Pronck & Prael, Sits in Nederland – Winnifred de Vos (General book on the role of chintz in the Netherlands, loads of info & pictures)
English books:
The Cloth that Changed the World – Sarah Fee (Book on the role of chintz globally, less Euro-focused)
Collection searches: (search for ‘sits’, the Dutch version of chintz)
ModeMuze: https://www.modemuze.nl/collecties
Rijksmuseum: https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/search
Fries museum: https://collectie.friesmuseum.nl/
