Life is all about adjustments. You want a double decker cheeseburger but you settle for watermelon slices for the greater good (ok, sometimes). You want to travel the whole world to see and learn about all the textiles in the world, but you have to adjust to your budget and sit at home and look at your meager fabric collection. And then there are these textile museums and their websites.
If I have enough money, I would visit one of these museums (or all of them) for the wonderful textiles on display there. Alternatively, as I said, as an adjustment, you can sit at home and browse photographs of a fair share of their collections on the museum websites.
So here are the textile museums and their websites – most of them have digital collections on display on their websites.
Textile Museums
North American Textile Museums
The Textile museum – George Washington university museum, Washington DC, USA
This textile museum has a wonderful collection of textile art ( counting 20000 articles) from all over the world spanning 5000 years. The Arthur D. Jenkins Library is another great resource for a textile enthusiast.
For more details check out their website here.
Museum for Textiles, Toronto, Canada
This Canadian textile museum has a permanent textile collection spanning about 2,000 years with more than 13,000 artifacts including precious textiles, garments, carpets, quilts from all over the world. It also conducts rotating exhibitions showcasing the works of local, national and international contemporary artists.
You can look at some of their collections here.
Textile collections at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, USA
LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) is the largest art museum in the western United States, says its website. They have extensive galleries with a remarkable permanent collection of textiles including wall hangings and quilts. These are all carefully preserved under the supervision of the members of the LACMA Conservation Center for the enjoyment of all the history and art lovers of the world
You can look at some of their collections here.
Cooper Hewitt, National Museum of design, New York, USA
This is a museum dedicated to design, housed in the 64 room home of industrialist Andrew Carnegie . Many articles on textiles and a wonderful collection of videos can be found on their website here
San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, California, USA
The website of this museum says that the “mission of the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles is to promote the art, craft, and history of quilts and textiles” and that it is “the first museum in the United States to focus exclusively on quilts and textiles as an art form”.
Have a look at the website of the museum here.
The Southeastern Quilt & Textile Museum (SQTM) Carrollton, Georgia.
The main highlight of this museum other than the display of many quilts, is the library with more than 2400 books about quilting and other fiber arts.
You can find more details here
The American Museum of Quilts & Textiles, USA
This museum has a collection of over 250 quilts, a selection of Navajo weavings, hooked rugs, and woven coverlets. Some of them are in permanent display in their Textile room and the quilts are hung on large panels for easy viewing.
You can find more details on their website here
Shelburne Museum, Vermont, USA
This museum has a varied permanent collection of quilts, woven coverlets, needlework, hooked rugs, and printed fabrics from the eighteenth century to the present as well as rotating exhibitions of other quilts, hooked rugs, woven coverlets, and samplers. The website of the museum claims that “The Museum’s American quilts comprise one of the largest and finest museum collections in the country”.
You can find more details on their website here
Virginia Quilt Museum, USA
This Official Quilt Museum of the Commonwealth of Virginia is located in Shenandoah Valley, Virginia. You can get to see a large permanent collection and traveling exhibitions featuring many Heirloom quilts, contemporary quilts and art quilts, along with educational programs, group tours, and a variety of special events here.
Their website and more details can be found here
Metropolitan Museum of Art , New York, USA
This museum is a treasure trove of art for any art lover. “The Metropolitan Museum of Art collects, studies, conserves, and presents significant works of art across all times and cultures in order to connect people to creativity, knowledge, and ideas” says its website. You can browse the collection on their website – here is the link.
National Museum of American History – The Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, USA
The Smithsonian American Art Museum located in Washington DC has a large collection of artworks. For a textile lover their collection of more than 500 quilts and quilt-related items, mainly of American origin will be of particular interest – Quilts, Counterpanes, and Throws: A Selection from the National Collection Smithsonian Institution here. You can see videos of beautiful quilts here
Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington DC, USA
This museum is dedicated to traditional and contemporary African art and design and has a collection of African textiles. You can see some of them here
Peabody Essex Museum- Textiles, Massachusetts, USA
This museum has an impressive collection of costumes and textiles from around the world, primarily from the late 17th-century forward
Here is a page with their collection on Japanese art and textiles.
Visions Art Museum, San Diego, California, USA
If you have had your fill of antique quilts in other museums you can look at some wonderful artwork by contemporary quilters in this museum. Other than a permanent collection of contemporary quilts and textiles, this museum also conducts various exhibitions, lectures by experts, workshops and engaging programs like community outreach programs around the year to educate and build a community around those who are passionate about quilting. Have a look at their website here.
Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection, Madison, USA
This is not a museum but a permanent space located in the premises of University of Wisconsin-Madisonwith and houses 13,000 textile artifacts spanning 16 centuries and 108 countries. The invaluable collection is a delight for any fabric lover.
You can check out the website here
Textile Museum in South America
Museo Textil de Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico
The Textile Museum of Oaxaca is completely dedicated to textiles and textile art. There are frequent exhibitions here showcasing the textile art of contemporary artists and houses a permanent collection of Mexican and Central American textiles.
Details here
Textile museums in Europe
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK
The Fitzwilliam Museum is the principal museum of the University of Cambridge.
You can find pictures of their collections in their website here. Type in textile in the search box that appears.
Textiel Museum, Tilburg, Netherlands
The Textiel Museum gives a lowdown on what happens in a textile factory, the techniques and machinery used there, the textile designs created. The history of the textile Industry in Holland is represented and explained and textile designs created by many designers and artists are displayed.
You can find details of the museum here .
Musée de la mode et du textile, in the Louvre Museum, Paris, France
Museum of Fashion & Textiles has a collection of silks, and other textiles, accessories, costumes, and tapestry amounting to about 152,800 pieces from the third century to the present day.
Read more about the museum here
Textile Museum of Decorative Arts (Le musée des Tissus et des Arts Décoratif) Lyons, France
Wikipedia says that this museum has one of the largest international collection of textiles, like about 2,50000 units, spanning the history of fabrics and clothes for about 4000 years. Something no textile lover would want to miss.
You can find more details here
The Wesserling Textile Museum, , Alsace, France.
The Haute-Alsace Textile Ecomuseum located in the town of Husseren-Wesserling , in the Alsace Region of France, has a permanent exhibition showcasing the history of cotton textile and many collections following the history of textile industry from the late 18th to early 19th century. The museum used to be a printing house in the Wesserling textile industry and traces the history of printed fabric in the Alsace area.
Check out their website here.
Musée de l’Impression sur Etoffes or MISE, Mulhouse, France
Museum of Printing Fabrics has over 6 million patterns and 50,000 textile documents. If you are interested in the history of textiles this is the museum for you.
You can find more information here
Textile museum, Blonduos, Iceland
This Museum showcases Icelandic national costumes and handy craft, embroideries, wool and other textiles used in Icelandic costumes, Tools and Equipment used in textile production are all exhibited here.
Find more details in their website
Germanisches National museum, Nuremberg, Germany
This is “the largest museum of cultural history in the German-speaking region” and one of Europe’s best. 25,000 objects from the prehistoric ages to the present are on permanent display here. The textile collection of the Germanic National Museum includes printed textiles from the past including ones with needlework, and lace and knitting, rare-to-find tapestries.
Find more about this museum here
Textilmuseum, St. Gallen, Switzerland
Museo tessile di San Gallo is a must-see textile museum for a textile lover; “the highlights of the collection are late antique fabrics from Coptic graves in Egypt, historical embroideries from the 14th century on, handmade lace from major European lace-making centers, ethnological textiles, historical fabrics and costumes, needlework utensils, and contemporary textile art objects. ” The development of the textile industry in Eastern Switzerland is also well documented here.
You can find some of their online collections here.
Textile museums in Asia & Africa
Calico Textile Museum, India, Ahmadabad, Gujarat, India
Founded by the owner of Calico Mills of Ahmedabad, Gautam Sarabhai in the city of Ahmedabad, one of the leading centers of textile production in India this museum houses a beautiful collection of textiles and costumes showcasing the rich history of Indian textiles. Many items including furnishings and costumes of the Mughal and regional courts and textiles which are embellished with rich bead work, embroidery in the Indian traditional styles are displayed here
Find more details here
The National Handicrafts and Hand looms Museum (NHHM) New Delhi , India
It is a renowned crafts museum in the capital of India with a rich collection of textiles displayed in Courtly Craft & Textiles Gallery. The website of the museum says ” Textile Gallery hosts an extensive collection of traditional Indian textiles which covers the vast range of hand-woven and handcrafted techniques found throughout India.”
Finds details here
National Silk Museum, China
An impressive collection which can be accessed on this page here
Yokohama Silk Museum, Japan
This museum, as the name suggests, follows the history of silk textile in Japan and has many historical costumes like Kimonos. You can learn about the history of silk, how silk is made etc from the displays here.
Find more details here
National Textile Museum, Kualalampur, Malaysia
Here you can find a good display of Malaysian traditional textiles and personal jewels as well as galleries that showcase the origin of textiles, making of them, developing of prints and patterns etc.
Find more about the museum here.
National Textile Museum, Bhutan
Located in the Thimphu district in Bhutan, this is a museum that displays the textile history of Bhutan and presents a variety of Bhutanese textiles, including textiles from indigenous fibers and with traditional textile patterns, clothes, paintings, etc.
All-Russian Museum of Decorative, Applied and Folk Art, Moscow, Russia
The museum features beautiful artistic textiles with special weaves, silks from the culturally rich Russia, all eye candy for a textile lover. You can have a look at some of them here
Hello: In 1984, I was given a late nineteenth century ceremonial sarong from Palembang, South Sumatra, Indonesia.It is a good piece done using a technique called “Pelangi dan tritik”. I am now in my late 70’s and would like to either sell it to a museum or private collector. Please let me know if anyone is interested or can advise me in this effort.
Thank you, Henry Hlady / Toronto
The Southeastern Quilt and Textile Museum is not in Virginia. It is located fifty miles west of Atlanta, Georgia. The museum is located one block south of the City of Carrollton’s Square with interesting shops, a super quality hotel and restaurants. The town is home to the University of West Georgia. Drive west on I-20 and take Exit 13 south for approximately 13 miles. We are looking forward to your visit.
Sorry, Corrected. Thanks
Can you add Visions Art Museum, San Diego, California
It is the only All contemporary quilt Museum in the USA, as I understand. I could be wrong.Thanks for this list –
Hi Marty
That is a lovely addition. Added already. Thanks