North Pennine Textile Group

Moving to The Hive for space, we had a great session designing, cutting and printing. With two pieces of lino to use, some of us were guided by the quilt designs picked up from the Bowes Museum last month, while others focused more on landscape creations. 

 The Northern Industries Workshop of Barnard Castle was part of the Rural Industries Bureau initiative. The Rural Industries Bureau was set up in 1923 to undertake research, as well as offering training and advice in rural communitues. The Northern Industries workshop in Barnard Castle was set up by the wife of its MP  in 1932. It aimed to offer training and employment to local women who sewed cushion covers, dressing gowns, and other items for commission and sale. The workshop closed at the outbreak of the second world war. Dressing gown made by Annie Watson, professional quilter at the NIW, 1941. Elephant and child's hot water bottle cover made by Luma Hay. Women made their own templates to trace on to quilt tops and then sew them. These were made from materials that women had to hand. Below are a sample of North Country Quilt pattern templates made by Annie Watson.

 On 23rd August the LoLasses were lucky enough to have a visit to The Cube at the Bowes Museum with the museum's Fashion and Textiles Curator. We had a detailed view and discussion of nine quilts within the collection. 1. A strippy quilt made about 1880 of printed fabrics dated around 1860. Owned by Hannah Hauxwell, thought to have been made by Elizabeth Bayles, her paternal grandmother, as indicated by the initials EB on the reverse. Strippy quilts were made initially of fabrics people had to hand, often reusing materials. Later, fabric was bought to make these types of quilt. 2. A blocked and striped patchwork quilt. Possibly from a mining village. Dated 1860-75. 3. Quilt from the North Pennine Dales, made from fabrics collected over a period of time. 1840-60. 4. A whole cloth quilt, marked out in blue pencil. People could buy quilt tops marked out by a quilt stamper. This quilt was self-designed  by Sara Jane Dickinson of Allendale, and includes feather patterns, diamond in...

 In 2025, the LoLasses project started their miner's shirt project by putting organic calico down Nenthead Mines to see how it was affected by the underground environment. These pieces were later embellished and pieces used to re-created an 18th century-style shirt. This was displayed, with other pieces created by the LoLasses, at this year's Inspired Exhibition held at Nenthead Mines.

 In May, most of a Swaledale fleece was put in a box of water and left in a North Pennines greenhouse (see Session 11). On 5th June it looked like this: and on 19th June, like this. After rinsing in a burn and drying, it looked like this - clean and ready to spin.

Research and learning about the family life of lead miners and their families is central to the LoLasses project. Unfortunately, both the local lead mining-related museums - Weardale and Killhope - are currently closed.  On 20th July, some of us went to the Swaledale Museum in Reeth and saw products of the lead mining industry, as well as items from domestic life.