Diverse Threads, an exhibition of international textiles from the collection of the Needlework Development Scheme, has opened in Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen.

A Yugoslavian child's dress, a traditional Portuguese shirt and an intricately embroidered fairy tale scene are among the one hundred items on display. 

University collections curator Justin Parkes explains “The work on display is a selection from the part of the collection of the Needlework Development Scheme bequeathed to Gray's School of Art when the Scheme was disbanded in 1961. The majority of the collection is European, but also includes textiles from Mexico, Paraguay, Tunisia and Zanzibar. Some are historic pieces collected to represent particular traditions and techniques, while others were worked specifically for the collection which was exhibited widely, including at the Festival of Britain in 1951.

“One particularly interesting piece is a nautical scene from 1934, designed by the Irish artist Beatrice Campbell and worked by her friend Lily Yeats, sister of the poet W.B. Yeats.”

The Needlework Development Scheme Collection contains needlework from around the world, and was established in 1934 as a collaboration between art and design, education and industry. Examples of high quality embroidery, including costumes, domestic items and samplers, were collected.

Collections of historical and modern embroideries were then exhibited and loaned to schools in order to teach and promote embroidery as an art form. The scheme spread south of the border to include over 3500 items by the time it closed when the needlework was allocated to around fourteen universities, colleges and museums around the UK.

The exhibition is now open to the public in the Georgina Scott Sutherland Library (next door to the Robert Gordon University Sport Centre), within the Aberdeen Business School, Garthdee Road, Aberdeen and runs until 13 May 2007.

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