Stories of Cloth

Birth

A universal experience, a time of joy and excitement, helplessness and vulnerability, celebration and pain. Every culture has developed its own time-honored customs to welcome a new life into the world.

1. An English experience. ‘Fine crochet reminds me of my auntie who although she couldn’t read or write, taught us to crochet whilst we were still very young.’
2. Chinese Baby Outfit. Handmade in 1931 for the baby boy of a Scottish family living in China by their ‘maid’, an old Chinese lady with bound feet.
3. Polly and her parents. A traditional christening in England in 1911.
4. View of the Birth installation - display and artefacts, at the Waterside Arts Centre.