I’ve been sooo busy working on my upcoming book, The Cloth of Egypt: All About Assiut that I’ve been let blogging slide for the moment. However, I thought you might want to know how the book is progressing. I recently posted a detailed breakdown of my current status over on the Kickstarter page – remember that campaign I ran last summer? There was such an outpouring of support that I was able to invest the money in more research materials, ephemera, image rights, and sewing materials. This has lead to a much more interesting and comprehensive book than I had initially described in my Kickstarter pitch video!
My plan is to have the images and text laid into the master document by Mid-May, and final edits until done. At this current production rate, I’ll be anticipate being finished by the end of June/early July. I’m so committed to this timeline, that I’m scheduling a big book release party in August. I look forward to resuming my regularly scheduled blogging activities in May when the book is in final edits!
I’ll be sending out my next newsletter end of April – so be sure to sign up for my mailing list!
Thank you for your continued interest and support! ~ Dawn
Recently, I’ve been getting a lot of requests for detailed instructions for how to clean vintage assiut. There are a few guidelines I would like to share with you, but I have to begin with a disclaimer. Antique assiut can be extremely fragile. Before you clean, think about the value of the piece for you. In antique textiles, sometimes the most gentle forms of cleaning can be destructive. So before you have a go at cleaning it, consider your skills and if you are prepared to accidentally destroy the garment or shawl. As a historian, I recommend using the least invasive and potentially destructive methods for care and cleaning. Below is an excellent resource for cleaning vintage and antique textiles. My personal process echo this detailed .pdf.
