A Trip To Windham Textile Museum (Part 1)

Last Saturday, I spent my day at the Windham Textile Museum, in the town of Willimantic, CT.  

It was over an hour drive to get there. Driving through the country, seeing, cattle, horses, and lots and lots of woods was so calming. Except for my youngest son asking every now and then – “are we there yet”, I would totally have lost track of time. It was beautiful scenery.

The occasion? Well, they were having an event called “Textile Trio 2016”, which I thought would be a good opportunity to give my children some cultural experience and at the same time, give me a chance to visit the museum.

When we drove into the town, we saw this beautiful three wheeled car driving in the opposite direction.  I love cars with character. I noticed that it drove into a nearby plaza.  So believe it or not,  I made a u-turn the first opportunity I got, drove back, found the plaza and started looking around the parking lot for the car. My children spotted it first.  Three wheelers are supposedly a “thing” now.

Side Attraction

After that, we continued (this time, non-stop) to the event. It was in the building next to the Windham Textile Museum called the Dugan Building. Events included demos, lectures, music, and food. A couple of my friends from SAQA, had booths to sell their work and do demos. It was a fun and festive atmosphere.

Music at Windham Textile Museum

This talented woman entertained the crowd with music that she composes based on the stories behind the quilts on display.

Sewing Demos at Windham Textile Museum

Isn’t that cute? Look at that sewing machine!! (I’ll show you more of these antique machines in part 2 when we go inside the main building of the museum). Look, she’s even dressed in the right fashion for that century. And  he irony of it is that right next to her was a demo of a modern computerized sewing machine which was sewing all by itself without anyone sitting behind it.  Oh how far, we’ve come!!

Brother’s sewing machine XV8500D also known as the Dream Machine is quite impressive. It scans your photos and drawings right there on the sewing machine without the need for a computer. It then digitizes the scan into embroidery onto your fabric for you. You can set it, walk away and have it do all the sewing. Neat, huh?

Vendor Booths

My SAQA Friends and I

It was a fun and relaxing event.  I actually got to sit down for a few hours without thinking about any to do lists – that was great. My children learned to weave baskets – and they actually enjoyed it. Thanks Bev.

After the Dugan Building, we made our way to the main building of the Windham Textile Museum.  I’ll tell you all about that in part two of this post, so stay tuned.

Warmest Regards,