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Bargello, trapunto, Hardanger, mola. To the average reader of The World of Embroidery, these words are full of meaning, though the average Internet user might find them puzzling. But what about these: HTML, browser, search engine, email? Incomprehensible? This is a language so familiar to me now that I can hardly believe that until recently it was all so much meaningless (and intimidating) jargon. The technospeak of the Internet and the rich language of embroidery seem to have little in common; yet, with a browser and a search engine, I can find textile resources all over the world. Embroidery on the Internet - images of Mongolian silk appliqué or shibori dyeing, wearable art, the Fishguard tapestry - they are all there to be discovered.
The Internet can be slow, frustrating, mystifying, but with some patience and tenacity it can yield great rewards. You can use it as a research tool, a source of inspiration, a way of sharing information. As you visit textile sites of all varieties, you become part of an international 'community of stitchers' (to borrow a phrase from the pages of Needlepoint from The Mining Company).
The size of the Internet means that almost any information you need is there, somewhere; paradoxically, that sheer scope may prevent you from finding what you need. Many textile sites, including the Young Textile Group, collect together related links, organising the morass into something more manageable. For instance, visit the Costume Page to find out about Javanese masks or the colours of 16th century dress (did you know that 'watchet' was a shade of blue?). Part of the fun of the Web, though, is the excitement of the unexpected, the sites you stumble across when searching for something different altogether. Browsers, the programs that open a window on your screen in which you can move from page to page and site to site, have evocative names like Navigator and Explorer, to entice you into voyages of discovery.
There are also tools to help you find your way. Search engines trawl the Web, cataloguing and indexing. You type in a few keywords or an exact phrase and hope that relevant 'hits' will be near the top of the list. Searching for 'Seminole patchwork' on Hotbot, I found an article tracing the evolution of the technique through history; a 'how to do it' page; Seminole dolls from the Cincinnati Art Museum; suppliers; courses; book reviews; and a link to the marketplace on the official Seminole Tribe of Florida web site, where you can buy the real thing directly over the Internet.
The Young Textile Group web site grew out of the impulse to share information, about local groups, about the national organisation, most of all about embroidery itself. Back in April 1997, building a web site seemed an immensely daunting task to me. As languages go, HTML (with which web pages are created) is logical and straightforward, but there was a lot of trial, error and tearing out of hair in the process of learning it. Gradually, though, the pages began to take shape, and on June 1st 1997 the fledgling YTG web site was launched.
By its first birthday, it had had almost 5000 visitors. Projects, images of embroidery, YTG news, stitch techniques, textiles in education - it grows and evolves continually. A web site can be a vehicle for whatever you want to show the world: your own work, new (and old) techniques, research and ideas.
One of the most exciting aspects of the Internet is contact between like-minded people. Feedback through email can be almost immediate. When the YTG site had just gone public, I emailed some other textile sites, just to tell them we'd arrived. Within minutes I had this reply from someone in New Mexico: 'Thanks Fiona, Glad you find the quiltfiction list useful. I really like your pages.' I'm used to getting email by now, but I've never quite lost that feeling of magic when I get a message, or a response. 'It really works...'
One thing leads to another on the Web, not just with pages, but with people. It's very easy by email to stick your neck out and introduce yourself to complete strangers. In July 1997 The World of Embroidery ran an article on textiles in schools, which I hoped to put on the YTG site. From my initial approach to Maggie Grey, to seek permission, came, eventually, the World of Embroidery web pages. Connections made, new projects begun... The ethos of the Web has always been to share information freely, to link people together, to network and collaborate. A web project I particularly like is the unique shareware Stitch Encyclopedia by Sharon Boggon in Australia. This detailed collection of stitch techniques is freely available, but, if you use it regularly, Sharon invites you to send her a scrap of fabric, part of your own textile journey. She wants 'to use these items as a metaphor in a project that speaks about the textile community on the internet'. Fragments from many disparate people worked into a whole - an apt image for a World-Wide Web.
Fiona Dix has been involved with the Young Textile Group for 9 years, from threading needles for her (then) small daughters, to leading a local group, to creating the YTG web site. She is a production editor and web weaver, and teaches HTML and web design by email. (fiona@hiraeth.com).
This article is from The World of Embroidery, Volume 50 No.1, © Fiona Dix.
highlights from January 1999 issue