Textile Lab...

We had no idea what to expect when we entered the Textile Lab, but we were totally blown away but what we saw. Rather than just have looms doing repetitious demonstrations for museum visitors, the Textile Lab opened in 2005 to encourage innovation by inviting designers to work on commissions financed through national arts funds. Others, including students, can pay a daily rate to use the lab to create prototypes or finished products.

This automated loom used plastic patterns to make tablecloths sold in the museum store.

On the right side, was a fully computerized loom making fancier tablecloths.

This particular loom was set up to have visitors cycle to power it.

This machine could make two crocheted scarves at once...

...and this one made tapestries.

We enjoyed talking to the designer who was using this fancy contraption to knit sophisticated scarves, also sold in the museum store.

Textile Museum...

On the first Saturday of March, we sent Kati to a slumber party as we headed to Tilburg for Carnaval. We had a nice conversation with this Dutch fellow, who was dressed up as a Tour de France participant, complete with his own roll of toilet paper.

We arrived early so we could visit some museums first. Along the way, I spotted this very unusual window display in someone’s apartment.

We started at the Textile Museum, which opened in 1958 to honor Tilburg’s heritage as a once-thriving wool capital.

The Woolen Blanket Factory was the main exhibition which recreated a textile factory as it existed in the Netherlands from 1900 until 1940. The various machines were set up to show how a blanket was made from crude wool.

The machines were powered by a steam engine on the second floor.

Even though we didn’t see any of the machines in action, it was still fascinating.

In another section of the museum there were lots of older looms...

...which were programmed with these huge paper patterns...

...that took up an entire wall.

Pucker Up...

Ashlynn also did her first cosmetics shoot for Cowell Fashion featuring A.Testoni lipsticks.

The Future’s So Bright...

 The future’s so bright...

 ...she had to wear shades.

Like her previous shoots for Cowell Fashion, this one was for the Italian brand A.Testoni.

Strong Women in Fashion...

Jimmy joined me for a wander through the first ever fashion exhibition in history devoted to female designers: Femme Fatales—Strong Women in Fashion at the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague.

In addition to many international female designers, Dutch designers were also featured such as Iris van Herpen, who specializes in using 3D-printing in her designs.

There were some good messages on the walls...

...and lots of interesting clothes.

Handbags Galore...

Once again, I really enjoyed attending the AWC Handbag Auction. I was excited to win the bid on a Coach bag in perfect condition, but then realized that I actually preferred the blue one. 

Luckily for me, Terri had the winning bid on the blue one and was willing to swap. 

A few days later Ashlynn did a social media shoot for Louis Quatorze, a French maker of handbags.

As you can see, the photos would have been lovely if they’d only shown her face.