Event Details
Dolls created from shirt factory scraps in the two hour workshop in the Fashion & Textile Design Centre, Derry / Londonderry. Each doll bears a name tag and represents a person connected to the shirt factories. (Photo: Kyra Reynolds) |
| Workshop: | Making an arpillera doll from shirt factory fabric scraps |
| Description: | This workshop is an outreach activity within the “Shirts, Singers and Sewing” exhibition programme, which is on display at the Fashion & Textile Design Centre, Derry / Londonderry (8 September - 31 December 2021), having previously been exhibited at the Tower Museum (May - August).
In this workshop, surrounded by the “Shirts, Singers and Sewing” exhibition, which documents the history of the shirt factories in the North West, participants will be guided through the process of making an arpillera doll. Similar to the Chilean women in the 1970s/80s who made arpilleras from bits and pieces of leftover materials and old clothes, attendees will create their arpillera doll from scraps of original textiles used in the Derry shirt factories. All materials will be provided and no sewing experience necessary.
Numbers: A maximum of eight
Time: 10.30am-12.30pm, 16th September
The inclusion of Conflict Textiles in this exhibition programme has its roots in connections developed through The Art of Survival: International and Irish Quilts exhibition (2008), curated by Roberta Bacic and displayed at nine venues throughout the city, with the Tower Museum being one venue. This initial collaboration developed into a series of exhibitions and associated activities at the Tower Museum addressing conflict, human rights abuses and daily life as experienced by women and their communities from across the globe
Web links:
Shirts, Singers & Sewing Tower Museum, May – August
My Granny was a Factory Girl' Song by Sadie Norris & Roy Arbuckle. A Covid-19 Lockdown Production 2020
From shirts to arpilleras: Derry’s textile heritage continues..., Kyra Reynolds "Derry Journal", 3rd August 2021 (also included in documents section below). |
| Commissioned by: | The Fashion & Textile Design Centre |
| Date(s): | 16th September 2021 - 16th September 2021 |
| Venue: | The Fashion & Textile Design Centre, Derry/Londonderry
31 – 33 Shipquay Street, Derry/Londonderry, Northern Ireland |
| Curator: | The Fashion & Textile Design Centre and Tower Museum |
| Facilitator: | Conflict Textiles |
| Outcome: | A total of 10 women participated in this workshop, each creating their own arpillera doll represting a person whom they knew and/or who was connected to the shirt factories. A number of the women themselves or their family members had worked in the shirt factories and the workshop rekindled many memories.
"Memorable, Enjoyable, Creative, Inspiring, Unforgettable, Calming,
Excellent, Brilliant and Speechless" is how the women described their experience of taking part in the workshop. |
| Documents: |
• Conflict Textiles display panel, May 2021 - view
• K. Reynolds, 3 Aug '21, Derry Journal article - view
• Photo gallery of workshop, 16th Aug. 2021 - view
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