Pull of the Thread: Textile Travels of a Generation

In 1969, Sheila Fruman left her native Canada to see the world. Travelling overland from London to India, she scoured the markets from Istanbul to Mumbai and spent her time in teahouses in the Swat Valley before reaching the hedonistic hippie scene on the beaches of Goa. Her experiences are characteristic of a generation leaving convention behind and seeking adventure and enlightenment abroad. Along the way, she became enchanted with the handmade textiles she encountered: embroidered silk dresses, mirrored shawls, the finest wool hats and coats. Several decades later, she realised that she was not the only one to have fallen in love with the profusion of textiles abounding in the streets and markets. In this book, Fruman tells the stories of nine intrepid travellers whose textile endeavours span collecting, scholarship, interior design and the fashion runway. Taken together, they are an enlightening guide to understanding how we connect to the past, and how textiles connect the world. AUTHOR: Sheila Fruman’s travels in 1969 from London to Mumbai aroused a keen interest in textiles and carpets. After a 25-year career in politics in her native Canada and, later, working in post-conflict countries to support democratisation, she has pursued her love of handmade antique textiles and authored a book about fellow textile travellers. SELLING POINTS: . Untold stories from the hippie trail . Featuring previously unpublished photographs of Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and India . A must-have for textile lovers 250 colour, 25 b/w illustrations