Sewing Gallery

Hand block printing at Crysede Island Works, St Ives, Cornwall. Probably 1930s

Alec Walker left Mirfield, Yorkshire, in 1918 to set up a small experimental textile factory in Newlyn where wood-block printed silk fabrics and garments were designed and manufactured. By 1925 the Crysede venture had become a successful craft industry, employing many local people, which required larger premises. In 1926 the works moved to the former Western Pilchard cellar at the base of The Island in St Ives, where this photograph was taken. Photographer: Unknown

© From the collection of the RIC

Machining room at Crysede Island Works, St Ives, Cornwall. Probably 1930s

Alec Walker left Mirfield, Yorkshire, in 1918 to set up a small experimental textile factory in Newlyn where wood-block printed silk fabrics and garments were designed and manufactured. By 1925 the Crysede venture had become a successful craft industry, employing many local people, which required larger premises. In 1926 the works moved to the former Western Pilchard cellar at the base of The Island in St Ives, where this photograph was taken. Photographer: Unknown

© From the collection of the RIC

Great Barr Colony, Staffordshire

Great Barr colony for mental defectives, opened circa 1918 by the Walsall and West Bromwich Joint Committee to house people with severe learning difficulties. Multi-view card shows female inmates at sewing, laundry and kitchen work

© Mary Evans / Peter Higginbotham Collection

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