We call it "falling down the rabbit hole."
The internet is full of people to meet and places to explore. For your inspiration, we've compiled a special index of our favorite destinations—virtual and in-person. Consider this a mini-travel guide touching on textile and visual art, museums, and other educational, community-enriching spaces around the East Bay Area.
Museums • Textile education • Textile Care • Sewing Machine Repair • Local communities and resources • Vintage and antique markets • Shop local • What to eat
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The Lace Museum of Sunnyvale, California |
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THE DeYOUNG MUSEUM of San Francisco |
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The Legion of Honor, San Francisco |
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SFMOMA, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art |
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BAMPFA, the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive |
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Aftelier Perfume's Aftel Archive of Curious Scents (open Saturday) |
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The Lawrence Hall of Science at UC Berkeley (open Wednesday through Sunday) |
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The Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland (now open on weekends) |
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Needle Arts with Vision Loss: Textile arts can be accessible for all with adaptive techniques! |
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Historical Costuming Resources (currently only Regency era): Help us build this resource! |
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SFSNAD: the San Francisco School of Needlework and Design has excellent classes and lecture events |
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The Sewing Room Alameda: Enjoy in-person and virtual classes |
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Little Bird Studio: One-on-one in-person lessons, virtual classes for larger groups |
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Foundations Revealed: a supportive dressmaker and corsetry community resource |
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Ravelry: An enormous online community of crocheters, knitters, and fiber artists, and a marketplace for their patterns & ideas |
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Textile Arts Council: A support group of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco |
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Lulu's Sewing Patterns & Guides for Historical Clothing & Costumes: This link was suggested for inclusion here by Katie, a local Girl Scout who found it helpful when working on her Textile Artist Badge! |
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The Association of Dress Historians: A non-profit educational charity organization from England/Wales that supports and promotes the study and professional practice of the history of dress, textiles, and accessories of all cultures and regions of the world, from before classical antiquity to the present day |
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Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute: Their resources on "Taking Care" breaks down how you should be storing/handling your precious antiques and vintage items! Scroll down to the "Textiles" subsection—there's a LOT of valuable information |
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All About Basket-Weaving: This is a great introduction to the craft of basket-weaving written by NYC-based florist Ava Rose. It was suggested for inclusion on this page by Jess, a passionate student of the textile arts (mainly weaving). Her grandmother has been imparting many decades' of valuable textile arts wisdom to her for many years! |
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Textile Research Center - Leiden, the Netherlands: This is an online incredible resource for anyone hunting for obscure information! "The two main focal points of the TRC are (a) dress and identity: what people wear in order to say who they are and (b) textile technology, both pre-industrial and industrial, as well as items such as sewing, lace making and embroidery." We can only imagine how cool this place would be in real life...!! |
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Lace Assessment Project — Shetland Museum & Archives: An archive of two years' exploration (2018-2020) into the cultural legacy of knitted lace at the Shetland Museum UK. |
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Peninou French Laundry & Cleaners: The oldest continuously operating French Laundry in the United States is located right across the water in San Francisco |
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Ideal Cleaners: Located in Downtown Oakland, on 14th St. between Webster and Harrison |
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Margaret's Cleaners: Specializing in luxury goods, like shoes and purses, and couture clothing — with pickup and delivery services |
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Berkeley Vacuum & Sewing Center: Our friendly neighborhood sewing machine shop |
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Dublin Sewing Center: They'd been in business for over 40 years! |
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The Sewing Machine Shop: Located in Walnut Creek, with an extensive showroom and highly-rated service |
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GBACG, the Greater Bay Area Costumer's Guild |
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The Art Deco Society of California, est. 1981 |
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PEERS, Period Events & Entertainments Re-Creation Society, Inc. |
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The Vintage Fashion Guild, an online resource for connoisseurs, collectors |
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DFZ, the Doily Free Zone Contemporary Lace Symposium |
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IOLI, the International Organization of Lace, Inc. |
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LACE FOR iPHONE, a reference tool for identifying lace
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BERKELEY ART STUDIO is open to not only UC Berkeley students and staff, but the entire community
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The French Market Marin, an outdoor antiques fair, convenes on the second Sunday of each month |
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Alameda Point Antiques Fair, a similar event, convenes on the first Sunday of each month |
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Black Swan Antiques, formerly our neighbor around the corner, has a plethora of one-of-a-kind treasures from the past—something for everyone! Check them out on Instagram: they're @BlackSwanOnline |
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Addison Antiques likewise maintains a fabulously-curated collection of vintage and antique delights, just down Telegraph Ave. |
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Jack's Antiques, right across the street from Lacis, is always worth a visit, if you're an aesthete or antique-lover |
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Antiques and Modern, also across the street from Lacis, carries a stunning selection of those sleek, atomic-era teak wood furnishings that make our hearts beat faster |
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Denise Brain Vintage Fashion: top-drawer women's vintage fashion since 1999, and lots of useful information |
Our frequent visitors often include talented independent craftspeople, small-business owners, and innovative entrepreneurs.
We would love to share their work with you all.
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Karen Tierney is a designer specializing in textile restoration, bridal fashions, costuming & alterations |
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Cloche Call Designs is operated by milliner Cybele Baker; she makes fine ladies' hats |
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Jennifer Osner is a purveyor of fine antique textiles |
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Spidora of San Francisco is a seamstress and designer specializing in vintage silhouettes, custom clothing, made-to-measure, alterations & repairs |
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Dianne Ayres does contemporary production of Arts & Crafts textiles—perfect for your historic home |
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Baba Yaga's vintage and upcycled boutique is a must-see. Carefully curated and brilliantly altered items will take your breath away |
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Baby Cats California designs and creates unique garments (for babies)—using fabric hand-printed in their studios in Oakland, CA—as well as gorgeous accessories (for everyone). We are big fans of their stickers and tote bags!! |
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Stoll Custom Framing has experience framing and preserving fragile & antique textile pieces! |
Planning a day trip to the museum, and want to figure out in advance what's good to eat in our vicinity?
This is Berkeley! You're spoiled for options. (If you're traveling by car, you can also check out VisitBerkeley.com; we're only listing establishments that are within easy walking distance from our location.)
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Zing! Cafe serves sandwiches, salads and pastries, is open until 4:30PM and has a beautiful brick patio, shady with gigantic umbrellas & growing increasingly lush with plants every day |
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ADA Cafe serves delicious sandwiches, coffee and pastries, is open until 5PM, and is extremely accessible. It's located in the Ed Roberts Campus building, above the Ashby BART station and across the street from its parking lot. |
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Crixa Cakes is a Russian bakery about ten minutes' walk from Lacis (closed Mon., Tues., Sun.; open til 3PM) |
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Sweet Adeline is the perfect place to grab a treat (those mouthwatering pastries and cakes...!!!) of the BEST quality, baked in-house (closed Mon./Tues.; open til 3PM) |
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Berkeley Bowl has temporarily shut their cafeteria area, but they're still a legendary grocery store! |
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Flacos has vegetarian tacos (and tamales, and pozole)—and outdoor seating (closed Mon.)
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Cafe Buenos Aires: a warm, inclusive atmosphere, incredible empanadas & pastries—including beignets! They also have beer and wine | |
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Queen of Sheba "Markit": Nothing beats a good bodega. There are two Queen of Sheba shops in Berkeley/Oakland, so "mark it" well! This one is at the southwest corner of Adeline and Ashby | |
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Lemat Ethiopian Restaurant & Café: named after a handwoven Ethiopian basket for injera (sourdough flatbread)! Enjoy a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony! Opens at noon & closed on Tuesdays |
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© 2021 Lacis Museum of Lace & Textiles |
2982 Adeline St., Berkeley, CA 94703 |
