Whitchurch Silk Mill has been open as a living museum since 1990, under the management of Whitchurch Silk Mill Trust, to ensure the survival of silk weaving using traditional machinery and methods. The mill’s collections span over 200 years and about 5,000 objects and tell the story of 200 years of silk making in Whitchurch.
The Radcliffe Trust gave a grant to Whitchurch Silk Mill for their Heritage Weaving Program which offers a 12-month post to a graduate in textiles. Whitchurch Silk Mill aims to address the national critical craft skill shortage and provide other transferable skills to support the wider Heritage Sector.
At the moment, the silk mill is reweaving historic threads for a jacket worn by George Washington.
Historic Threads Rewoven: English Mill to replicate George Washington’s silk for The Morristown National Historical Park
Whitchurch Silk Mill in Hampshire, England, is stepping back in time, more than two centuries to be exact, and is weaving the silk worn by George Washington to his first inaugural ball in 1789. The Georgian mill has been commissioned to weave an authentic replica of the original fabric as part of a remarkable project led by bespoke tailor and Associate Collections Specialist in the Ratti Textile Centre at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Philip De Paola.
Philip De Paola with George Washington’s original suit
De Paola, who recently finished his master’s thesis at The Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, aims to create a faithful reproduction of Washington’s silk suit. The finished suit will eventually be displayed at The Morristown National Historical Park in New Jersey, the institution that holds the original.
The original suit, once destined to go on display for the United States’ 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026, has been deemed too fragile and discoloured to exhibit. Instead, the replica will take centre stage, allowing visitors to connect with a pivotal moment in American history through a meticulously recreated symbol of leadership and legacy.
To ensure accuracy, the original suit was studied in exceptional detail, documenting measurements, weaving structures and materials used. An exact pattern was created, and the original colour of the silk was determined by analysing unfaded sections of the garment and testing fibre samples for dye content at the Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute.
Using this information and photographs of the original fabric fragments magnified, Whitchurch Silk Mill will replicate both the weave and the distinctive colour of the original fabric. Once complete, the silk will be transformed into a completely hand-sewn recreation of Washington’s historic suit, offering museum visitors a vivid and tangible link to the founding of the United States. Thanks to the Victorian machinery still in operation today, the mill can authentically recreate historic fabric characteristics, like the signature striped selvedge; a detail a mill with modern machinery can rarely replicate.
George Washington’s signature striped selvedge
With a rich history of weaving for iconic brands, blockbuster films, and a recent collaboration with Jane Austen’s House, Whitchurch Silk Mill is the perfect setting for a project steeped in historical fashion and textile conservation.