One day, in 1970, a friend suggested they go to the Brooklyn Museum, which was selling out a collection of old textiles.

It has thought to date from the late Iron Age and may be the oldest textile ever found in Britain.

The oldest known textiles date back to about 5000 B.C.

The oldest textile in the museum is in this area, a painted cloth almost 3,000 years old from the Chavín culture.

An important and oldest textile finishing is brushing or raising.

This piece came from a monastery in Tibet, a country that has recently become an important source of rare old textiles.

The old textile mills along the river now house offices and shops.

"I have used less expensive fabrics and materials and mixed in old textiles with new."

"You're working with old textiles all the time, aren't you?"

Exhibitions of old textiles are rare and tend to be brief.