TWO new exhibitions opened today at York’s Quilt Museum And Gallery, in Peasholme Green.

Pearls, Pearls, Pearls will feature work celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Quilters’ Guild of the British Isles.

New quilts on show include hand-dyed and digitally-printed fabrics, the use of felt and tissue paper, and embellishment with paint, beads, pearls and feathers.

The museum’s second exhibition, in the Bailey Gallery, centres on historic items from the Guild’s own collection. Wholecloth quilts, where complex stitching patterns are the focus of design, have been part of the British quiltmaking tradition for centuries. These quilts were especially popular in Wales and the North of England and were usually made from only one or two fabrics.

The two exhibitions will offer a chance for visitors to compare quilt-making as it was practised 100 years ago with the work of contemporary textile artists.