Behind The Seams, featuring three new galleries, is the new star attraction at Armley Mills Museum, once the site of the largest woollen mill in the world.
The project, led by not-for-profit company Leeds Fashion Works, celebrates the significance – both past and present – of the region’s textile and fashion industry.
Even today, nearly 40,000 people are employed in the wider textile industry in Leeds, one in three of UK textile weaving jobs are based here, as is 60 per cent of the UK’s textile preparation and spinning.
At the official opening last Friday, visitors were invited to see some authentic ‘spinning mules’ – dating from the 1930s – at work and see the journey of the wool fibres from sheep to shop.
The machines have been restored by specialists from Bramley-based Hainsworth, which at more than 225 years old is one of the world’s oldest surviving textile mills.
Leeds Industrial Museum
Canal Road, Armley
Leeds
LS12 2QF
Telephone 0113 263 7861
www.leeds.gov.uk/armleymills