Avenir Museum of Design and Merchandising

05/29/2026

Are you ready for a party...a bug party? 🎉🐜🦗🐝

Join us for a fun-filled Saturday in celebration of International Insect Week! Stamp print your own bug-themed handkerchief, join us for collage and coloring, enter giveaways, and enjoy some fun snacks! Plus, meet an array of insect ambassadors and community organizations, such as the Denver Butterfly Pavilions, and the Northern Colorado Wildlife Center, among others.

🐝🎉Avenir Museum Bug Party
📅Saturday, June 27
⌚10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
📍Avenir Museum
216 E. Lake Street

Be sure to check out ‘The Fashion ”Bug”: Insects In and On Our Cloth,’ a collaborative exhibition with the C.P. Gillette Museum of Arthropod Diversity at Colorado State University, on view now through August 1 at the Avenir Museum of Design and Merchandising.

05/22/2026

A single strand of silk. Cochineal nestled on a prickly pear cactus. Silk moths emerging from their cocoons.

What do each of these things have in common?

All are descriptions of handmade dioramas by CSU alumnus Leo Mountainwatch, on view in our current exhibition “The Fashion ‘Bug’: Insects In and On Our Cloth,” developed in collaboration with the C.P. Gillette Museum of Arthropod Diversity at CSU.

Plan your visit to the Avenir today by visiting our website 🔗https://col.st/x1mde

05/20/2026

Tools and Textiles: Bobbin lace

Bobbin lace production began in Europe in the 16th century and is still practiced today. Handmade bobbin lace requires the use of:

1️⃣ a padded support, such as a lace pillow or bolster
2️⃣ a pattern on cardstock or paper (sometimes called a “pricking”)
3️⃣ pins to keep the pattern in place and hold the lace down as the pattern is worked
4️⃣ thread, often in a natural material like silk, linen, or cotton
5️⃣ and finally the bobbins, which are elongated spools that hold the thread and create tension while being twisted and crossed according to the pattern

When making bobbin lace, the lace pillow is placed on a table or the lap of the lacemaker. The pattern is pinned to the pillow, then pre-pricked to make holes where the in-process lace will be pinned periodically to hold the textile in place. Bobbins are wound in pairs, with one bobbin at each end of a length of thread. The bobbins are hung on starting pins at the top of the pattern. Once the pillow, pattern, and bobbins have been prepared, lace making can begin.

This example from the Avenir Museum collection is an in-process length of bobbin lace on a bolster-style lace pillow.

05/13/2026

Details from our newest exhibition. 🔍

Want to see the whole picture? Plan your visit to the Avenir Museum today. 🖼️

imagiNation: Fashioning A Nation, 1776 - 2026

In the 1770s, Americans were cut off from British textiles and left to develop an independent style. Since then, fashion and textiles have served as vehicles for national identity, commemoration, and nostalgia. This exhibition explores this intersection at 50-year intervals since 1776 and asks, as Americans look ahead to the next 50 years, how will they wear the legacy of the Revolution?

On view through December 19, 2026.

05/09/2026

Name a more iconic duo....we’ll wait! 🐙⚓

🐙Surprise! The Avenir Museum () and Octopi of CSU () are teaming up to support the Avenir’s current exhibition “Anchors Aweigh: Sailor’s Dress and American Women’s Fashion, 1900 - Present.”

⛵This exhibition curated by graduate student Evan Stackpole explores the influence of naval heritage on fashion, tracing how maritime silhouettes, symbolism, and style have made their mark on mainstream fashion.

The rules are simple....be the first to visit the Avenir Museum (216 E. Lake Street) and correctly answer the trivia question related to the exhibition below, and you will walk away with your very own “Anchors Aweigh” themed crochet octopi!

❓How long has the “sailor look” been a recurrent style in American fashion?

05/08/2026

Textiles 🤝 Insects

The connections between these two seemingly disparate topics may surprise you. Listen to curator and Avenir Museum collections database coordinator Gabrielle Friesen discuss the inspiration behind ‘The Fashion ”Bug”: Insects In and On Our Cloth,’ a collaborative exhibition with the C.P. Gillette Museum of Arthropod Diversity.

Thanks to BarnFly Productions for filming!

🪲🦗🦋

The Fashion “Bug”: Insects In and On Our Cloth
On view now through August 1, 2026.

From shimmering silk to the deep reds of cochineal dye, insects have always been involved in the act of making textiles, just as humans have been bitten by the fashion bug throughout history. Join us to explore insects’ impact and inspiration on what we wear.

05/06/2026

We will be closed tomorrow, May 6th.

We look forwarding to welcoming you when we reopen!

Updated May 6 at 10:27 a.m.

CSU’s Larimer County and Spur campuses remain closed today, May 6. All in-person, hybrid, and remote classes and operations (meetings, work functions) are canceled for Larimer County and Spur campuses.

Heavy, wet snow on tree branches has created hazardous conditions, particularly near the Oval, the Glenn Morris Field House area, and the Academic Spine south of the Clark Building. Avoid these areas and exercise caution near trees.

Events in the Lory Student Center starting at 4:30 p.m. or later will proceed as scheduled. This only applies to special events at the LSC, not meetings. Contact organizers of special events with questions about event status.

Updates will be posted to https://safety.colostate.edu/ when they are available.

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**CSU Alert: CSU is closed May 6**

CSU is closed and canceling all operations for May 6. All in-person, hybrid and remote classes and operations (meetings, work functions) are closed or canceled for all Larimer County campuses. A determination about evening events for May 6 at CSU's Larimer County locations will be made at noon.

CSU Spur campus in Denver will be closed and canceling all operations for May 6.

CSU employees with essential or emergency duties should coordinate with their supervisors or directors to determine their work status.

Please monitor local news outlets and local agency websites for travel information. Unless you are required to be on campus, do not report to university grounds.

Check https://safety.colostate.edu/ for updates on the status of operations at the university.

05/05/2026

Help us develop new memories in the Janet. J. Else Education Center 📸

Long time supporters of the museum may remember when our main gallery space was located in Room 115 within the University Center for the Arts at 1400 Re*****on Street before our expanded spaces opened in 2016.

Through the continued support of generous donors, the Avenir Museum has seen tremendous growth over the past 10 years. We are elated to announce that UCA Rm. 115 (our previous gallery space) is now The Janet J. Else Education Center (J.J.E.E.C)!

This revitalized space offers interactive learning opportunities to engage visitors of all ages in the world of textiles and sustainability. You’re invited to an open house to explore all that this new space has to offer!

Join us on Saturday, May 9th in the Education Center to explore how textiles are made, used, and disposed of in the new exhibition “Unraveling: A Journey of Textiles.” This event will be full of textile learning, craft activities, and light refreshments as we gather to celebrate this newest addition to the Avenir Museum imprint.

🏡Open House | The Janet J. Else Education Center
📆Saturday, May 9, 2026
⌚10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
📍Rm. 115, University Center for the Arts
1400 Re*****on Street
Fort Collins, Colorado

04/28/2026

04/28/2026

Local malt bags, used by local breweries, repurposed to impact a local organization. ♻️

You are invited to join the Avenir Museum of Design and Merchandising and the American Sewing Guild Fort Collins Colorado Chapter for our biannual collaborative Community Sewing Day!

🤝Join us on May 30th to lend a hand in repurposing Root Shoot Malting malt bags into reusable grocery bags to benefit patrons of the Northern Colorado Loveland VA Clinic. The synthetic grain sacks used to support this project are being generously donated by Zwei Brewing and Timnath Beerwerks.

🔁Repurposing these grain sacks into reusable grocery bags helps us support local organizations while reducing waste in our community. That’s the power of sewing!

🫂Community Sewing Day
📅 Saturday, May 30
⌚ 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
📍Avenir Museum, 216 E. Lake Street, Fort Collins, CO
🆓 This event is free and open to all, with free parking available near the museum!

🧵You don’t need sewing skills to participate in Community Sewing Day! You can expect an “assembly-line” style event with different task stations that welcome a variety of ages and skill levels. This event is free and open to all, and you can drop in and out as your schedule allows.

🛍️If you want to support this project but can’t spare the time to participate, we will be accepting new or gently used and clean reusable grocery bags on the day of the event. We only have the capacity to accept donations of this type during the listed event times on May 30th.

❓Have questions about this event? Contact Avenir Education Programs Coordinator Sarah Lillis via email at [email protected].