For more than half a century they lay forgotten in a university cupboard, a neglected remnant of a once nationallyimportant collection.

But now a treasure trove of textiles is to go on show once more after being rediscovered by staff at the Edinburgh College of Art.

The long-lost pieces of embroidery were gifted to the college by the Needlework Development Scheme (NDS), which was set up by the Paisley firm J&P Coats to further the understanding and application of stitchcraft.

But after it was disbanded in 1961, its globally-important collection of embroidery was split up between Scotland’s four art colleges, and eventually became forgotten until its rediscovery by staff at the college eight years ago.

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The rich needlework archive has now been curated into a fresh collection and will go on show in a new exhibition - Touching Stitches - in the University of Edinburgh’s main library.

Visitors will be able to view the textiles, learn about their history and even handle replica cloths created for the exhibition.

The historic collection features an eye-catching range of exhibits.

These include charming embroidered birds, an elaborate Chinese head-dress and the striking image of an angel adorned with a gold thread.

Other highlights are the remnant of a 400-year-old Italian bed hanging, an ornate replica of a 19th century man’s wedding smock and a vibrant shroud dedicated to the patron saint of embroidery, St Clair.

ECA’s programme director of textiles, Lindy Richardson - a co-curator of the exhibition - has used the collection since 2011 to support teaching with students, as well as embroiderers’ guilds, refugee groups and prisoners.

She said: “The NDS had a widespread impact on embroidery design and education in the 20th century.

Handling, close analysis and practical exploration was always at its heart.”

The NDS was set up in 1934 as a collaboration between the thread maker J&P Coats and the four Scottish arts schools in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen.

J&P Coats was a major player in the heyday of Scotland’s textile town, starting life as a loom equipment and thread maker in 1755.

During the Napoleonic wars, its founder, Patrick Clark, patented a way of making thread with cotton instead of silk, which was unavailable in Britain because of the French blockade.

The firm went from strength to strength, and established a weaving business and a cotton mill at Ferguslie, before expanding to the US. Today it is known as the Coats Group, a multimillion pound conglomerate which has interests across the globe.

The Coats family also followed philanthropic pursuits, such as the Thomas Coats Memorial Church, the restoration of Paisley Abbey, and projects such as the construction of the Coats Observatory and Paisley Fountain Gardens.

It was this charitable impulse which led the family to launch the NDS, with an aim to encourage embroidery and to raise the standard of design in Britain.

Education was provided through a collection of 900 embroidered pieces sourced from across the globe, which was made available to domestic science and training colleges, women’s institutions and schools, as well as students at the art schools.

The outbreak of the Second World War brought the scheme to a close, but resumed in late 1944 in an expanded form with its own staff . However, in 1961 it was shut after funding was withdrawn, and the collection was split up between various art schools, the National Museum of Scotland, and the V&A museum in London.

It is the segment which was given to the Edinburgh College of Art which forms the basis of the collection. The College has also consulted with the Royal National Institute for the Blind to create handling samples that can be enjoyed by visually impaired people.

Examples of these 3D prints and enlarged digital replicas of original embroidery are included the exhibition.

Fellow co-curator Francesca Baseby said: “The exhibition puts the scheme in context, outlines its history and how we care for it, and showcases recent initiatives that have extended its influence.” Touching Stitches runs from Monday to Saturday between 10am and 5pm until February 29 at the University of Edinburgh. The exhibition is closed between December 25 and January 3.