Gods need clothes. So do puppets.

The Ministry of Culture's photograph of Puzi Embroidery Cultural Museum is a good eye exercise. A little embroidered collar lies in the curved glass case, like a flower with a hole in its middle. Behind it stands a mannequin in white; framed needlework climbs the walls. Follow the stitches and the bodies these clothes fit keep changing size.

Puzi's workshops took orders from gods, glove puppets and Taiwanese opera performers, along with wedding goods and household embroidery. Imagine the viewing distances. A puppet's clothes go on a hand-sized performer. An opera costume runs across the stage with a person inside. A hanging stays overhead. The same needle gets some very different assignments.

The old timber museum keeps that trade in the neighbourhood. Its holdings include late-Qing and early-Republican embroidery, little shoes, deity robes, sachets and fans. A television programme visiting in July 2026 also filmed people learning to stitch here. If you want to pick up a needle, call and ask about classes; a lesson takes a different sort of preparation from a wander around.