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Continuing with fabric samples, here are some black and grey printed fabric samples, notice they call them "Silver Greys". These are fabric samples from William Simpson & Sons, offered by the Eddystone Manufacturing Co. Philadelphia, PA. 1888. "Silver Greys and Black and White prints."  Original paperwork description is tanned with age and brittle to the point of chipping off, but the fabrics seem fine.  Freeman Manufacturing Company, 1889. Indigo Blue print fabric samples. "Windsor Gold Ticket Indigo Blue." "PERFECT IN EVERY RESPECT". From the Freeman Manufacturing Co. North Adams, Mass.  Indigo prints with some bright accents in yellow, orange and red. Top photo taken without a flash, but the bottom photo with the flash is closer to the color.  It isn't often that a fabric has a history of it's own. Made by Springs Mills this fabric features the Springmaid Girls. The Springmaid Girls were used in advertisements and date back to 1946 when the president Elliot White Springs launched a new advertising campaign to bring a little humor and interest to their advertising.  Fabric is a compilation of the Springmaid Girls in various activities. There are a lot of books out there about the history of large textile manufacturers, including the Springs Mills, all great for researching textiles. But for a more personal view I enjoyed and can recommend this book. Clothes Make the Man, by Elliot White Springs.  Book and jacket photographed on the Springmaid fabric. It's a history of the Springs Mills Co. of South Carolina. Written by the president of the company, he gives his personal view of the running of this large company. Dating back to 1888, Springs was at one time SC largest industrial employer. There's lots more information about this giant textile company easily found on the internet if one is interested in researching it.  The Springmaid Girls used in the company ads were used for this fabric design. The girls are shown in various poses, some a little more daring than others at the time, but pretty tame by today's standards. I've seen the fabric in this colorway only. There was another similar design with the Springmaid Girls, but the fabric is printed without the blue strips.  I've also seen another ad for fabrics with the Springmaid Girls in "Persian" designs. I've never found any of these fabrics, unfortunately. The ad to the right features actress Vivian Blaine in a dress made from the Persian design fabric. More information on the Springmaid Girl ads can also be found by searching the internet. Fabric samples from Arnold Print Works 1885, North Adams, Mass. There are some great prints in this set of samples.  Original mailer and envelope documenting the fabric samples. Lots of colors in these fabrics. Notice Arnold calls them "French Designs".  Samples from Richmond Manufacturing Co. 1886. These are mostly dark browns with bright prints. Also included are a few of the grey/brown colors.  A nice variety of print styles.  1887 Fabric Samples from Arnold Print Works of North Adams, Massachusetts. "Turkey Red" Oil Color. While the label says Turkey Red, notice the word "oil" in the name. Oil Turkey Red dyes were partially synthesized, so they are not the older, much more complicated, Turkey reds seen in the first half of the 1800's. However they were more stable than the later synthetics. "Oil boiled colors" is another name for dyes in this category.  Top photo taken without a flash, bottom photo with the flash, but neither really captures the color perfectly.  Continuing with more fabric sample books. This is fabric sample book from Spring and Summer 1916 with fabrics offered by the National Importing and Manufacturing Co. NY, NY. There are many types of fabrics included, I have picked a few pages for photos to give a taste of what fabrics this company had available at the time.  These prints were very soft and delicate looking. Most are summer weight cottons.    The solid colored fabrics came in a nice variety, from pastels to the more jewel tones.     Notice that some of the prints are similar to the prints of the 1919 sample cards from the Pacific and Windsor companies that I posted previously. Fabric sample cards. These two sample cards date to 1917. The top card contains actual fabric samples, while the second card simulates the textured fabrics. Cards like these were sent out to retailers and they were carried by the fabric salesmen when visiting retail stores. These two fabric cards show a wide range of hues from pastels to jewel tones.  Lovely finely detailed prints in bright colors.  Textured fabrics appear to be similar to seersucker. Vintage and antique fabric sample books give us an idea of the fabrics that were available to quilt makers in the past. This is a Simplex sample book showing fabrics available from 1923 - 1924. This book contains a combination of actual fabric samples and designs printed on paper. It's sometimes hard to tell the difference between the two because they are so realistic.  Cover of this book, which is actually a collection of large cards containing fabric samples. Cards are held together inside the covers with the twine at the left in the photo.  The book contains samples of the solid colored fabrics and the printed fabrics.  Small sized light colored prints.   There are also pages with dark fabric prints in indigo, black, grey, and claret.  As a quilter and quilt collector I am naturally drawn to fabrics. New or old, I love fabrics. One of the best ways to learn about fabrics is to study books on fabrics (and quilts) and study fabrics in fabric sample books. Over the years I have been fortunate to find some great fabric sample books. Sample book dating to 1939 from Rice - Stix converters. Here they offer their "Topmost Fashions" line of cotton fabrics.  Sample book from the fall of 1939, the year of the New York Worlds Fair.   Solid fabrics in just about every hue. The "New York World's Fair Colors" are apparently the orange and blue at center bottom.  Pretty, softly colored floral prints.  Bolder or brighter colors here.  Figures on bolder colored backgrounds.  More figures on white this time.  Large sized bold colored prints. As a quilter and quilt collector I am naturally drawn to fabrics. New or old, I love fabrics. One of the best ways to learn about fabrics is to study books on fabrics (and quilts) and study fabrics in fabric sample books. Over the years I have come across some great fabric sample books, the following date to the 1930's era.  Two fabric sample books from 1936 and 1937. Ely and Walker was a large fabric manufacturer from St. Louis during the 1900's. The two large fabric sample books pictured above contain hundreds of fabric samples from the 1930's. One of their fabric lines, Quadriga Cloth, was one of their most popular dress weight cottons of the period. "Needleized" refers to the manufacturing process of piercing the fabric with needles which improves the texture or "hand".  A wide variety of solids in pastels and cheerful colors.  Cute prints that we might find in 1930's quilts.  Small prints in many colors. There are also prints that we wouldn't expect to find in 1930's quilts. One of their lines was the Quaker Chintz Prints. These were similar to fabrics from the 1800's, like the double pinks, and the yellow fabrics with small floral designs. Also fabrics in greys, blacks, navy, and darker jewel toned prints. Prints like this can throw off our quilt dating if we are not aware that they were still available in the 1930's - 40's.  Quaker Chintz Prints in double pinks and yellow.  Blacks and greys similar to mourning prints, not what we would expect to find in 1930's quilts. There were many other prints from this period that we may not recognize as 30's prints.  Colorful jewel toned floral prints.  Bold bright larger scaled prints.  Beautiful delicate floral dress prints. |
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