This is a commercial sample of a type of fabric known as ‘madras’, which at the time this fabric was produced referred to a lightweight cotton with a woven check. The check could form an all over pattern, as seen in this example, or it could be woven as borders or in stripes with plain […]
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This book comes from Rosebank Mill in Lancashire and dates from 1832. The inside cover features the name Bennet Greig and the name of the mill and the date 25th September 1832. It contains an array of printed dress and furnishing fabrics along with detailed notes about their production. Within the pages are examples of […]
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This book contains mostly printed cotton dress fabrics with a few examples of larger scale prints labelled as ‘furnitures’, which would have been used as household furnishings such as upholstery or curtains. Many of the fabric samples showcase the adoption of innovative new developments in printing technology from the early 19th century. One of the […]
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This book comes from Rosebank Mill in Lancashire and contains samples of mainly dress fabrics. Most of the samples are printed on smooth, evenweave cotton although there is one sample of cotton with a ribbed pile like corduroy. The cover bears the name Thomas Comstive and indicates that the book covers the period “1832 and […]
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A selection of jacquard designs and fabric samples produced by Birtwistle &Oddie Ltd of Prospect Mill, Wharf Street, Blackburn. The company was founded at Prospect Mill in 1907 by H. H. Birtwistle and A. M. Oddie. The company remained there until 1972 and was known for producing jacquard woven brocades, and later cotton and rayon […]
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Exploring the connections between two iconic dyes and the story of William Gatty and his home; Elmfield Hall in Accrington.
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This sample is one of a set of over 90 print samples attributed to the Robert Hindle & Co Print Works in Sabden, Lancashire. The vibrant colours of the samples are a perfect example of the impact that aniline dyes had on the dyeing and printing industries. The first aniline dye was mauveine or ‘Perkin’s […]
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This sample is one of a set of over 90 print samples attributed to the Robert Hindle & Co Print Works in Sabden, Lancashire. The vibrant colours of the samples are a perfect example of the impact that aniline dyes had on the dyeing and printing industries. The first aniline dye was mauveine or ‘Perkin’s […]
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A millennium ‘guaranteed wax’ calendar for the year 2000 from the ABC Wax company, which has links to Greater Manchester to this day. The company began with a printworks which opened in Hyde in the early 19th century. In 1908 they began to produce the exact kind of fabric we see here – imitation batik […]
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These panels from Indonesia or Borneo show the fourteen stages of the batik method required to make this relatively simple design of a beetle using blue and brown dyes. A more detailed design and wider range of colours would add many more steps to the process and require even more patience and skill to create. […]
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This commercial sample was designed and manufactured in Lancashire using industrial printing processes to closely imitate the effect of a traditional, hand worked batik or wax resist dyeing. The design features a simple colour palette with geometric patterns as the backdrop for large and graphic fish motifs. Resist-dyeing is an ancient process and flourished in […]
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This fabric was designed and manufactured in Lancashire using industrial printing processes to closely imitate the effect of traditional, hand worked batik or wax resist dyeing so that it could be sold on the African export market. This example is particularly interesting as it was manufactured to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II […]
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