Description
Do you look at an old patchwork quilt, and wonder how old it is? If you look closely at the printed fabrics, this can give you some major clues.
Printing and dyeing techniques that could produce washable cotton fabrics with multicoloured designs were gradually developed in the United Kingdom from the mid-seventeenth century. Printing controls how the pattern was applied to the fabric, while dyeing determines the colour.
Understanding and being able to recognise these techniques can provide a reliable means of dating antique patchwork quilts, which often have no other provenance.
This brief guide to Recognising the Printing and Dyeing Techniques Useful for Dating Fabrics was written as a paper for the British Quilt Study Group for their seminar in 2023, and published in Quilt Studies Issue 25. It can provide only a brief overview of the main dyes and equipment that were used during the nineteenth century, but suggestions for further reading are provided in the references at the end.
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