Textiles and the Triplett Sisters

If you’ve been following my blog, you know I’ve been researching a Northern style of cutout applique quilts. (If you need a refresher, here’s a link to the last article, which has links to the previous articles.) It’s time for a mini-update. If you’d like a more complete update, I invite you to attend the AQSG Virtual Study Center Northern Chintz Quilts that I’m teaching. For the first time this study center will be open to non-members, so jump on the opportunity while you can at this link. Last year, a wonderful quilting colleague notified Kay and I that a Northern Style Chintz Quilt was up for sale on Etsy. (Thank you, thank you!) My sister immediately began the complicated process of acquisition. Complicated because the quilt was located in Japan, and the value was such...

The Cloth that Changed the World: The Art and Fashion of Indian Chintz was an exhibition created by the Royal Ontario Museum of Toronto Canada. I wanted to see the exhibit very badly, but a trip to Toronto really didn’t fit in my travel schedule. I had to make do with the exhibition catalog, until the St. Louis Art Museum decided to showcase the exhibit in a joint venture which is up through Jan 8th, 2023. My sister Kay and I made that trip happen. It was worth every second of the drive across the state. We got to see some fantastic palampores, textiles, and Indian Chintz. The exhibit was wonderful about showing the textiles in groupings that were produced for different markets or countries. The St. Louis Art Museum also threw in an amazing surprise,...

A competitor of Bannister Hall, Bromley Hall Printworks, also used various names with the change of ownership. From the 1680s to 1820s Bromley Hall (a building around since 1485) on the River Lea descended through a prominent Quaker family. Benjamin Ollive was a linen dyer who by 1719 had become a calico printer. The River Lea provided easy access to water and his sons followed into the business expanding the premises. In 1783 the family acquired copper printing plates from a printer in Merton who went bankrupt.Joseph Ollive bequeathed his business to his nephew Joseph Talwin and Joseph managed the firm as Talwin & Foster. The V&A is home to the rare pattern book of Talwin & Foster which contains 144 copper plate designs which can be seen at this link. Talwin & Foster's products were...

Bannister Hall Printworks, famous for several bird chintzes, was founded in 1798 by Richard Jackson and John Stephenson. Located near Preston, Lancashire, it was the leading printworks for woodblock furniture chintzes during the 19th century. In 1804 Jackson and Stephenson would bring Charles Swainson into the company, eventually completely selling the company to him in 1809. Between 1809 and 1825 it was owned by Charles Swainson, and from 1825-1856 it was known as Charles Swainson & Company. The Swainsons would open a second “big mill” called Fishwick Mill, with John Birley & Sons. People still referred to the company by various names including Bannister Hall, The Big Mill, Birley & Sons, Swainson & Sons. Eventually, in 1892, Edmund Wright Stead would purchase the blocks, machinery, and more than 9,000 designs of Bannister Hall for the competitor...

In our last blog we briefly discussed quercitron (bark primarily from the Eastern Black Oak in the US) used in combination with cochineal. But quercitron was used on its own to create a color fast yellow. In the US local mills advertised the grinding of barks, which could be used for home dyeing or mulch. To see an 1844 ad about a Bark and Grist Mill follow this link.   In England the use of quercitron inspired a whole color scheme known as “drab style.” The 15 year patent for the dye ran out in 1799, which caused the drab style to be particularly fashionable in fabrics until 1807. Quercitron was used for block printed chintzs until about 1815.   Cedar and tanbark are two additional barks that are used for dyeing which creates a deep...