Length of Cheney Brothers "Broche Pongee" dress silk, 1913. Broken twill weave with textured diagonal lozenge effect. All silk. Yarn dyed, white warp, Tan (light brown) weft. Color name: Champagne. Cheney silks retail label attached to sample with glue or adhesive (W. 36 in., L. 1-1/2 yd.)
A sample length of Cheney Brothers Moire Tie Silk, 1925. Com # 7399.. Soft, very fine, weft-ribbed fabric, moired (pattern impressed with a heated roller) to create columns of polka dots. Piece dyed grey.
Sample of a Cheney Brothers engineered print silk cushion or pillow top, 1913. Velvet. Silk. Turkish design with Arabic or pseudo-Kufic calligraphy and flowers in gold, red, and grey on green ground. Construction; Yarns: main ground warp, black. Main ground weft, black. Pile: green. Pattern; printed, single medallion “Turkish” (W. 22 in., L. 22 in.)
Sample of first wax drawing of the design outline on cotton cloth; step three in the Javanese batik process, 1915. Approximately 10" x 12"; has a central butterfly motif surrounded by scrolling ferns and curlicues; with four outer borders.. Third in a set of 14 process samples together with 22 finished items made by prisoners in Java for display at the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. Purchased by the US National Museum for the Division of Textiles from the Netherlands East Indies Commission at the close of the Exposition.
Stewart Silk Co Blue Crepe de Chine Fabric sample. Two edges are pinked, one side includes the selvedge, and the other is frayed. One metal staple on one edge with remainder of paper tag, no writing. Blue color. Some staining, perhaps from light exposure, and some fold creases.
John Wood Stewart was born in 1856 in New York City. In 1897 he acquired an interest in the Phillipsburg Silk Mill Company, which he later took over, expanding into South Easton, Pennsylvania, with a new mill and the addition of the Eastern Throwing Company, a throwing mill. The Perfect Dyeing and Finishing Company was also shortly added, and these three eventually incorporated to create the Stewart Silk Company. The company's mills were in Pennsylvania, the sales offices in New York City. John Stewart died in 1922. Commercial Factors Company purchased the Stewart Silk Mills in 1930.
Sample of Oriental Silk Printing Co.'s "Russian" printed dress silk, 1916. A lightweight silk composed of narrow plain weave and twill weave stripes. An allover cylinder printed design titled "Russian" printed with small x's and squares on a white ground to imitate Cross Stitch embroidery. This sample with a dense design of 4-pointed geometric figures and filler motifs, perhaps meant to be flower heads, and connecting lines, in green, red, yellow, blue, and black on white.
The Oriental Silk Printing Company also produced a trade magazine from 1922 to 1927 called The Master Silk Printer. It was self-promotional but also served as a vehicle within the fashion industry for providing information related to silk apparel for women. The Paterson-Haledon area of New Jersey was the main center of the silk textile manufacturing industry in the United States during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and this was where the company was situated. Most of these factories had showrooms in New York City in what is still known as ‘The Garment District,’ and many advertised through this trade publication. Companies selling other fashion industry goods such as dyes, machinery, chemicals, ribbon, and related products also advertised here. Oriental Silk Printing Company was in business from the early 1900s to the mid 1930s, at which point their mills moved from New Jersey to the South.
Plain weave white cotton cloth sample; step one in the Javanese batik process, 1915. This cloth is industrially produced and imported from Europe to Java, where it is used as the basis for the production of batiks. Approximately 10" x 12". First in a set of 14 process samples together with 22 finished items made by prisoners in Java for display at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. Purchased by the US National Museum for the Division of Textiles from the Netherlands East Indies Commission at the close of the Exposition.
Sample of a wool and cotton woven fabric, in basket weave variation. Dark blue & light blue wool with black cotton yarn. Yarn count: Warp 48/in & Filling- 40 /in
Fabric sample of brown & black doubleweave cotton woven in small squares (squares are brown; background is black). Yarn count: Warp 80/in Filling 28/in
Small fabric sample of rayon made with a plain open weave pattern. Off white yarns create a stripe pattern that is formed by the weave and the different types of yarn. Yarn count: Warp 32/in Filling 24/in
Cotton fabric sample woven in basket weave in shades of light tan, brown, orange/red, and rust. Yarn count: Warp 84/in & Filling 56/in. Produced by Herman Miller.
Fabric sample of plain woven linen in orange, gold, tan, greenish blue, lavendar and hot pink flowers. Yarn count Warp: 28/in Filling 22/in. Printed by Dan Wright.
Fabric sample of off white linen, cotton and alpaca woven in stripes that have various weaves including plain, basket, and floating yarns. Yarn count Warp-40/in Filling 24/in. Note: the count is an average as the number of yarns/inch vary according to the weave in the stripe.
"Flamingo" (Mfrs #s: 11236; Color 38); knitted and printed fabric length; Rosewood Fabrics, Inc.; 1977. Overall snakeskin-like print in beige and black on white ground of a stretchy knitted fabric. White selvages. Approx. 36"L x 63" W. Selvage width; pinked ends.
Mfrs name printed in selvage. Also name "Transco Textile industries"
Submitted to the Library of Congress for copyright on Feb 17, 1977. Rosewood Fabrics, Inc. 1450 Broadway, NYC
Woven wool fabric sample designed by Pola Stout, 1950-1952. Striped twill weave sample; one half of sample is black and beige alternating stripe pattern while the other half is solid green-blue.
"Sheerlon" fabric length; Rosewood Fabrics, Inc., NYC; 1977. Manufacturer's numbers: Nr. 1668; Color 48. Printed pattern on sheer nylon of trapezoidal shapes containing closely packed lines randomly placed. Predominantly pink, green, and black. Length is 45" x 60" (selvage direction not clear from card). Selvage width with cut ends. Mfrs name printed in selvage.
Submitted to the Library of Congress for copyright on Feb 17, 1977. Rosewood Fabrics, Inc. 1450 Broadway, NYC
