Massachusetts Mohair Plush Company figured pile upholstery fabric. Dark blue cut and uncut mohair pile on a cotton ground. Pattern of small checks, alternating cut and uncut pile. This gives an effect of darker blue (cut pile) against a lighter blue (uncut or looped pile). Pattern # 717; Quality No. 1220. Massachusetts Mohair Plush Co. was headquartered in Boston, with a mill in Lowell, Massachusetts. The manufacturer noted that this particular pattern was a recent addition to the line and was in demand for use in upholstering the seats on new "deluxe and streamlined coaches for railroads."
American Woolen Co. Zebiline Cheviot coating weight fabric sample, 1912. 18-ounce black wool twill weave cloth with long napped surface; pronounced wide diagonal base cloth. Coating weight. Produced by American Woolen Co.'s National & Providence Worsted Mills. The term "Cheviot" reflects the use of coarse wools such as those shorn from the Scottish Cheviot breed of sheep.
Produced by American Woolen Co's National & Providence Worsted Mills.
The Providence and National Worsted Mills, founded in Rhode Island in the 1870s, were originally two companies owned by Charles Fletcher, one a spinning and one a weaving mill for working with worsted yarns. Fletcher amalgamated the two companies into one in 1893, and then sold this company to the large Lawrence-based American Woolen Company in 1899. When the Lawrence mill workers struck against pay cuts in 1912 (the Bread and Roses strike), the American Woolen Company was one of the firms affected. The Rhode Island mills, however, did not strike.
Sample length of The Shelton Looms Upholstery Plush fabric; 1914. Mohair pile on a cotton back, cut pile, in bright green. 27" width. 1 sample. Long pile, flattened; black warp, green weft cotton ground. Wide selvages with black, white, and gray stripes, bearded at the edge suggesting a double weave - two fabrics woven face-to-face with a shared warp, cut apart as they come off the loom. One of a group of pile fabrics given in 1914 (accessioned in 1915) by Sidney Blumenthal and Co., Inc, owner and operator of The Shelton Looms, one of the best known and most important American pile fabric producers, whose mills were in Shelton, Connecticut.
American Woolen Co. fancy Chinchilla overcoating cloth sample, 1912. Twill (? - selvage is twill) weave cloth with thick woolen yarns, brushed to create long pile which is crushed into curls. Heathered grey and white. 20 ounce weight. Produced by American Woolen Co's National & Providence Worsted Mills.
The Providence and National Worsted Mills, founded in Rhode Island in the 1870s, were originally two companies owned by Charles Fletcher, one a spinning and one a weaving mill for working with worsted yarns. Fletcher amalgamated the two companies into one in 1893, and then sold this company to the large Lawrence-based American Woolen Company in 1899. When the Lawrence mill workers struck against pay cuts in 1912 (the Bread and Roses strike), the American Woolen Company was one of the firms affected. The Rhode Island mills, however, did not strike.
Photograph, black & white: American Woolen Co., The Wood Worsted Mills, Lawrence, MA, 1912.
One of a series of 71 photographs documenting the workings of the American Woolen Company's Mills, part of a large donation of fibers, yarns, and fabrics by American Woolen Mills in 1912.
Skein of Mohair yarn for making trimmings (frogs and braids), Massachusetts Mohair Plush Company, 1914. Genapped and dyed black for use. The genappe process singes the spun yarn to remove protruding ends and make the yarn smooth. Given by Massachusetts Mohair Plush Company, headquartered in Boston with a mill in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1914, along with samples of mohair fiber in various stages of processing, and samples of the company's finished textiles.
L.C. Chase "Velmo" figured mohair pile upholstery fabric, ""Angelo", 1922. Ground is cotton with a yellow warp and red weft; mohair cut pile in two heights and densities creates a large scale floral/foliate pattern in a higher denser pile against a lower, sparser pile that allows the ground colors to show through. An additional effect is a stripe or strie in the pile , which has regular brown and silvery gray striping. The pattern # is 213; Color is given as Taupe, 3137-20-A. Part of the Chase trademark stencil appears on the back of this sample. 36.5" length x 50" width. Manufactured by Sanford Mills, Sanford, Maine; selling agent L.C. Chase & Co.
Embroidered Lace Flouncing, Schiffli embroidered conventionalized floral pattern; of Green origin executed with henna ombre on white silk lace (shadow) by the chemical burn-out process. Made after originals in the collection of the Brooklyn Institute Museum.
Part of a group of Schiffli machine embroidered trimmings, primarily for apparel, manufactured by Alpha Embroidery Co. of New Jersey, many of which imitated hand embroidered national and regional styles from China and parts of Europe. The firm's designers used the Brooklyn Institute Museum to research original examples, which were copied or from which they drew inspiration. The products were sold in foreign markets in competition with the native hand work, as well as in the U.S.
Massachusetts Mohair Plush Company, Uncut pile upholstery fabric sample, Yarn dyed, looped pile woven in a bold vertical stripe pattern.; Striped pattern (mfr # 174; quality 931-F2) has a 7.25 inch repeat made up of varying width bands in soft tones of taupe, tan, gold, and rose, in variegated effect, accented by occasional line stripes of brown. Cotton ground; mohair pile. Called Frieze Plush by the manufacturer. Massachusetts Mohair Plush Co. was headquartered in Boston, with a mill in Lowell, Massachusetts. The manufacturer noted that this particular pattern was a recent addition to the line and was in demand for use in upholstering the seats on new "deluxe and streamlined coaches for railroads."
Photograph, black & white: French Mule Spinning. American Woolen Co., The National & Providence Worsted Mills, Providence, RI. 1912.
One of a series of 71 photographs documenting the workings of the American Woolen Company's National & Providence Worsted Mills, part of a large donation of fibers, yarns, and fabrics by American Woolen Mills in 1912.
L.C. Chase "Velmo" printed cut and uncut mohair pile upholstery fabric, "Maintenon"; 1922. A cotton-backed, mohair pile fabric with cut and uncut pile alternating to produce broken horizontal stripes. Pattern # T-50; over printed design of a floral motif against a landscape, forming a complete repeat within a 28" square. The ground color shades from dark at the bottom (ground) to light at the top (sky). Tan, blue, green, rose pink, brown, black. Made by Sanford Mills in Maine, selling agent L.C. Chase.
Sample of Collins & Aikman Corporation figured cotton and rayon velour, 1929. Medium weight, rayon and cotton pile fabric woven with brown and green pile yarns in a pronounced vertical stripe with a smaller and less pronounced horizontal checking. Cut pile, voided. Half width. Off white ground weft.
Collins & Aikman Corporation was founded in 1891 and incorporated in 1929. The company made high end upholstery fabrics, including velvets and plushes in cotton, mohair, and silk, and beginning in the 1910s, artifical silk (rayon). Early on the firm competed successfully in the market for automotive and aviation fabrics. In the 1920s the company had mills in Astoria (Queens), New York; Philadelphia, PA; and North Carolina.
Photograph, black & white: Crabbing. American Woolen Co., The National & Providence Worsted Mills, Providence, RI. 1912
One of a series of 71 photographs documenting the workings of the American Woolen Company's National & Providence Worsted Mills, part of a large donation of fibers, yarns, and fabrics by American Woolen Mills in 1912.
Arlington Mills worsted fabric process sample, 1940. Very dark navy blue wool; herringbone twill weave; Process label reads: "Worsted Goods After Coloring and Crabbing"l". Knots in the thread on the worng side and many slits close to the selvages; 28" x 30" - with a 4x5 cut off one corner. [Originally part of an Arlington Woolen Mills process display board; dismantled, probably before 1980.]
Crabbing and coloring were processes in finishing woven wool cloth when it came from the loom.
Arlington Mills, successor to Arlington Woolen Mills, was one of the premier woolen and worsted companies in the US for many decades. The mills were in and around Lawrence, MA, and company headquarters was in Boston. American manufacturers of woolen and worsted yarns and of woven and knitted textiles relied on both American-grown wool and on imports of raw wool and partially processed wool fiber, called "tops", American growers never produced more than about half the raw wool needed by the American manufacturing sector.
L.C. Chase "Velmo" figured mohair pile upholstery fabric, "Lorenzo", 1922. Golden yellow cotton ground warp and weft, against which a renaissance design of foliage curving around an urn with paired griffins, in green is raised in two heights and densities of mohair pile. Pattern #203; Color: Sage, # 17046. 36" length x 50" width. Repeat length is 26", two repeats across the width. Manufactured by Sanford Mills, Sanford, Maine; selling agent L.C. Chase & Co.
Sample of Sidney Blumenthal & Co. Inc. silk drapery and furnishing velvet, 1915. All silk, machine made pile fabric used for draperies and furnishings. Color: blue. Width: 50"
Second step in process of embroidering filet lace. The embroidered material has been baked in an oven to carbonize the scrm foundation, so that it can be removed by brushing machines. Sample shows same cotton scrim as TE.T0580 carbonized.
Part of a group of Schiffli machine embroidered trimmings, primarily for apparel, manufactured by Alpha Embroidery Co. of New Jersey, many of which imitated hand embroidered national and regional styles, including from China and parts of Europe. The firm's designers used the Brooklyn Institute Museum to research original examples, which were copied or from which they drew inspiration. The products were sold in foreign markets in competition with the native hand work, as well as in the U.S.
