Embroidered Scrim Bandings, Schiffli embroidery reproduction of Hungarian hand-embroidery. Conventional pattern executed with red cotton, yellow wool, and blue artificial silk; and green cotton, brown wool, and white artificial silk. Both samples using linen scrim as a foundation., Based on an original collected in Budapest by Mr. Stewart Culin for 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.
Photograph, black & white: French Wool Combing - Second operation. 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.
Photograph, black & white: Drawing in Warp Threads. 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.
Sideny Blumenthal & Co., Inc. black and white striped cotton drapery velvet; 1915. Cotton pile fabric used for draperies. Black and white color scheme may be attributable to the dye shortage during WOrld War I, when the US was cut off from German dyes, and textile manufacturers tried to encourage a fad for black and white.
The Shelton Looms warp-printed mohair plush fabric; 1914. A sample length of Chiffon Plush, a lightweight mohair pile plush fabric. This sample with the mohair pile warp printed before weaving, producing black, and black and white, figures. Used for millinery and trimming. 17" wide; 1 sample. 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. Original fabric woven 17" wide.
American Woolen Company plain diagonal Cheviot fabric sample, 1912. 12 ounce, black. Twill weave with shallow diagonal, alternating close weft faced flat rib with somewhat open weave diagonals. 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: English Drawing, 2-spindle gill box. 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.
World War I era woven paper fabric sample, Germany. Spun paper yarns woven in an open plain weave, like screening. Very fine paper yarns. Germany employed spun paper yarns in making many types of fabrics for both civilian and military use during World War I, due to shortages of other fibers, notably wool and cotton. American industry was interested in these experiments because of the US's long raw materials supply chains.
Photograph, black & white: Fulling Cloth. 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.
Massachusetts Mohair Plush Company figured pile upholstery fabric, "Friezette," 1928. Cut and uncut (looped) mohair pile in black, on a cotton back.with a black warp and a dark olive- green weft, giving a somewhat irridescent effect to the surface. The looped pile is arranged against the cut pile ground to create a geometric pattern in charcoal gray, of interlinking squares or fretwork containing an 8-petal flower head and four areas of 5 or 6 dots. Manufacturer title Upholstery Plush XXXX Friezette. A length of Massachusetts Mohair Plush Company figured pile upholstery fabric, "Friezette," 1928. Cut and uncut (looped) mohair pile in black, on a cotton back.with a black warp and a dark olive- green weft, giving a somewhat irridescent effect to the surface. The looped pile is arranged against the cut pile ground to create a geometric pattern in charcoal gray, of interlinking squares or fretwork containing an 8-petal flower head and four areas of 5 or 6 dots. Manufacturer title Upholstery Plush XXXX Friezette. Pattern # 164; Color #688. Massachusetts Mohair Plush Co., headquartered in Boston with a mill in Lowell, Massachusetts, sold in large part to railroads and furniture companies. Mohair plush was long-wearing and not easily crushed. THis quality was chemically treated by the manufacturer against moths.
Arlington Mills worsted fabric process sample, 1940. Gray, black, and white wool; Small-scale plaid, in a twill weave; Process label reads: "Fine Territory Wool". Numerous moth holes. [Originally part of an Arlington Woolen Mills process display board; dismantled, probably before 1980.]
Several of the process samples in this group are labeled with where the wool came from. "Territory" wool came from the American west; "Fine wools" probably meant a large percentage of merino sheep bloodlines in the mix. Territory, also called Range wools, comprised a large and important segment of US wool-growing, but into the early 20th century the wools were often characterized as being badly sheared and packed, dirty and with a lot of plant material caught in the fleeces.
Arlington Mills, successor to Arlington Woolen Mills, was one of the premier woolen and worsted companies in the US for many decades. 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.
Photograph, black & white: English Drawing, Various Operations. 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.
A length of Shelton Looms trade name "Kitmole" solid cut pile imitation fur fabric in brown; surface crushed (or panned) giving random meander-like appearance of the small skins of the real animal pieced together. Accession records lists the pile as mohair, but it feels more like silk or artificial silk; cotton ground. One of a group of pile fabrics given in 1921 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. Original fabric width 50", sample length sent was not noted. Color is noted as "Lava".
American Woolen Co. 11 ounce black woolen Broadcloth sample; 1912. Fine supple cloth with a low, close nap on both faces; slightly heavier weight than T00261. 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: French Wool Combing - Finishing. 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.
