SATURDAY YARN DYING AT THE WEAVERS SHOP

On Friday I wandered into the weavers shop and was immediately drawn in by the interpreter of the processes in the 1700.  I then learned that they would be dying yarn on Saturday starting at 9:30,  I was on a mission to see this done.  Now mind you I can knit, crochet, do needlework in many forms, but over the years have stopped doing many of them as other crafts have caught my eye.  Quilting and traditional embroidery are not things I particularly care to do, knotting drives me crazy, because it goes so slow for me.  Can not crochet with cotton thread as my hands cramp up quickly, but I love the resulting doilies, tablecloths and bedspreads that are created with it.  Now I can sit and do counted cross stitch by the hour and love seeing the pictures develop with just thread and cloth. 

But back to the subject at hand I arrived shortly after they started and soaked up all of the information that was shared.  It was fascinating to learn that what woods, bugs and spices created what colors. Below are a couple of pictures of the colors and what is used for each color.

 

 

 

It was interesting to learn that none of the dyes were permanent and within 7-8 years everyone of them would fade to grey.  Yellows were the fasted to fade in sunlight so that color was reserved for evening wear and upholstery fabric which did not get exposure to the sun. Indigo used for blues was an interesting dye in that it does not completely penetrate the fiber.  Good example is that for our jeans as we wash and wear them they fade and white starts to show through because we are literally wearing off the outer fibers.

 

As the fashions changed and the colors of the seasons changed they created bleach by using a half of bucket of unpasteurized milk and half a bucket of cow manure, leaving it to ferment this would chemically create chlorine bleach.  Clothing was deconstructed with all trim removed and the cloth was bleached and dyed again and again. And of course the worn spots were  patched to make them last for as long as possible.  After all you had to weave the fabric by hand and it took hours and hours to create a yard of material.  You didn't just throw your clothes away when it got a hole you made it last as long as possible. 

 

The dying process is done outside over a wood fire and some dyes are harder to get consistent color and usually the darker shades are done first while the dye is the most concentrated. 

 

This is a huge copper pot used to dye the yarn.

 

Most dyers could only do small amounts of dying because to get an even color you need to keep it moving in the dye so for material they actually had a larger pot and could only dye at most about 5 yards of material at a time and had to keep it moving in the pot continuously with long paddles.

 

 

 As with everything in 1700 and 1800 century this process like everything was pretty labor intensive.

 

Hope you enjoyed this post there is much more to the process using known chemistry of the day, but to complex for them to explain to us, but they did say that the recipes that they used this day are ones that have been handed down through time, although many processes and recipes were guarded by the individual dyers.

 

Until next time...................