As I said yesterday, I was in New York over the weekend. And those of you who have been reading my blog for a while, won't be surprised that I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art where there is a fabulous exhibit about the world textile trade from 1500 - 1800 called Interwoven Globe. It runs through January 5th.
There are a number of neat things I found out visiting that show. The first being how Chintz was actually made.
Since the Met never allows photos to be taken in special exhibits, this photo is from Wikipedia. It is a photo of Chintz made in India from the coromandel Coast, c. 1710 - 25.
It's hard to appreciate how complicated it was to get a print with so many different colors before modern fabric printing techniques were invented.
Ikat was another technique in use at that time and still today to make a complex and colorful print. Here is a link to the blog I wrote about visiting an Ikat factory this summer.
It's hard to appreciate how complicated it was to get a print with so many different colors before modern fabric printing techniques were invented.
Ikat was another technique in use at that time and still today to make a complex and colorful print. Here is a link to the blog I wrote about visiting an Ikat factory this summer.
Chintz was a popular fabric for lady's dresses in the 18th C.
As well as men's morning coats called Banyans.
This description of how to make Chintz is from the Innovateus website. My favorite part of the process is bleaching it in cow dung, which usually happened more than once. How DO you get the smell out??? Maybe that's why people wore lots of perfume.
There are many processes that go towards making an elaborately patterned and many colored chintz fabric could take several weeks to complete. First the fabric is seeped with a preparation of fatty milk and extracts of plant which contain tannic acid. The fabric is dried thoroughly. The design outline that is painted on the fabric turns black because of the tannic acid on the fabric. When you want paint red take the mixture of alum and Brazil wood. Then the fabric is dyed in hot water, which contains madder root, or another red dye called chay. The fabric is then cleaned to remove the tanning agent. Usually, it was done with cow dung. After this process, it is again dyed in indigo. The portion, which should not be dyed blue, is covered with wax resist. The fabric is then dipped in hot water to remove wax resist. It is then washed, dried, and sized.
There are many processes that go towards making an elaborately patterned and many colored chintz fabric could take several weeks to complete. First the fabric is seeped with a preparation of fatty milk and extracts of plant which contain tannic acid. The fabric is dried thoroughly. The design outline that is painted on the fabric turns black because of the tannic acid on the fabric. When you want paint red take the mixture of alum and Brazil wood. Then the fabric is dyed in hot water, which contains madder root, or another red dye called chay. The fabric is then cleaned to remove the tanning agent. Usually, it was done with cow dung. After this process, it is again dyed in indigo. The portion, which should not be dyed blue, is covered with wax resist. The fabric is then dipped in hot water to remove wax resist. It is then washed, dried, and sized.
Wikipedia has some very interesting information about the history of Chintz.
Tomorrow ... my pants muslin fitting report!
Tomorrow ... my pants muslin fitting report!
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