A couple of years ago I saw an exhibition of Turkey Red quilts as part of Loch Lomond Quilt Show. I'd never heard the term Turkey Red before, but immediately recognised it as a style of pattern that I love. A mixture of old Paisley pattern, and the type of designs of old Wild West Bandannas.
What I was surprised to find out then, was that this type of cloth had come from the Vale of Leven and Dumbarton area of Scotland - with dye works and factories along the River Leven all the way to the shores of Loch Lomond, where Lomond Shores now sits. So I was delighted to be able to find out more last Saturday, on an artist's date to see the 'Rags to Riches' exhibition at Clydebank Museum.
This is a label from some of the cloths back then. In 1850 over 130,000 gallons of bulls' blood was used as colouring, but the dyeing techniques diversified as time went on to include other things! In 1823 one of the local factories was producing the famous red and white polkadot handkerchiefs of yore (also used by migrating hedgehogs) at a rate of 224 handkerchiefs every 10 minutes.
The area even produced fabrics that were sent to India, hence the themes on some of the labels included Indian Gods, women in saris, and elephants. Another feature of the exhibition is the Singer sewing machine factory which had a huge workforce in Clydebank up until the 1980's. In 1890 Singer claimed 80% of the world's sewing machine market. My grandmother had a Singer machine that you turned the handle to operate, and I learned to sew and make things on that machine. Japanese brides expected a machine as part of their trousseau, whether they could sew or not, after Emperor Hirohito's bride had been given a machine decorated with chrysanthemum, the imperial symbol in Japan. Dorothy Lamour, the Hollywood star, also once visited the factory!
There is plenty of information, but also an indication of social conditions of the workers and the huge industrially based population of that time, which also contributed to the shipyards at Clydebank where the Lusitania, and both Queen Elizabeth vessels were built. When I went to the exhibition the streets were deserted, and I was the only person with a museum staff of 3. The area feels vastly different to the busy mill pictures on the walls.
What was particularly interesting were photos of the mill workers (who were working 12+ hour shifts) on their summer outings. They would go on steamer trips on Loch Lomond, (presumably they would walk?) and another photo showed women on a day out to Stoneymollan (site of the flying duck roundabout, and now entrance to the National Park) - and that was only in 1912 - not even 100 years ago.
(I hope this all makes sense to read, as writing this rather tiredly this evening! I seemed to have mastered the typepad thing, and at least this time it will let me type below the image I have pasted - think it must just have been a one-off glitch last time - thanks for the tips, 'tho'.)
It's fascinating stuff and as for mill workers working 12 hour shifts, some food production factories round here operate on 12 hour rotating shifts, days followed by nights. Horrible!
Posted by: carolyn | October 22, 2008 at 02:54 PM
Goodness...gallons and gallons of bull's blood!
Fascinating insight into the textile industry!
Posted by: sallyanne | October 23, 2008 at 09:22 AM