More on Turkey Red

Quilt date-inscribed 1845

Turkey red cotton was expensive due to the complexity of the dyeing process,

which involved many steps and some caustic chemicals.

But quilters knew it was smart to pay extra for Turkey red. In the quilt above, from about 1900, the Turkey red stars have remained bright. Stars dyed with a newer synthetic dye have faded away or bled.

The reds probably looked identical to the quiltmaker when she was piecing this top, but water, sunlight and just time could fade synthetic reds to a salmon-colored pink.

Here's another example. These faded pinks combined with bright Turkey reds usually date to 1880-1920.

Identifying the dyestuff in a red fabric involves chemistry and physics way beyond the skill level of the average Quilt Detective. But the durability of the red color in quilts (such as the three above) indicates that the bright red cottons were likely dyed with Turkey red.

Turkey red also has a distinctive wearing pattern. Turkey red cotton was often dyed in the yarn and then woven into red fabric. The color is durable but the process caused the yarns to wear, revealing the inner white yarn shaft. Notice the white streaks in the mid-19th-century applique above. More wear will worsen the problem.

Abrasion is the major cause of Turkey reds tendering (the textile term for rotting or shredding). Abrasion is caused by use and washing in particular. The Turkey red and the other cottons in this mid-19th-century applique above are shredding due to abrasion.

Washing has caused the greens to fade and the reds to shred in the mid-19th-century applique above.

Turkey red is often the first fabric to deteriorate because the dye process is so hard on the cotton.

Two lessons here:

1. 
   
   Red cottons streaking and abrading in the above fashion indicate the Turkey red dyeing process.
2. 
   
    Do not wash Turkey red quilts in the washing machine.

OUCH!

Old quilts deserve hand washing.

Turkey Red

Nineteenth-century American quilters loved Turkey Red cotton.

The combination of Pennsylvania German taste, Anglo-American applique and the new availability of the bright red imported cottons created new quilt styles in the early 1840s.

Album quilts with signatures and stamped names were fashionable in Turkey red prints.

Applique of Turkey red, green prints on white became an enormous fad.

The dyestuff for the bright red cotton is madder root but the Turkey red process that resulted in an intense red was more complex than traditional madder's mordant dyeing, which produced a flatter brownish red. The name Turkey red comes from the Turkish or Ottoman Empire, the Middle East, where traditional dyers developed the process. Turkey red came to Western Europe in the 18th century after French and British dyers sent emissaries east to learn the process.

Quilters used Turkey red plain cottons and Turkey red prints.

 

 Red on white quilts with plain Turkey red are hard to date because quilters made them from 1840 to 1950.
 

The Quilt Detective has to rely on other clues like quilting, borders, patterns.
 
 

Turkey red fabric with a printed design is easier to date. Prints with Turkey red grounds and figures of yellow, green and a blackish brown (and sometimes blue) were popular with American quilters from about 1840 to 1870.
 

 
Prints with black or white or both on a red ground tend to be after 1870.
 
 

June sent this photo of a feathered star. The center reds are very much like the print above.

Typical of about 1880 or later.

More on Turkey Red basics in a later post.

If you want to know more details about the dyeing and printing processes you will want to subscribe to my Quilt Detective Email Newsletter. See the information on the left.

Between the Mattress & the Springs

Here's a quilt that's going in the garage sale. Don't all email at once and tell me you want it.

It was once a terrific quilt. I'd guess it's from about 1880-1910---a late applique. The date is based on circumstantial evidence, rather weak clues:
1) Red & white quilts tend to be from about 1880-1910
2) It's small---single bed size and smaller beds were popular about 1880-1920.
3) The triple sashing was popular in the 1870-1910 era.

It's unusual in that it's white applique on a red background. Usually it's the other way around because the Turkey red fabric cost more than the white. Red on white fleur-de-lis patterns were popular in the mid 19th-century. This one is late.

Which is why I took it when someone offered it. I wanted to put it in the last book on twentieth century quilts but there was no room---and let's face it. It doesn't photograph that well.

Why is this quilt such a MESS? Turkey red has a tendency to rot from abrasion but this is an extreme example. When I teach classes students sometimes tell me that people used to keep an unwanted quilt between the mattress and the springs. In old beds the exposed metal springs would rust and stain the mattress. And others told me, the bed is quieter with a quilt between the mattress and the springs.

I did a search in Google Books and found a 1918 Red Cross book advising that "a thick comforter or even many layers of newspaper should be placed between the mattress and the springs" if an invalid's mattress was too thin to provide comfort or warmth.

So I am guessing that someone's comfort, mattress or privacy was more valuable to her than this quilt was. Too bad, because it should have been a keeper. But I am not keeping it. The photos will do.