The silk goods of America; a brief account of the recent improvements and advances of silk manufacture in the United States

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1880 Excerpt: ... trade and fashion. The dyer usually prepares for each season an assortment, designated as "new colors," and comprising about 300 different shades. From these the silk manufacturer can often select the tints of which he wishes to have his yarns dyed; but it frequently happens that some intermediate shade is needed, and perhaps as many more "colors" as are at first offered, will be required in the course of a season. A single fabric may be composed of strands of many colors, and the tendency of fashion has latterly been toward such styles. Certain goods--for instance, swivel cloth--may have figures of a color wholly different from the ground. Last Fall there were ribbons in vogue which required the use of five or six shuttles, each carrying a different color; and there is, of course, occasion for similar and even greater variety in the hues of the warp-threads. Doubtless, the novelties in color that are presented, stimulate taste in in that direction. The brilliant series of aniline pinks, scarlets, reds and crimsons that preceded cardinal, helped that color to the favor it has met with so steadily since its introduction. Next to the reds, the blues are most appreciated. Americans have, however, always admired the "red, white and blue," and we may mention, in passing, that the manufacture of silk flags is a considerable branch of industry, which received a great impetus in 1876, and has not since languished. At present the post of honor among fashionable colors is held by "gendarme blue," which, strictly speaking, is a bluish green) such as appears in the "eye" or ring of a peacock feather. An expert in these matters has estimated that there are at least one hundred definite shades of color in a peacock's tai...