Short Book Review: A Perfect Red, by Amy Butler Greenfield

[labricoleuse]

I just finished reading a book that is of potential interest to the dye enthusiasts among my readership.

A Perfect Red, by Amy Butler Greenfield, takes as its subject a history of trends in red fabric dyeing, focusing primarily on cochineal. Greenfield traces the changing implications and significance of the color red in dress and adornment, discusses the history of the dyer's profession, and explores the effects of technological developments over time on the dye process. She also places cochineal, the primary source of brilliant red dyes for centuries, in a historical and cultural context, following it from Aztec and Mixtec culture through the Spanish Conquest, the advent of synthetic dyes, to its current minor resurgence. The book talks about dyestuff and red clothing's relevance to the rise and fall of European imperialist expansion and its significance in the cutthroat espionage of the time. I found it to be a fairly quick and interesting read, perhaps of particular fascination for those with an interest or career in dyeing.

Comments

Domesticating insects

[(Anonymous)]

The thing that I thought was most interesting was the extent to which the cochineal bug had been domesticated. It truly is a different critter from the wild cochineals, and is dependent upon it human keepers for its survival. We humans of course have domesticated plenty of critters for food, transportation and fiber, but I think cochineal is unique in being domesticated for it colorant properties.

[medvssa.livejournal.com]

Bricoleuse, I got a dye question for you :)

When dyeing a blend of wool and linen (say 50% / 50%) should salt or vinegar be used? or both?
Thank you!

[labricoleuse.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's an unusual blend these days! Out of curiosity, is it a wool/linen textile, or spun fiber for knitting?

If you are using Rit or another brand of union dye (like Dylon or Tintex, etc), yes, i would add both salt and vinegar.

I think though for a brilliant color on a protein/cellulose blend like that, i would give fiber-reactive dyes a try, like Pro Chemical's MX.

Good luck!

[medvssa.livejournal.com]

It is! I got it for a steal too since apparently it wasn't sold successfully (people are weird). It is this thin crepe-like fabric:



(The grey-dove fabric, the cream is the mannequin) It has a great drape.

I am using Dylon (I have the boxes already) and I live in Europe so I wouldn't even know where to find the other brands :) that will be ok because I am not going for a brilliant colour anyway. Thanks a lot!!

[labricoleuse.livejournal.com]

That fabric looks beautiful. I can only imagine how lovely it drapes!

One thing to be careful of in dyeing it is temperature control--if the wool fibers shrink and the linen ones don't, that'd probably be fairly problematic! As long as you raise and lower the bath temperature gradually, it should be ok though. I wrote a post a while back on dyeing wool yardage, which explains more in-depth about temp control: http://labricoleuse.livejournal.com/14082.html

IIRC Dylon can be used at room temp though (haven't used it in years) so maybe you won't even need to deal with a hot bath...?

[medvssa.livejournal.com]

I was going to use hot water from the tap, not very hot, just... warm? this dye says 40°C but yeah I have used it almost cold, and it dyed very nicely.

I have pre-washed the fabric in the washing machine on a wool cycle at 40°C, before starting sewing, it seems to have shrunk evenly. I am still not finished with the sewing, but when I am done I want to ombre dye (it is a long dress) I'll let you know when it is finished so you can see. I gathered a lot of good dye and ombre dye info from your journal, thank you :)