A Multitude of Multi-Coloured Cottons
“Sewing is as addictive as a drug, twice as expensive, with no rehab, legal and gets you hooked in an instant” – anonymous.
Well, I don’t know about sewing, but I know that collecting Sylko cotton spools is! What started for me as a collection of about a dozen brightly coloured spools has quickly escalated into a collection of several hundred in a multitude of colours (both bright and pastel), and is still growing! In spite of my best intentions of not letting it get out of hand, the number of spools that arrive on a nearly daily basis at the moment is really rather ridiculous even for me, and my partner despairs, as I pursue some of the rarer coloured spools! However I cannot help myself. I just adore all the wide and varying shades and their wonderful names!
The theme for "Looking Close on Friday" for the 13th of September is "multicoloured collection", and as you may well know, I am a collector of many things. This meant the hardest part of this theme for me was choosing a collection that was brightly coloured enough for this week! I ended up settling upon pieces from my vintage spool collection, choosing an array of brightly coloured cottons including “coral” “gay kingfisher” “yellow” “oriental poppy” and “radiant blue”. I hope you like my choice for the theme this week, and that it makes you smile!
Belle Vue Mill, commonly known as Dewhurst’s, was built by Thomas Dewhurst in 1828. It opened in 1829 as John Dewhurst & Sons and was one of Skipton’s largest spinning and weaving mills. The mill’s position next to the Leeds Liverpool Canal meant that raw cotton could be shipped in by boats from Liverpool. Finished goods would then be sent back the same way ready for distribution. Coal to power the machine’s steam engines was also delivered by barge. In 1897 Dewhurst’s was bought by the English Sewing Cotton Co. It continued to produce Sylko, one of the mill’s most famous products. It was produced in over 500 colours and sold throughout the world. Sylko cottons are still available at haberdashers today.
In 1802 James Coats set up a weaving business in Paisley. In 1826 he opened a cotton mill at Ferguslie to produce his own thread and, when he retired in 1830, his sons, James & Peter, took up the business under the name of J. & P. Coats. In 1952 J. & P. Coats and the Clark Thread Co. merged to become Coats & Clark's. Today, the business is known as the Coats Group.
The Anchor brand can trace its history back to 1866 when the Clark family adopted the Anchor brand for their embroidery threads manufactured in Paisley, Scotland. Embroidery threads came into being circa 1812 when supplies of silk became unobtainable in the UK due to a blockade by Napoleon. Two weavers, James and Patrick Clark, turned their attention to cotton and managed to produce yarn which was sufficiently fine, smooth and strong to be used instead of silk for weaving. Sewing thread was primarily silk or linen at the time and the Clark brothers developed their cotton yarn into the first cotton sewing thread.
A Multitude of Multi-Coloured Cottons
“Sewing is as addictive as a drug, twice as expensive, with no rehab, legal and gets you hooked in an instant” – anonymous.
Well, I don’t know about sewing, but I know that collecting Sylko cotton spools is! What started for me as a collection of about a dozen brightly coloured spools has quickly escalated into a collection of several hundred in a multitude of colours (both bright and pastel), and is still growing! In spite of my best intentions of not letting it get out of hand, the number of spools that arrive on a nearly daily basis at the moment is really rather ridiculous even for me, and my partner despairs, as I pursue some of the rarer coloured spools! However I cannot help myself. I just adore all the wide and varying shades and their wonderful names!
The theme for "Looking Close on Friday" for the 13th of September is "multicoloured collection", and as you may well know, I am a collector of many things. This meant the hardest part of this theme for me was choosing a collection that was brightly coloured enough for this week! I ended up settling upon pieces from my vintage spool collection, choosing an array of brightly coloured cottons including “coral” “gay kingfisher” “yellow” “oriental poppy” and “radiant blue”. I hope you like my choice for the theme this week, and that it makes you smile!
Belle Vue Mill, commonly known as Dewhurst’s, was built by Thomas Dewhurst in 1828. It opened in 1829 as John Dewhurst & Sons and was one of Skipton’s largest spinning and weaving mills. The mill’s position next to the Leeds Liverpool Canal meant that raw cotton could be shipped in by boats from Liverpool. Finished goods would then be sent back the same way ready for distribution. Coal to power the machine’s steam engines was also delivered by barge. In 1897 Dewhurst’s was bought by the English Sewing Cotton Co. It continued to produce Sylko, one of the mill’s most famous products. It was produced in over 500 colours and sold throughout the world. Sylko cottons are still available at haberdashers today.
In 1802 James Coats set up a weaving business in Paisley. In 1826 he opened a cotton mill at Ferguslie to produce his own thread and, when he retired in 1830, his sons, James & Peter, took up the business under the name of J. & P. Coats. In 1952 J. & P. Coats and the Clark Thread Co. merged to become Coats & Clark's. Today, the business is known as the Coats Group.
The Anchor brand can trace its history back to 1866 when the Clark family adopted the Anchor brand for their embroidery threads manufactured in Paisley, Scotland. Embroidery threads came into being circa 1812 when supplies of silk became unobtainable in the UK due to a blockade by Napoleon. Two weavers, James and Patrick Clark, turned their attention to cotton and managed to produce yarn which was sufficiently fine, smooth and strong to be used instead of silk for weaving. Sewing thread was primarily silk or linen at the time and the Clark brothers developed their cotton yarn into the first cotton sewing thread.