Dating Fabrics: A Color Guide 1800-1960

by Eileen Jahnke Trestain

Are you a fabric collector, quilt collector, appraiser, or antiques collector who needs to know specifics about fabrics or quilts? Then this book is for you! It will help you identify, date, and recognize antique fabrics and their uses in quilts and clothing. Over 1,000 color fabric swatches are listed in this handy, easy-to-use reference guide. You'll be able to identify fabric dating from the pre-1830 era through the Second World War. Match your antique fabric by selecting a suspected time period and comparing colors and prints.

Genres: Quilting, History, Fashion History, Nonfiction, Sewing

206 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 1998

Reviews

[Candy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating!
This spiral bound book shows swatches of fabrics from 1800 - 1960.
For each span of years the author details the dominant colors, fabric print styles, quilt styles, fabric types, quilting designs, and historical factors that influenced quilting and patchwork.
Do you know why there were so many black and dark fabrics from 1880-1910? And why they gradually grew lighter from 1910 - 1935?

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been looking for something like this for a long time. It is just what I wanted with explanations about fabric manufacturing, type of material and colors. It also has picture examples. Very well presented.

[tessiscool]

shapes and colors

[Catherine Woodman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is kind of an obscure topic, and while I definitely learned something reading it, there is definitely more to learn if you are trying to date fabric and thereby date the quilt.
I came across this through my quilt guild--our fall retreat had a book theme and one of the resources was a list of quilting books that fellow quilt guild members would recommend; of the 25 or so books, my library had 5 of them, and this was one.
The thing it seems mostly useful for is that there are a lot of thumbnail pictures of fabrics across this time period, and then a discussion of dying techniques, what was popular and so you could use it as a resource to try and date your fabric--back to the time when printed fabric was commercially available. Some things like color varied over time.
Then there is a discussion of popular patterns that in combination with the fabric might give a clue. It is better as a reference book than as a read and return book.

[Becky Loader · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love vintage fabric.

Trestain has written an amazing fabric guide based on color. This reference book belongs in the personal collection of anyone interested in dating quilts and clothing. Unfortunately, it is only available in paperback now.

[Lilah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great resource for helping to date vintage clothing, quilts, and other textiles. Also great if you want to choose a fabric to make a period appropriate costume or home decor.