Rose Madder and the Norwich Shawl

In the 1870's you just weren't a lady unless you had a shawl,

(and a pair of drawers of course), and the very best of the former

hailed from Norwich.  Many still survive to this

day and some beautiful examples can be seen in the

Norfolk Museum's collection at their Textile Study Centre

in the heart of Norwich.

The much lusted after Kashmiri shawls of the 19th century

used to take up to three years to make using the wool of

Himalayan goats but the Norfolk copies, made on foot operated

machines and not by hand, took only weeks to produce

and quickly became the shawl of preference.

These large squares of material were either fringed with patterns

or patterned all over,  Queens, princesses and the social elite

wore them.  You had to be wealthy, important and usually both

to be the owner of a pukka Norwich shawl.

The plant Rubia tinctorum (rose madder) was once a classic

element of the Mediaeval garden and grows well in the Norfolk

countryside.  It was a popular dye plant who's roots were traditionally

used to colour the cloth for the uniforms of the English "red coat"

soldiers and used to be sold in great quantities at the

Madder Market in Norwich which exists now in name only.

Madder red and Norwich were synonymous thanks to the efforts

of Richard Stark who worked in the City between 1811 and 1831.

He was able to perfect the colour matching of both the silk warp

and wool weft threads to exactly the same shade which

produced the distinctive true scarlet red often to be found in the

stunning drawloom shawls of Norwich.

A typical Norfolk sampler

Some of the motifs found on the shawls can also be seen echoed

in the distinctive Norfolk samplers from which the recent

Long Dog design called Do Different draws it's inspiration.

The fabulous Do Different in madder rose look

Here comes the hard sell at last.  This chart can be yours almost

 painlessly at just the click of a mouse, follow the link

to stitching heaven:

jools@longdogsampler.com

and demand your copy today.  You know it makes sense.