Collections Database

Description:
Handkerchief in a blue and white resist-printed cotton. The indigo-resist pattern (known in the 18th century as paste work) was made by applying wax, starch, or (later) a chemical paste in the desired pattern to white fabric. When the fabric was dipped into the indigo bath, the paste "resisted" the dye, leaving the "waxed" fabric white. Then the wax was reapplied within each design to make multiple shades of blue; when the cloth dipped again, those areas not covered by the wax became an even deeper blue. Colorfast and easeily laundered, these prints were widely popular. There are two selvages and two finished edges (hemmed and overcast stitched with white or off-white thread). Fair-good condition. A hole 1/2" x 1/2" exists near one selvage edge.

Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2000.21.6

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