cylinder printed (overall production method/technique)
plain weave (overall production method/technique)
Measurements:
overall: 39 in x 40 in; 99.06 cm x 101.6 cm
Object Name:
fabric length
Place made:
United States: New Jersey, Newton
Date made:
1915
Description:
Sussex Print Works, 1915. Silk dress goods printed in black on white with a variation (S-227) of an "ant and swallow" design taken from the Bolling family crest in England, in honor of the marriage of President Woodrow Wilson and Edith Bolling Galt in December 1915. This variation has widely spaced black stripes with superimposed black coin dots holding white birds, with individual ant motifs in columns between the stripes. The use of strict black and white reflects the fact that color dyes were scarce due to the blockade of Germany by British ships during WWI. German firms were the primary holders of dye and colorant patents, , and the blockade created a critical shortage of dyestuffs in the still-neutral United States in 1915-1916. When the US entered the war in 1917, on the British side, the German dye patents were seized and turned over to American manufacturers.
