The English Sewing Cotton Company Scrapbook

 Extracts from Peter Hennessy's 'Never Again - Britain 1945-51' (Penguin, 1992) Two of the staple industries which had given Britain much of its Victorian economic supremacy - cotton and shipbuilding - were saved then revived by the demands of renewed war after 1939. In the 1930s, the Bank of England had led a rescue of the Lancashire textile industry,  reeling from recession and the rise of competitors in India and Japan. The introduction of tariffs after 1932, when the national government engineered a strategic change of economic direction with a general shift from free trade to protection, had saved the home market for Lancashire but not the world market in which it had held sway overwhelmingly until 1914. By 1939, Lancashire had only half the spinning and weaving capacity in use in 1920 and the national workforce in cotton goods had shrivelled from 600,000 to 350,000 over the same period. (This seems at odds with the display of confidence shown by the ESCC in the early ...

 The magazine 'Fancy Needlework Illustrated' was introduced in around 1906 (the 3rd edition was published in March 1907). It was the official magazine of the Northern School of Art Needlework, Manchester.  It appears that there were very close ties between the School and the English Sewing Cotton Company. I have an issue of the magazine from 1910 and almost every advertisement is for a member company of the ESCC (see below). Also, for some time the School held an annual competition which received wide publicity in contemporary newspapers. Both the launch of the competition and the winners received coverage, with regional publications being especially proud of local prizewinners. The annual contest consisted of several categories, and the sewing cotton to be used in each category was strictly prescribed  - each prescribed cotton being an ESCC product. Here's  a photo of the 1911 competition entry form: Ardern's and Dewhurst's are perhaps the most famous names listed ...

  Woman's Weekly magazine was well known for home-making patterns. Knitting patterns were its forte, but there was always an item of clothing to be sewn too. This 1965 issue leads with a dress to make yourself - using one of their own Fleetway patterns. That they had their own pattern department shows that home dressmaking was not yet out of fashion.  Here's the 1 1/2 page spread inside. Note that they had a partnership with Bentalls to supply the fabric as modelled. It makes it easy and therefore possibly lucrative for both parties.  But then look back to near the beginning of the magazine: Here we have an advert for a bargain buy dress from Etam. According to their website they had just begun selling ready to wear clothes in 1963. It looks to be a simple design, one that a competent dressmaker could probably have a good go at herself. But here they are, taking the bother out of it for not much more cost. Here we have the early evidence of the reason for the ESCC's strug...

 I have been combing the British Newspaper Archive, looking for the earliest mention of Dewhurst's Sylko cotton thread.  Evidently,  Ardern's Star Sylko nametag preceeded Dewhurst's thread as there are mentions of this earlier on. The Manchester Courier, 9th July 1908, directly refers to "Dewhurst's "Sylko" machine twist" in a report on the Franco-British Exhibition (British Textiles Section). On 13th August 1908, The Tailor and Cutter are also reporting on this exhibition at White City, where Messrs Dewhurst's Sylko machine twist is noticed as being something useful to the Tailor. The wording of both of these articles made me believe that 1908 must have seen the launch of Sylko, as they refer to it as something hitherto unknown. However, I have now found a new reference.  Kentish Express and Ashford News, 26 May 1906 - an advert for Stickells of New Street, Ashford refers to over 90 shades of a silk substitute called "Sylko" "whic...

  This clipping from The Staffordshire Sentinal dates from 12 December 1928. Under the illustration at bottom left there is a reference to the colour shade Hunter's Green, declaring it to be a new shade.  The Sylko reel Hunters Green is numbered D324. I have seen advertising state that by 1932 there were 300 Sylko shades, so this numbering places it a little after the year of the clipping above. The British Colour Council, with their purpose of helping textile and dye companies to keep up with new colour trends didn't launch until 1931. Dewhurst's late adoption of Hunters Green perhaps demonstrates why the BCC was needed. https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/SewSylko

The British Colour Council continued to operate in the post war period, recommending uniformed colour trends of the coming year in fashion and home furnishings. As I outlined in my blog post about the set up and early years of the council, they particularly came into their own around royal events - or at least the colours introduced to mark these occasions received more prominent press coverage at the time. This trend returned after the WW2 hiatus and into the 1960s, with press reports dropping Sylko enthusiasts a few clues to the years that some of the shades were introduced.  In January 1953, a Leicester newspaper reported on the British Colour Council’s 2 day show in the city. Mention is made of shades introduced to mark Queen Elizabeth's coronation including Elizabethan Red, Princess Grey, Spun Gold and Beau Blue. I haven't seen these colours on a Sylko reel but then the article closes with the following line: "A joyous colour to my mind is Fiesta Pink, as different fr...