Modern Day Views of the Belle Vue Mill, Skipton





 

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The Sylko Label Change Mystery

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 You can always tell the older wooden Sylko reels with their white and gold labels. These obviously pre-date the blue and white ones that are better known, because there are no colour names, only numbers and they are less modern in design. The big question for me is when did the changeover take place? When did the colours start to be given names on their labels? I would guess that it took place sometime in the mid-late 1920s. My reasoning is that I have an old style reel with a colour number D229 - this is the highest number that I own with labelling of this type. I also have an advertisement from 1930, stating that at that point in time, there were 280 shades. It is easier to date 1930s shades (see the post on the Colour Council) and at that point around 10 new shades a year were being introduced.  IF that rate was the same in the 1920s, then D229 was introduced in around 1925. But that if is everything. What we need is company documentation. And that still doesn't pinpoint e...
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15 Colours Sylko

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While studying the history of the Sylko cotton reel, it came to my attention that those colours numbered between 280 and 399 were likely to have been first introduced in the 1930s. An analysis of the basic colours strongly supports something that I already knew - that green was an incredibly popular colour in this decade. Between shade numbers D281 and D399, there are 15 types of green, compared to just 7 of red, 7 of yellow and 11 of brown. Only blue comes close to green, with 13 shades. Overall, blue is the most common Sylko shade over the 6 or 7 decades of the cotton brand's existence - D1 is a blue shade and this remains a popular and safe choice for clothing. I must add that there are some gaps in my list of colours, so there may be even more than 15 shades of green. It certainly had a boost in this period. This observation among the Sylkos was simply a reminder that I do associate the 1930s with the colour green. A darker shade a kind of bottle racing green. Or as Sylko dyers...
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A Visit to the Archives

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 I was delighted to find out that an official English Sewing Ltd archive exists, and I determined to visit it. It is held by Manchester City Archives, which seemed like a good prospect, it being my second favourite city and only an hour across the Peak District along the glorious Hope Valley railway line. However after my initial investigations I soon realised that to see and utilise the archive might be more of a daunting project than I anticipated. I saw a note that at least 2 weeks notice is required, as it is stored away from the main site. I duly got in contact and put my request in. One of their lovely assistants soon got back to me to let me know that it is impossible to view the entire collection at once...there is so much of it. I expected a box of miscellaneous files...it turns out there is in fact 141 boxes. The assistant sent me list of each individual item, which runs to 56 pages. Here's the introduction page: As I wanted to catch the 14.43 back home I had to pick one ...
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