During the 1930s, the tobacco company W.D and H.O.Wills gave away colourful and entertaining collectors ‘cigarette trade cards’ in packets of their cigarettes. ‘Household hints’ was issued several times, in slightly different editions from 1930 to 1939. Some of the ideas look antiquated and redundant but occasionally there are forgotten gems that are pertinent today. I am sharing this series as a historical glimpse into yesterday’s home maintenance and the occasional addition to solutions for the modern home.
11. Cold Water Dyeing
‘The cold water method of dyeing is useful for fragile fabrics. Instructions naturally vary according to the dye used, and are given in detail on the packet, but the following hints should always be observed. 1. It is useless to try and dye an article to a lighter shade. 2.Thoroughly wet the article before immersing in the dye bath. 3. Use a bowl large enough to allow the article to be stirred freely with a clean stick (shown on left). 4. After dyeing, rinse the article under a running tap until free from all loose dye. If this is not done,the dyed article will be patchy. 5. Do not dry in very strong sunlight.”
This ancient method still works well when using vegetable dyes to tint silk or cottons. Beetroot, red onions and berries all produce colours that will stay fast if not exposed to rigorous extremes of washing and temperature. An ancient weaving from pre spanish Columbia still retains faded contrasts in its hand painted decoration. I had a friend who was very particular about buying the exact shade he wanted when buying chinos, and we would have long discussions about the subtleties of taupe,beige,mink and cream. He hit on an ingenious solution-literally- by soaking his new trousers in a tepid bath of weak tea if he needed them one shade, or weak coffee if they wanted to nudge the hue to the next pantone reference. As he was known to say ‘They don’t get stereotypes from nowhere’.
