How did our ancestors dye threads to create expensive fabrics a hundred years ago, and what dyes did they use?

In the late 19th–early 20th centuries, there were two independent techniques – hot dyeing using all paints except blue, and cold dyeing in blue, the latter practiced exclusively by Jews. 

Natural materials of plant and animal origin were traditionally used for dyeing in Central Asia.

At the same time, since the second half of the 19th century, the first synthetic (aniline) dyes appeared, but fabrics treated with them often lost colour soon.

Although the quality of synthetic dyes has improved significantly over time, nowadays, masters are returning to the ancient dyeing technologies with the use of various plants growing on the territory of Uzbekistan. 

These plants include, for example, the rose madder, whose roots are the source of warm red shades, a local variety of the larkspur, which makes threads yellow, the Japanese pagoda tree and anor pusti (pomegranate peel). Acorns, pistachios and mallow flowers are used to obtain black color. 

Imported dyes still include indigo, called nil in Central Asia, which is a well-known source of blue color. Its further dilution or mixing with other colors (yellow, red) gives various shades of blue, green and purple. Indigo, obtained from the true indigo plant, used to be imported from India. 

Natural dyes' primary valuable property is that they provide soft and stable colors.

Read about methods and technologies used in fabric production in the book-album Collections of the Czech Republic from the Cultural Legacy of Uzbekistan in the World Collections series.

The general sponsor of the project "Cultural legacy of Uzbekistan in the world collections" is the oilfield services company Eriell Group.