Colour in Towels

Southland Times, Issue 21000, 5 February 1930, Page 12

Colour in Towels

(By a Textile Expert.) • Towels, up to recently, were the most conservative of our home indispensables. They had no originality, they never took part in the home’s colour-scheme, and their undulating sameness, their lack of beauty, always created an irritating and sluggish effect on the minds, of husband, wife, and child alike. Colour- has suddenly invaded the realm of towel-land. Its magic has conquered; it has given the towel a personality. One secret of the late appearance of the brighter towel lies in the fact that the yarn muct be absolutely fast dyed. We all know that the towel’s chief work is to absorb damp and remove minute vestiges of dirt. These elements are the avowed enemies of dyed colours. Naturally, dyers and colourists have had to make perfectly certain that these enemies could be conquered. Success has come at. last. The range of colours has been enormously widened. The one-colour plain striping of what is generally known as the coloured waste towel has assumed an eight-colours scope. This variety has naturally relegated the stripe to oblivion. In its place we find the rainbow-hued half circles. Then comes a perfect gradation of checks. Other modern towels have harmonising schemes of glittering diamond designs. Cross effects in perfect line contrasts are also sure to catch the discerning eye. I Stripe designs are overtoned with check effects. These creations are mostly to be found in the border-coloured terry towels. They show a galaxy of excitable hues. Jacquard effects have reached a very high standard. The colours are delicately harmonised and the designs are so alluring