Turkey Reds

I love highly ornate and colorful designs, so it's no surprise that my eye was drawn to these "turkey reds" as they're called.

   Here area a few interesting points about these designs:

*" turkey red" refers to a dye process that produces a bright, solid scarlet color on cotton

* brought to Europe by Jewish and Syrian dyers from Levant (the Mid-East then referred to as "Turkey")

* it was mainly considered an export item for the colonies in the 18th century

* the color source is "madder root" which produces a very lightfast, bright red color

* the process is labor-intensive, expensive and limited to cotton

* a reliable colorfast and cheaper synthetic red was produced in the 1920"s

* found in modern day bandanas

Not sure I would wear them, but could see them framed on a wall......