Adamley Textiles

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Screen engraving prior to printing for

The ‘F’ bracket is used to attach the screens to the rail on the two-man print table. They give accuracy of print and allow us to pack out the screen if it needs adjusting.

The appearance of a colour can be greatly affected by the presence of other colours around it.

In screen printing we produce several shades of each individual colour and test them on the base silk to ensure the final tones of a design appear exactly as the customer expects.

A lovely simple flower print on its way to Naples for to be made into exquisite neck ties.

A sample of peachy madders from our collection.

Any preference?

Our very own salad spinner (although we call it the whizzer!). Used for removing excess liquid after the silk has been washed or winch dyed. Winch dyeing is utilised for lighter silk to prevent creasing, jig dyeing is utilised for heavier silk.

Following the finishing process, the printed silk passes through the Stenter where it is steam dried, rolled and passed to inspection.

Our BDR books, over 100 years old and part of the David Evans archive. BDR stands for border. The border is the most intricate and detailed part of a scarf or pocket square design.

Our archive contains thousands of original pieces of border artwork which our customers continue to draw inspiration from today.

Cleaning our screens doesn’t require quite the same precision as the actual printing process, but it’s equally as fun 😊

Our David Evans archive, a source of inspiration for many of our clients. With over twenty thousand designs from 1900 through to 1999, this is a phenomenally rich collection steeped in history.

Beautiful madder scarves by , selected and composed from our David Evans archive.

A fascinating entwined paisley print turned into something quite special by

Beautifully finished ties from using a selection of our finest David Evans madder.

Our bread and butter!

This is where the magic happens. Welcome to Adamley 😌

Pre-printing and following the washing, boiling and drying process, our silk is acid dyed in temperatures of up to 95 degrees. Acid dyes sound scary, but they are actually non-caustic and take their name from the mild acid (such as vinegar) used in the dyeing process. 

Beautiful mythical pocket squares by

Even when we clean up it’s beautiful! 😍

Looks ominous, doesn’t it? This is our ‘breaker’ – it’s Victorian and is used in the final stages of the production process to give our silk its soft finish. Environmentally friendly, it does not require the use of chemicals to soften the fabric.   
 


 

Retro Paisley pocket squares. Which of the colour combinations would you wear?  

For fans of the deep sea - this is a quirky print that makes for a grand pocket square.

We have over a thousand Paisley designs in our collections. Here is a joyful composition hanging with hauteur in our samples room.

Another fascinating find from the Elanbach archives – an original chinoiserie piece picked up by Sir Bernard Ashley on his travels. If you haven’t already seen, take a look at our post on October 14th (flower and leaf artwork) where we tell the story behind these incredible finds.

Time for the second colour to be laid on these hand printed pocket squares. It’s a meticulous process. The slightest of details in the screens or a microscopic misalignment on the table and the whole work can be lost. Our master printers like Kamil ensure perfection at each and every step.

“At Liberty we have always been proud to work with the finest British talents in arts and craftsmanship – and so deep-rooted is our connection with Adamley that the mill even holds its own private collection of Liberty print designs. Untouched since the ‘70s, the archive has been revisited for the very first time for the British Silk Collection”.

More information on our historical relationship can be found on Liberty of London’s website.

The Adamley Archive is a doorway into England’s rich and diverse textile heritage, a textile library established to preserve thousands of documents ranging from the mid 1900’s up to the present day. The archive includes hand drawn designs, block printed patterns and prints on fabric.