The technology of dyeing outside the text

The research of textile dyeing technologies is an important part of the history of textiles, including clothing. One of the sources for the study of the cultural history of the Baltic (Latvia, Estonia), including the clothing of the local people, are the drawings and their descriptions of Johan Kristof Brotze (1742–1823) at the turn of the 18th/19th century. They also contain information about dyes and dyeing methods used by peasants. Brotze's fixed information, although fragmentary, is valuable because researchers lack documentary sources about the ancient dyeing methods used in the 18th century in the territory of modern Latvia. Additional research allows for more information than what is mentioned in the description. The report will present how the particular dyeing technique used in the dyeing process with Bixa orellana to produce the orange color of linen or cotton fibers mentioned in the description was determined by experimental method. The information recorded by Brotze, supplemented with experimentally obtained dyeing results, allows us to establish that: 1) In the 18th century, Latvian peasants used not only local plants but also dyes imported from abroad, such as Bixa orelanna, for dyeing parts of honor clothes; 2) Technology with the usage of alkali was applied in the dyeing process, although this is not mentioned in the written text; 3) Latvian peasants combined both old and new knowledge in textile dyeing - using traditional dyeing methods with new, previously unknown dyes from abroad.