Vintage Darnem Silks & Silcarn Mendings Thread Shade Sample Book

A scarce vintage thread shade sample book for “Darnem” Silks and “Silcarn” Mendings, presented in an attractive dark green hard-backed cover with gilt lettering.

The book opens to reveal original mounted thread samples showing the available shades for Silcarn mending thread. The right-hand page contains two long columns of numbered samples, ranging from black and greys through taupes, browns, flesh tones and deeper rust shades.

An additional removable sample strip is mounted to the left-hand page and contains shades S157–S163.

Printed wording includes:

“All Colours Fast Dye”
“Buy ‘Darnem’ and ‘Silcarn’”
“No Work-Basket should be without them”
“A Stitch in Time saves Nine”
“Made in England”

These shade books were produced as trade/reference material rather than ordinary retail packaging and would have allowed shops or customers to select the appropriate mending shade.

A particularly attractive piece of early-to-mid 20th-century haberdashery ephemera and a useful reference item for collectors of vintage sewing threads, sample books and textile advertising.