A LIVING HISTORY BLOG.

18TH CENTURY LIVING HISTORY IN AUSTRALIA.
Showing posts with label weaving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weaving. Show all posts

Sunday, 1 October 2017

British Museum Shot Pouch. Undated!


 Museum number
Am1991,09.4
Full: Front
Rectangular flat pouch or bag, with strap, fingerwoven of wool. The flat bag is constructed from one or two pieces of red wool plaited cloth, with a central resist [undyed] paler horizontal stripe across the front. The vertical edges include black wool.


Rectangular flat pouch or bag, with strap, fingerwoven of wool. The flat bag is constructed from one or two pieces of red wool plaited cloth, with a central resist [undyed] paler horizontal stripe across the front. The vertical edges include black wool, with a line of opaque white beads and stitching in a brown vegetal thread. The bottom seam also includes stitching in a brown vegetal thread, with a line of quill wrapped wool fringing, each ending in a red hair filled metal comb, the colour of the quills being alternating black and white bands. The front of the bag is further decorated, just above the resist dyed strip, with a further fringe similar to that at the bottom. Woven into the front of the bag is a geometric design in irregular opaque white beads: two vertical lines of chevrons, with a double zig zag line up the centre and single zig-zag lines up both vertical edges. The points of the chevrons face downwards. The back and less faded side of the bag is decorated with a double row, vertical, each of butterfly-like geometric designs, each row being 3 high; the vertical seams each have rows of five small diamonds. All the patterns are in the same opaque white glass beads. The top of the bag is edged with green tape, enclosed in lines of white beads, back and front. The bag is lined with a coarse reddish manufactured cloth. // The strap is also plaited, in two greenish colours, that at the edge being slightly yellower than the reddish green colour of the body of the strap. The strap is attached by sewing with the brown vegetable thread at the two top corners of the pouch opening. The strap finishes on both sides with a plaited wool fringe, on the left [from the front] with six plaits, and on the right with five plaits. Woven into these plaits or braids are white beads, incorporating slightly darker green wool. The main body of the strap incorporates in the weaving a diamond pattern of white beads, with along the slightly contrasting colour edges, rows of white beads, at the absolute edge and at the boundary between the two colours. Repairs to the beadwork seem to have been carried out with this darker green wool.


Tuesday, 26 August 2014

Weaving on an Inkle Loom.



PDF on inkle loom weaving: https://www.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/monographs/amm_inkl.pdf


" Young as I was, I was possessed of an art which was of great use. It was that of weaving shot-pouch straps, belts and garters. I could make my loom and weave a belt in less than one day. Having a piece of board about four feet long, an inch auger, spike gimlet, and a drawing knife, I needed no other tools or materials for making my loom. It frequently happened that my weaving proved serviceable to the family, as I often sold a belt for a day's work, or making a hundred rails. So that although a boy, I could exchange my labour for that of a full grown person for an equal length of time".

Doddridge. 18th century.




Monday, 15 April 2013

To Every Man A Gimlet. Part 2.


The gimlet and auger I made.


" Young as I was, I was possessed of an art which was of great use. It was that of weaving shot-pouch straps, belts and garters. I could make my loom and weave a belt in less than one day. Having a piece of board about four feet long, an inch auger, spike gimlet, and a drawing knife, I needed no other tools or materials for making my loom. It frequently happened that my weaving proved serviceable to the family, as I often sold a belt for a day's work, or making a hundred rails. So that although a boy, I could exchange my labour for that of a full grown person for an equal length of time".
Doddridge. 18th century.

Has anyone got any ideas on the sort of loom that Dodridge could have made with just a four foot
board? I was thinking some form of inkle loom. A board with pegs in it?



My sincere thanks to Jenny for giving me this quote from Doddridge. I found this quote many years ago but managed to lose it again in my maze of files!
Thank you Jenny, very much appreciated.
Regards, Keith.

Tuesday, 12 February 2013

Early looms and weaving in Colonial North America.



From the time of his arrival in "ye Back Country" of Pennsylvania, Irishman James McCullough earned a living as a weaver, throwing the shuttle to provide his neighbors on Conococheague Creek with all types of linen, woolen, and cotton cloth. His journal shows that, between 1750 to 1758, he turned out "chaker," "hickrey," and white "shirtin;" "stript" linsey for breeches; "bagin" and "tow clouth" to make sacks; and "girthin" for horse blankets. When he concealed his loom shafts, "wolling reed," "puley Stocks," and "other youtencels" in hollow trees during Indian alarms, he was protecting not only the means of his livelihood but a community resource.
http://people.virginia.edu/~mgf2j/clothes.html

In 1640, the General Assembly of Connecticut also tried to persuade its colonists to sow hemp "that we might in time have supply of linen cloth among ourselves.
http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/hemp/history/first12000/4.htm


Weaving in America
When the first European settlers came to America, they
brought with them a type of loom that had been used in
Europe since before the 1300s. It was a horizontal frame
loom, one that hand-weavers still use today.
In the South, plantation owners built weaving shops
where slaves and servants produced cloth for bed ticking
and garments. A few estates even began turning out
elegant silks 
and fine linens. 

Because textiles 

were of little

value compared 
to tobacco, most 

planters preferred 

to import cloth

from England.


At page 33, "Society of Colonial Wars" it is recorded that Squire Boone I, 1696-1765, served against the Catawba and Cherokee Indians on several occasions. He was justice for Rowen County, NC. This record establishes membership for Squire Boone's descendants to the Colonial Dames of America. 
Squire Boone enlarged his farm by thrift. He continued his trade of weaving and kept 5 or 6 looms going making homespun cloth for the market and neighbors. 

A few metal parts from spinning wheels and looms have been excavated—reminders that the pioneer housewife who spun the thread and yarn, and wove the cloth for her large family, was seldom idle.

Weavers were a universally popular element of the community. The travelling weaver was, like all other itinerant tradesmen of the day, a welcome newsmonger; and the weaver who took in weaving was often a stationary gossip, and gathered inquiring groups in his loom-room; even children loved to go to his door to beg for bits of colored yarn—thrums—which they used in their play, and also tightly braided to wear as shoestrings, hair-laces, etc.

Loom types and countries used in.



Weaving and dyeing process in early New York.

http://www.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/monographs/pvd_ny.pdf

Weavers made cloth from yarn in Albany for most of its formative years. Cloth was used locally and also as a barter item in the fur trade. Weavers provided a basic and essential part of the pre-industrial city's production economy.
https://www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/trades/weaver.html






Saturday, 3 November 2012

Woodland Indian Moccasin Overshoe!

This overshoe is made from corn husks and was/is used in wet weather to help keep the feet dry.
This image shows a half finished corn husk overshoe.
http://www.squidoo.com/my-17th-19th-century-native-american-wardrobe

This site has more information on Woodland Indian Women's clothing.

Sunday, 8 January 2012

Rae's Wool Shop. NSW Australia.

Fleece, yarn, and if you ask nicely Rae may knit you some stockings.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/raeplacebofreak


A word from Rae: Rae said...
It's worth mentioning that I can dye up custom coloured fleece or yarn or large batches at no additional cost.



Tuesday, 27 October 2009

Tow/Tow Cloth/Tow Rag/Tow Linen.

Colonial Loom.

Colonial Flax Wheel.
Combing or Hackling the flax linen line. To the left you can see the tow that has been combed out.


Two bundles of flax linen line. On the top pic you can just see the fuzzy strands of tow.






Tow/Tow cloth/Tow rag/Tow linen.You will often find mention of tow being used to clean gun barrels and for fire lighting. Tow does make a reasonable kindling and when I have finished using some for cleaning my gun several times, I put it in my fire-bag for fire lighting use.
Tow is the short fibres left over after combing or "Hackling" the longer flax fibres called "Line". It can be used as above, or it can be used to make tow cloth. Tow cloth was a cheaper material which was used for making work clothes, work frocks were often made from tow. A tow rag one would assume is the material from worn out old tow cloth clothing and is no longer any use for anything but to be used as a cleaning rag or perhaps for making tinder for flint and steel fire lighting. Hence I guess the term “tow rag” being used for a person who is not up to much! (1).
1)
http://www.csmid.com/fieldclean.html
The top photos are curtesy of Gutenberg, and the lower photos of the linen flax are mine.