Textiles and Clothing. Kate Heintz Watson
the bunch of wool, flax, or other fibers. It was a short stick on one end of which was loosely wound the raw material. The other end of the distaff was held in the hand, under the arm or thrust in the girdle of the spinner. When held thus, one hand was left free for drawing out the fibers.
Wheel Spinning
On the small spinning wheel the distaff was placed in the end of the wheel bench in front of the "fillers"; this left both hands free to manage the spindle and to draw out the threads of the fibers.
Spinner Sits on the Floor, Wheel Turned by a Crank; Spindle Held in Place by Two Mutton Joints Which Contain Enough Oil for Lubrication. At Hull House.
The flax spinning wheel, worked by means of a treadle, was invented in the early part of the sixteenth century and was a great improvement upon the distaff and spindle. This it will be seen was a comparatively modern invention. The rude wheel used by the natives of Japan and India may have been the progenitor of the European wheel, as about this time intercourse between the East and Europe increased. These wheels were used for spinning flax, wool, and afterwards cotton, until Hargreaves' invention superseded it.
WEAVING
Someone has said that "weaving is the climax of textile industry." It is an art practiced by all savage tribes and doubtless was known before the dawn of history. The art is but a development of mat-making and basketry, using threads formed or made by spinning in place of coarser filaments.
The Heddle
In the beginning of the art the warp threads were stretched between convenient objects on the ground or from horizontal supports. At first the woof or filling threads were woven back and forth between the warp threads as in darning. An improvement was the device called the "heald" or "heddle," by means of which alternate warp threads could be drawn away from the others, making an opening through which the filling thread could be passed quickly. One form of the heddle was simply a straight stick having loops of cord or sinew through which certain of the warp threads were run. Another form was a slotted frame having openings or "eyes" in the slats. This was carved from one piece of wood or other material or made from many. Alternate warp threads passed through the eyes and the slots. By raising or lowering the heddle frame, an opening was formed through which the filling thread, wound on a rude shuttle, was thrown. The next movement of the heddle frame crossed the threads over the filling and made a new opening for the return of the shuttle. At first the filling thread was wound on a stick making a primitive bobbin. Later the shuttle to hold the bobbin was devised.
One on the Earliest Types of Looms. At Hull House.
The Reed
Before the "reed" was invented, the filling threads were drawn evenly into place by means of a rude comb and driven home by sword-shaped piece of wood or "batten." The reed accomplished all this at one time.
Weaving Linen in the Mountains of Virginia. (Photograph by C. R. Dodge).
Two Harnesses in Use; Weaving Wool at Hull House.
Definition of a Loom
It is probable that the European looms were derived from those of India as they seem to be made on the same principle. From crude beginnings, the hand loom of our grandmothers' time developed. A loom has been defined as a mechanism which affects the following necessary movements:
1. The lifting of the healds to form an opening, or shed, or race for the shuttle to pass through.
A—Warp Beam; B—Cloth Beam; DD—Lees Rods; H—Harness; T—Treddle.
2. The throwing of the weft or filling by means of a shuttle.
3. The beating up of the weft left in the shed by the shuttle to the cloth already formed. This thread may be adjusted by means of the batten, needle, comb, or any separate device like the reed.
4 & 5. The winding up or taking up of the cloth as it is woven and the letting off of the warp as the cloth is taken up.
Norwegian Woman Weaving Linen at Hull House.
S—Shuttle for carrying the woof; R—Reed for beating up the woof; H—Frame holding heddles, with pullies (P) making the harness; T—Treddles for moving the harness.
Colonial Loom
No essential changes have been made since our grandmothers made cloth a hundred years ago. The "harnesses" move part of the warp now up, now down, and the shuttle carries the weft from side to side to be driven home by the reeds to the woven cloth. Our grandmothers did all the work with swift movements of hands and feet. The modern weaver has her loom harnessed to the electric dynamo and moves her fingers only to keep the threads in order. If she wishes to weave a pattern in the cloth, no longer does she pick up threads of warp now here, now there, according to the designs. It is all worked out for her on the loom. Each thread with almost human intelligence settles automatically into its appointed place, and the weaver