Textiles and Clothing - Kate Heintz Watson (open ebook TXT) 📗
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Title: Textiles and Clothing
Author: Kate Heintz Watson
Release Date: May 19, 2007 [EBook #21534]
Language: English
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Textiles and Clothing
FORMERLY INSTRUCTOR IN DOMESTIC ART
LEWIS INSTITUTE
LECTURER UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
AMERICAN SCHOOL OF HOME ECONOMICS
1907
HOME ECONOMICS ASSOCIATION
THE LIBRARY OF HOME ECONOMICS
THE PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF THE MOST RECENT ADVANCES
IN THE ARTS AND SCIENCES TO HOME AND HEALTH PREPARED BY TEACHERS OF
RECOGNIZED AUTHORITY
PROFESSIONAL HOUSE MANAGERS, AND ALL INTERESTED
IN HOME, HEALTH, ECONOMY AND CHILDREN TWELVE VOLUMES
TESTED BY USE IN CORRESPONDENCE INSTRUCTION
REVISED AND SUPPLEMENTED
AMERICAN SCHOOL OF HOME ECONOMICS
1907
by
Home Economics Association Entered at Stationers' Hall, London
All Rights Reserved.
AUTHORS
ISABEL BEVIER, Ph. M.
ALICE PELOUBET NORTON, M. A.
S. MARIA ELLIOTT
ANNA BARROWS
ALFRED CLEVELAND COTTON, A. M., M. D.
BERTHA M. TERRILL, A. B.
KATE HEINTZ WATSON
MARION FOSTER WASHBURNE
MARGARET E. DODD
AMY ELIZABETH POPE
MAURICE LE BOSQUET, S. B.
ELLEN H. RICHARDS
MARY HINMAN ABEL
THOMAS D. WOOD, M. D.
H. M. LUFKIN, M. D.
OTTO FOLIN, Ph. D.
T. MITCHELL PRUDDEN, M. D., LL. D.
FRANK CHOUTEAU BROWN
MRS. MELVIL DEWEY
HELEN LOUISE JOHNSON
FRANK W. ALLIN, M. D.
MAURICE LE BOSQUET, S. B.
MRS. ARTHUR COURTENAY NEVILLE
MISS MARIA PARLOA
MRS. MARY HINMAN ABEL
MISS ALICE RAVENHILL
MRS. ELLEN M. HENROTIN
MRS. FREDERIC W. SCHOFF
MRS. LINDA HULL LARNED
MRS. WALTER McNAB MILLER
MRS. J. A. KIMBERLY
MRS. JOHN HOODLESS
Spinning and weaving are among the earliest arts. In the twisting of fibers, hairs, grasses, and sinews by rolling them between the thumb and fingers, palms of the hands, or palms and naked thigh, we have the original of the spinning wheel and the steam-driven cotton spindle; in the roughest plaiting we have the first hint of the finest woven cloth. The need of securing things or otherwise strengthening them then led to binding, fastening, and sewing. The wattle-work hut with its roof of interlaced boughs, the skins sewn by fine needles with entrails or sinews, the matted twigs, grasses, and rushes are all the crude beginnings of an art which tells of the settled life of to-day.
Nothing is definitely known of the origin of these arts; all is conjecture. They doubtless had their beginning long before mention is made of them in history, but these crafts—spinning and weaving—modified and complicated by inventions and, in modern times transferred largely from man to machine, were distinctively woman's employment.
The very primitive type of spinning, where no spindle was used, was to fasten the strands of goats' hair or wool to a stone which was twirled round until the yarn was sufficiently twisted when it was wound upon the stone and the process repeated over and over.
From Hull House Museum. (In This Series of Pictures the Spinners and Weavers Are in Native Costume.)
From Hull House Museum.
The next method of twisting yarn was with the spindle, a straight stick eight to twelve inches long on which the thread was wound after twisting. At first it had a cleft or split in the top in which the thread was fixed; later a hook of bone was added to the upper end. The spindle is yet used by the North American Indians, the Italians, and in the Orient. The bunch of wool or flax fibers is held in the left hand; with the right hand the fibers are drawn out several inches and the end fastened securely in the slit or hook on the top of the spindle. A whirling motion is given to the spindle on the thigh or any convenient part of the body; the spindle is then dropped, twisting the yarn, which is wound on the upper part of the spindle. Another bunch of fibers is drawn out, the spindle is given another twirl, the yarn is wound on the spindle, and so on.
A spindle containing a quantity of yarn was found to rotate more easily, steadily and continue longer than an empty one, hence the next improvement was the addition of a whorl at the bottom of the spindle. These whorls are discs of wood, stone, clay, or metal which keep the spindle steady and promote its rotation. The process in effect is precisely the same as the spinning done by our grandmothers, only the spinning wheel did the twisting and reduced the time required for the operation.
Later the distaff was used for holding 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.
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.
The flax spinning wheel, worked by means of a treadle, was invented in the early part of the sixteenth
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