United States -- Social life and customs -- To 1775
It seems to me impossible to explain clearly in words, though it is
simple enough in execution, the laying of the piece, the orderly placing
the warp on the warp-beam. The warping-bars are entirely detached from
the loom, are an accessory, not a part of it. They are two upright bars
of wood, each holding a number of wooden pins set at right angles to
the bars, and held together by crosspieces. Let forty full spools be
placed in the skarne, one above the other. The free ends of threads from
the spools are gathered in the hand, and fastened to a pin at the top of
the warping-bars. The group of threads then are carried from side to
side of the bars, passing around a pin on one bar, then around a pin on
the opposite bar, to the extreme end; then back again in the same way,
the spools revolving on wires and freely playing out the warp-threads,
till a sufficient length of threads are stretched on the bars. Weavers
of olden days could calculate exactly and skilfully the length of the
threads thus wound. You take off twenty yards of threads if you want to
weave twenty yards of cloth. Forty warp-threads make what was called a
bout or section. A warp of two hundred threads was designated as a warp
of five bouts, and the bars had to be filled five times to set it unless
a larger skarne with more spools was used. From the warping-bars these
bouts are carefully wound on the warp-beam.
Without attempting to explain farther, let us consider the yarn-beam
neatly wound with these warp-threads and set in the loom--that the
"warping" and "beaming" are finished. The "drawing" or "entering" comes
next; the end of each warp-thread in regular order is "thumbed" or drawn
in with a warping-needle through the eye or "mail" of the harness, or
heddle.
The heddle is a row of twines, cords, or wires called leashes, which are
stretched vertically between two horizontal bars or rods, placed about a
foot apart. One rod is suspended by a pulley at the top of the loom; and
to the lower rod is hitched the foot-treadle. In the middle of each
length of twine or wire is the loop or eye, through which a warp-thread
is passed. In ordinary weaving there are two heddles, each fastened to a
foot-treadle.
There is a removable loom attachment which when first shown to me was
called a raddle. It is not necessary in weaving, but a convenience and
help in preparing to weave. It is a wooden bar with a row of closely
set, fine, wooden pegs. This is placed in the loom, and used only during
the setting of the warp to keep the warp of proper width; the pegs keep
the bouts or sections of the warp disentangled during the "thumbing in"
of the threads through the heddle-eyes. This attachment is also called a
ravel or raivel; and folk-names for it (not in the dictionary) were
wrathe and rake; the latter a very good descriptive title.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account