weaving technology

[Armchairhomesteader]

Does anyone here know anything about weaving? I’ve been doing some research into historic occupations so I can get some idea of what jobs and skills would be needed for a community to survive with the technology available in a given time period.
I’ve compiled several lists of occupations from genealogy websites. I figure about 1/3 have to do with textile manufacture. Finding out about the jobs involved in making cloth made me start researching weaving technology, and now I think I want to try building myself a loom so I can get a better understanding of how the technology works.
I think I want to make a table runner for a formal Christmas dinner table. But, I need to know what kind of thread I should use and what the thread count should be. I don’t want the loom to have any pre-made components because I want it to be something that a homesteader could build with things he can buy from a lumber yard and hardware store. So I will have to make the heddles myself. But, I need to know how many I will need.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

there are some simple frame looms i've seen listed on ebay and most have been home built by the people selling them. i looked a couple years ago when i got an interest in spinning. check online for spinning and weaving guilds, or fiber crafts. there is a couple large websites listing local guilds so i am sure you could find one close to you.

 

[Ridgerunner]

My wife is big into the local weaving guild, moving from treasurer to vice president next meeting and leaving me at home alone next week while she goes to a weaving seminar out of state. My first task this morning after breakfast will be to mount a warping board on the wall so she can prepare her warp for that seminar. I don't weave myself but I often help her warp the loom, sometimes help her tie it up, and have made several gadgets for her to use. She's been buying, selling, and swapping looms lately so I've been helping her take them apart, put them together, and transport them. You might say she is into it.

What material are you considering using, cotton, wool, linen, or something else. If you are spinning it yourself, wool is a lot easier than cotton. What kind of loom are you planning on making. There are a surprising number of different kinds from small simple portable to large really complicated mechanisms. What is the weight of the thread you are using? The weight is how they determine the diameter of the thread. What technique are you using. You'd be amazed at all the different methods of weaving they have come up with. She recently finished a blanket using the double weave method which wove two layers at the same time. When she finished she just unfolded it and it was twice as wide as the loom. That one was complicated.

There are websites for all that stuff. "Weaving Today" has SETT charts to help you with that but you might need to know some terminology. Probably the best thing for you to do is to go on "Weavolution" and ask that question. There are some serious weavers on there that will help you, not just on the threads per inch question but with designing and building your loom. They could probably come up with plans available online to really help you.

Good luck with it. Let us know how it goes.

 

[Armchairhomesteader]

What material are you considering using, cotton, wool, linen, or something else.

I don’t know what would work best, and a lot will depend on what I can find locally.

If you are spinning it yourself, wool is a lot easier than cotton.

I will have to use pre-made. I don’t have ready access to raw fiber, and spinning isn’t something I want to tackle on top of weaving.
@What kind of loom are you planning on making.
I don’t know if I will ever be able to figure out how to warp a loom with a single strand, so I am thinking of building a hybrid loom. I will have individual spools for each strand of warp, and I will use rigid heddles- probably just 1 to start with so I can make a simple piece of cloth with no design in it. If that works I will try to add a 2nd heddle so I can make a design.
@She recently finished a blanket using the double weave method which wove two layers at the same time. When she finished she just unfolded it and it was twice as wide as the loom. That one was complicated.
I’ve heard of this technique, but I don’t think I could ever figure it out.
We have a weaving guild here, but it doesn’t have meetings even as often as once a month, and they have ignored my email. I’ve talked with some people in an online message board and a weavers’ group on Yahoo, but they act like they don’t want to be bothered by somebody who is just starting to learn. At this point I am not at all certain that I even know enough to know what questions I need to ask.

 

[digitS']

I really like how you are going about this, @Armchairhomesteader .

Historical and genealogical records may be skewed by who was writing and keeping them. They are a reflection of "real life" but with a great deal of illiteracy in earlier societies, don't always reflect too much of it. Of course, this is just supposition on my part since I don't have a time machine .

There are ethnographic studies of simpler societies that may help. Trade is a big deal just about everywhere but even now there are communities where self-reliance is very important. Often, skills are not occupations. A farmer with skill working with metal may be the "go to" person for the community. Payment for his work may well take the form of help in his fields.

I have been outside of this sort of research for so many years that I don't know really where to turn. However, many of the original ethnographies, written 100 years ago, are still considered as a basis for understanding of many societies. You may wish to pick one that is local and of interest to you and find out what those people were involved in.

Steve

 

[baymule]

Don't you just love this forum and the people on it? Ask a question, and get answers. That was a wonderful response @Ridgerunner and you are a wealth of info on weaving. Who knew?

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

oh, i just thought of this. there may be some videos on youtube that could help give you some direction. i've seen plenty of stuff for spinning, knitting and crocheting on there. i haven't looked to see if anyone has posted weaving videos.

 

[Armchairhomesteader]

Historical and genealogical records may be skewed by who was writing and keeping them.

The websites I have used so far are heavily skewed towards Britain. A lot of the occupations on these sites have to do with British government officials-law enforcement, customs officials and the like. I’ve kept them in my compiled list of occupations, but I’ve marked them as being inapplicable for any situation that could be re-created in the U.S.

They are a reflection of "real life" but with a great deal of illiteracy

This isn’t so much the case for the English. Since Norman times at least English peasants had hereditary land rights even when the land was technically owned by the nobility. And the English being a natural litigious bunch even the peasants had to be able to read so they could keep tract of court records. And the noble families always wanted one of their sons to become a lawyer because it was cheaper in the long run.
But, the English gift of the gab means having several different terms or several spellings for the same term for the individual occupations. That’s been half the problem of compiling the multiple lists.

There are ethnographic studies of simpler societies that may help.

Aside from my natural interest in things agricultural (3 of my 4 grandparents were farmers at some point in their lives, and I am part Palantine on my maternal grandmother’s side), I really got interested in the technology of earlier time periods after watching youtube for The Victorian Kitchen Garden and the several series done by Ruth Goodman, Peter Ginn and Alex Langlands (a year each on a Welsh farm set in 1620; a Victorian farm; an Edwardian farm and a farm set during World War II).

 

[Armchairhomesteader]

oh, i just thought of this. there may be some videos on youtube that could help give you some direction. i've seen plenty of stuff for spinning, knitting and crocheting on there. i haven't looked to see if anyone has posted weaving videos.

I’ve looked at a few videos on youtube, but I haven’t had time yet to do a thorough search. I’ve got some work to do in the garden, and I am finishing a novel that I have been writing for my own amusement. But after that putting a loom together will be my next project.