Making Discoveries in Weaving, Interrupted

On Monday everyone, students and instructor, were excited and a little unsure of what the week had in store for us. We set out to make four pieces of cloth, two based on published weaving books, one from a manuscript draftbook, and one recreation of an extant textile at a historic site. At our disposal were thirty textual sources, a folder of images, looms outfitted with 19th-century components, and most importantly, curiosity! 

For everyone, the most unfamiliar aspects of weaving in the past were reed measurements, knitted heddles, and the relationship between the two. For non-weavers reading this, welcome, we’re glad you’re here. Smile and nod through this next bit. For those of you with weaving experience, prepare to have your minds blown. 

Reeds in New England were most typically measured on a system of “biers” of 19 "splits" or dents, and the number of the reed was the total number of these 19-split biers it held. Like yarn count systems, the higher the number, the more of those biers and the finer the reed. The baseline standard was to sley two warp ends into each one of these splits, filling each bier with 38 warp ends.

Above: The biers are marked with a tiny sliver of the reed's rib that is brought above the wrapping twine every 19th split, indicated by the green arrows.

Knitted heddles, the type described in the sources and that still survive with some looms, are an entirely different affair from the individually made, moveable heddle that most weavers are familiar with today. Knitted heddles are permanently attached to each other and don’t move. They are made to a density that corresponds to the sett of the reed and warp. For plain weave and simple twills, no big deal, but how were they used for weaving the patterns found in the draft books, where each leaf may require a distinct number and an uneven distribution of heddles?

Among our projects was “A Beautiful 5 Shaft Diaper Draft,” recorded by Silas Burton in his manuscript draftbook in 1807. Burton made a few notes about heddles and we combined those with a familiar source from 1817, The Domestic Manufacturer’s Assistant, by J. & R. Bronson. The draft is one that would be called a spot weave today, where half of the warp is drawn into a ground leaf of the gear with the other half distributed across a series of spotting leaves behind it. (The Bronson book included the first examples of this structure seen by Mary Atwater who attached the Bronson name to it in the 20th century.) On page 51 the Bronsons state, “The front wing of the harness in the following numbers of drafts, will have knit on it double the number of helves that each of the other wings have:…” From this we can confirm that they wove this structure using knitted heddles, and that each of the spotting leaves held half the number of heddles that the ground leaf did. We made a set of gear accordingly—19 heddles in every bier on the front leaf, 10 heddles in every bier for the rear spotting leaves. (9.5 heddles is exactly half of 19, we rounded up.)

Now, the hard part. What do you do about all the heddles on the spotting leaves that aren’t needed for the pattern? How do you ensure that the warp passes between these cast out heddles in a consistent way so that they don’t pull against the warp and shred it? In some areas of the pattern every available heddle is used on some leaves, and on others, none at all. What if you cast out too many heddles and don’t have enough where they are needed? It quickly became clear that some kind of system was necessary to solve this problem, but the best we could do was to graph out the pattern, strike off where the biers would fall in that particular repeat, and go in and mark places where the cast out heddles could be evenly worked into the warp. Margaret, who drew in most of the warp, made nine of these 104 thread charts to guide her through the process. If this was necessary in 1807 it would’ve turned up in one of the sources, so we knew something was off. What were we missing?

At the end of the day on Friday we gave the problem one more try. We went back to page 51 in the Bronsons’ book, and confirmed that yes, we were using the same type and number of heddles that they did. That’s when we looked at the rest of the sentence quoted above with fresh eyes. “...And when drawing, there will be left out opposite the figures one helve to two threads drawn…” How did we miss that? 

We missed it because it held no meaning to us without the tools of the time in our hands. That’s where programs like Weaving, Interrupted have a unique ability to shed light on the past. We graphed out all 104 ends of the pattern repeat one more time. “Opposite the figures” we interpreted to mean that the spotting leaves are divided into two pairs, one pair of the odd leaves, one pair of the evens. If a warp end is drawn into a heddle on leaf 2, a heddle is skipped on leaf 4. If an end is drawn into a heddle on leaf 3, a heddle is skipped on leaf 5, etc. Marked out on the page, sure enough, within the bier all heddles were accounted for and distributed at regular intervals. For every two spotting heddles used, two are cast out on the unused spotting leaves, accounting for one heddle on each leaf before moving on to the next. *Insert chef's kiss.*

Above: A Beautiful 5 Shaft Diaper Draft written out in modern notation.

Below: The same draft with heddles to be cast out indicated by small circles on the lines between ends to be drawn in. Biers of 38 ends are marked in heavy vertical lines. Totals for heddles used and heddles cast out for each leaf in the first ten biers are tallied below the draft. Though each of our spotting leaves had ten heddles in every bier, alternating biers of ten and nine heddles as was done for plain weave would have worked as well.

This system was so simple it almost escaped the historical record. It’s the kind of information that gets transferred from one weaver to another, for as long as it’s useful, and vanishes when it becomes irrelevant. For a fleeting moment, as the pieces came together, everyone in the room had the chance to sit knee to knee with Burton and the Bronsons as they took the role of instructor. We started the week with words and objects from the past, by the end the past had almost become present. 

We also made a little cloth. 

Above: We wound warps using singles linen, wool, and cotton, all of which required preparatory spooling.

Below: One set of gear needed finishing before we began drawing in. Clasped heddle making and drawing in are two tasks made easier by working with a partner.

Above: We made quills for our antique shuttles using strips of a reprinted 1820s newspaper from Danville, Vermont featuring a weaver's advertisement, of course.

Below: Two objects from the former ATHM collection that seldom see any action were put to use. A spiky quill tree held our wound quills, and the five-wheel pulleys served as double pulleys for a 2/2 twill.

Above: We wove floatwork using a mounting of roller and pulleys, and a linen "apron check" on the "Dutch" loom from Pennsylvania using jacks.

Below: We recreated a wool birds eye blanket using clasped heddles. The heddles are formed out of two interlocking loops and the warp yarns are passed through both loops where they join.

Above: The linen apron check on the Dutch loom being woven by a student who had never woven before, but enthusiastically took a plunge into the deep end.

Below: The floatwork and a sample of the birds eye blanket.

Looking Back

In addition to Weaving, Interrupted, we were joined by students for Foundations, an Open Workshop, and Natural Dyes Found in Trees and Shrubs.

Below: Joann Darling taught a workshop on extracting dyestuffs from trees and shrubs and the class achieved an impressive collection of samples in just two days.

Looking Ahead

A full listing of our programs may be accessed here. We hope you can join us!

Shuttles and Pirns from Pilkingtons are Available!

After much anticipation we're happy to announce that a batch of shuttles from Pilkingtons Ltd. has arrived. These are the same shuttles we use at the school and are made by a company that's been making accessories for the textile industry since 1830. We have a limited number of these available and they may be purchased directly from Justin here.

As always, we can only do what we do with your generous support. Gifts of all sizes make a tremendous impact. Thank you.