[lace] Re: fine linen thread -- history
Apparently it wasn't just Irish immigrants who grew their own flax in order to produce their own cloth; while on a nostalgic surf through the website of Historic Bethlehem (PA, where I used to live) I found the following snippet: Linen comes from flax and almost every Pennsylvania German farmer planted a flax patch each spring to produce enough fiber to clothe his family. A labor-intensive crop, flax slowly declined in importance as wool and cotton production increased in the early 1800s. Devon, the reference here is: http://www.historicbethlehem.org/collections/shirt.jsp Must say I didn't realize self-sufficiency went that far that recently in the US! Another point or two Tamara's discussion raised in my mind--I have heard that the useful fiber in flax runs from the tip of the root to the top of the stalk, so the plants were pulled up rather than cut to be harvested for the finest (and smoothest) results--a much more tedious and dirtier process! Also, since harvesting for fiber meant losing most of the flax seed (which has since become the primary reason for growing flax, being the source of linseed oil) it wouldn't be difficult to lose the entire seed supply of a desireable fiber strain--all it would take would be one over-zealous harvest that failed to leave a few plants to ripen the seed completely. In unsettled or greedy times this seems horribly likely to have happened Sue in Raleigh At 01:48 AM 11/19/2004 -0500, Tamara wrote: But, to come back to the thread and the thread... :) The Irish homestead grows flax for home use (which is then hand spun and woven, as it would have been whenever the family immigrated). When I last visited it...the man of the house was gearing up for flax harvest. Many of the flax stalks were about my height (5ft2in; 62 inches, ca 157cm), some were above my head, some no higher than my waist (all were in a cramped environment, as the whole field is miniature). Naturally, I was *extremely interested* in how he was going to deal with that, and, like all the other curators/interpreters, he responded with relish to genuine interest... He wasn't going to hunt up the longest stalks one by one, the way they might have been hunted even in his lifetme (late 18th century I think), but he still wasn't going to wade in with an undiscriminate scythe, cutting everthing at the same level (as low as possible). He was gonna take a sickle, and harvest the clumps of longest stalks first - they'd make the finest fabric - for handkerchiefs, childrens' wear, women's underwear, etc. Only then he'd take a scythe to the rest. But, even so, the slightly shaded spot, where the flax was stunted and the stalks short, would be harvested separately - only good for sacks, he said. Susan Lambiris Raleigh, NC [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Re: fine linen thread -- history
The history of linen thread was fascinating. Another fact I found out when researching family history, was that Nottingham lace was bleached after it was made. Presumably if the thread was bleached, it would be more likely to break on the lacemaking machines. If anyone can confirm this I would appreciate it. In my family line I have a family of dyers and bleachers living in Mansfield and Nottingham in the 19th century. Karen In Coventry where it is raining. - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] re: fine linen thread -- history
I don't know about Nottingham lace, but weaving with unbleached thread and bleaching after weaving is commonly done by handweavers to minimize broken warp threads. I like to weave with linen thread, and that's what I do. I never have broken linen warp threads (knock on wood!). The teacher of my linen weaving workshop recommends laying linen cloth on grass in the sun to bleach it but I don't know about cotton. My current lace project, a small Binche circle in 140 or 160 Egyptian cotton thread, is going to be an experiment with bleaching. The thread is unbleached and, it's really a dark ecru. My plan is to bleach after I've made the lace. I want to figure out how much bleach and how long for fine thread. I probably will try the bleach out with a small skein first though. My circle is halfway done and I've had one broken thread. It has a lot of square tallies and I tend to have more breaks the more tallies I do. Sally Schoenberg Anchorage Alaska - Original Message - From: Karen [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: arachne [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, November 18, 2004 12:45 AM Subject: [lace] Re: fine linen thread -- history The history of linen thread was fascinating. Another fact I found out when researching family history, was that Nottingham lace was bleached after it was made. Presumably if the thread was bleached, it would be more likely to break on the lacemaking machines. If anyone can confirm this I would appreciate it. In my family line I have a family of dyers and bleachers living in Mansfield and Nottingham in the 19th century. Karen In Coventry where it is raining. - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Re: fine linen thread -- history
On Nov 18, 2004, at 4:58, Jean Barrett wrote: While the development of the cotton gin undoubtabley enabled fine cottons to be spun it didn't kill out fine linens quite as immediately as you say. I bought Fine linen DMC threads (150, 200, 300) in the 1960's. Likewise I have fine linen hanks from Harris of Cockermouth which date probably from the 1930's, and Knox's linen was produced until the 1960's I think and I have 150/2, 300/2 reels from them. In addition to the crowded environment for growing flax (which produces longer stalks) and then harvesting the longest ones by hand - a process which is no longer used, in addition to the possible loss of flax strains which tended to produce the longest/strongest strains, in addition to non-viability (finanacially speaking) of producing fine linen, etc, etc - all the reasons mentioned here before - I seem to remember one more. The processing machines themselves. It might have been mentioned in the same lecture that Clay was talking about (at the IOLI Convention in Bethesda, '99), or I might have read it somewhere - my memory is almost completely gone in some areas - but the essence was that the modern machines which process flax into linen thread prefer the stalks to be of a uniform 30cm (ca 1 foot) length; the longer ones get *cut*, instead of being cherished. Which would, naturally, eliminate the pursuit of growing long stalks - why bother? It would also account for the different look of linen now and, say, 80 yrs ago; now has more slubs and more thin/thick rapid changes. Just as the older lace-making machines (originally made in England, now sold to France, where the best machine-made laces are made still) were capable of reproducing lace which could fool most people, so were the older flax-processing machines closer to the hand-processing (for that matter, look at the early cars, and see how close they are to the horse-carts g). So, if a thread producer had an early set-up, he could produce fine thread for as long as the machine worked, and there was a supply of long-stalked flax and a demand for the thread - into the 60ties, as Jean says. Once one of the 3 factors - supply, demand, middleman - broke down, it was pffft..., and progress marched in, replacing quality with quantity. I would, BTW, recommend to anyone who comes to Virginia, to visit the Frontier Culture Museum located in Stunton, VA, despite some bad publicity from the PC Police. http://www.frontiermuseum.org/ The place is - more or less - a living skansen. It illustrates the 3 predominant plies - Irish, English and German - in the plait of Virginia's history. It consists of 3 *working* farms/households, each operating as close to the time of immigration as possible - the buildings have been moved in from their countries of origin, the farmstock strains have been rescued for the purpose, the curators/interpreters hump bull sh (literally g) while telling you about the advantages and disadvantages of leaving the old country... My DH sneers, but I find it totally fascinating (and, because it's so much closer to me, more fun that Williamsburg g) But, to come back to the thread and the thread... :) The Irish homestead grows flax for home use (which is then hand spun and woven, as it would have been whenever the family immigrated). When I last visited it - late June of '01 (*had to* show the place to a friend from Poland), the man of the house was gearing up for flax harvest. Many of the flax stalks were about my height (5ft2in; 62 inches, ca 157cm), some were above my head, some no higher than my waist (all were in a cramped environment, as the whole field is miniature). Naturally, I was *extremely interested* in how he was going to deal with that, and, like all the other curators/interpreters, he responded with relish to genuine interest... He wasn't going to hunt up the longest stalks one by one, the way they might have been hunted even in his lifetme (late 18th century I think), but he still wasn't going to wade in with an undiscriminate scythe, cutting everthing at the same level (as low as possible). He was gonna take a sickle, and harvest the clumps of longest stalks first - they'd make the finest fabric - for handkerchiefs, childrens' wear, women's underwear, etc. Only then he'd take a scythe to the rest. But, even so, the slightly shaded spot, where the flax was stunted and the stalks short, would be harvested separately - only good for sacks, he said. When you're hand spinning - a relatively slow process - the longer the thread is, the fewer the joins which slow the spinner down, so extra-long is prized, both for speed and for the results. And, a human is endlessly adjustable; 100 cm in one strand and 150 in another aren't going to throw her off. But a machine works to a pre-set gamut of paradigms and anything out of the box is going to confuse it (it's like the Cuisinart, or any other kitchen robot; if I cube by hand, I
