Colonial American period

The Colonial American period began with English settlement of Jamestown, Virginia in 1607 and ended at the beginning of the Revolutionary War in 1775. Establishing permanent settlements in North America was a way for the British to obtain raw materials from the colonies then in turn, provide the colonists with manufactured goods.

Early settlers in Colonial America considered themselves to be subjects of Great Britain. They made the long dangerous ocean voyage in hopes of finding a better life. In the colony there was the promise of prosperity and, for some freedom from religious persecution. When colonist first settled in America most of their material were supplied by the mother country who looked on the colonies as a market for British goods. The colonists considered English goods to be the highest quality and were much preferred to colonial made goods.

To ensure continuation of trade with the colonies England tried to discourage colonial cloth manufacture, high tariffs were levied on looms and spinning wheels. The British also passed acts forbidding the export and the sale of cloth woven in the colonies. These acts, as well as an increasing number of others, developed a strong spirit of independence among the colonists. As the desire for independence grew so did the price of imported European cloth. It soon became not only practical, but a sign of patriotism as well, to spin and weave one's own cloth. The first sound of revolution was the rhythmic "thwack" of the beater against the web of colonial looms.

Cloth production in colonial America eventually became necessary as ties were severed with Great Britain. Cabinet makers began turning out spinning wheels, looms and other textile tools. Most families began growing flax in their gardens and raising sheep (that would often graze on town commons) to provide fiber for spinning yarn.

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Flax Into Linen

Flax could be grown as an annual crop even in the short New England growing season. The fiber of the flax plant is found underneath the bark in the stalk of the plant. It takes a series of procedures to separate the fiber, to be spun into thread, then woven into linen cloth. Linen was the type of cloth used most often in colonial America. Cotton was known and grown in North America, although before the invention of the cotton gin it was not as feasible to prepare and spin large quantities of cotton as it was to prepare flax. Linen has the added advantage of being incredibly long wearing.

Growing & harvesting

To prepare flax the first step is to grow a patch of flax. The seed is usually sown in April or May. The young plants were carefully weeded when they were five inches high. This job was often done by the children in bare feet so as not to hurt the crop. During the month of June the tops of each plant would bear a blue flower. The closely planted field in flower so resembled water that flying ducks would try to land on it. By August the flax would be 18 to 36 inches high. Just before the seed bolls ripened it was time to harvest the crop by pulling the plants up by the roots. This task was generally done by women and children, often in groups. Once the plant was pulled out and the dirt was tapped off the roots, the stalks were tied at the top in bundles. The bundles were then propped out in the field to dry (the shape resembled a teepee.) This was called a stook.

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Processing the flax fibers:

Rippling : Removing the seeds by drawing handfuls of flax through the widely spaced teeth of a rippling comb. Germans who settled in the Pennsylvania area would usually thresh their flax to remove the seeds with a flax flail or bat.

Retting (rotting) : This process begins to separate the fibers form the central woody core of the plant. The flax is put in a pond or retting tub or sometimes spread evenly over the grass to "dew rhet". The moisture breaks down the connective gums in the plant. The process takes about a week. The flax is then dried sometimes over a fire (roasting) or allowed to air dry.

Braking: Handfuls of flax are placed on the flax brake between the upper and lower arms. The upper piece is lowered, crunching the flax in between. This process brakes up the woody stalks. The flax fiber surrounding the stalk is very strong and can easily withstand this pounding.

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Scutching or swingling: This process removes the bits of broken stalk by placing handfuls of flax over a schutching board (also called a swingling block) then beating the lengths of flax with a wooden scutching blade or swingling knife.

Hackling or hetcheling: on a series of coarse, medium and fine toothed hackles removes any chaff that is left and detangles the fiber until it begins to look like golden hair.

Sometimes a young girl would keep a quantity of hetcheled flax in her dowry chest. Each year it would be carefully taken out and re-hetcheled, making the fibers finer and finer over time. This extremely fine flax would then be spun into gossamer thread to be used for making the lace for the young woman's wedding gown.

Tow: The short, knotted pieces that are left behind in the hackles. This is the lesser quality fiber and was often used for utilitarian textiles like dishtowels and feed sacks (tow sacks.)

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Spinning Flax

Line flax: The longest, strongest flax fibers, used to create fine fabrics of every description. The long, finished flax fibers were dressed on a distaff that was attached to, or stood next to the spinning wheel. Usually the flax was secured with a ribbon to hold the fiber in place while spinning. The color of the ribbon often indicated whether or not the spinner was married.

The spinner would often keep her fingers wet while spinning flax. Some spinning wheels have a place built in to hold a small water cup for the spinner to dip her fingers in.

Saxony wheel: By the time of the American colonies, the treadle driven, saxony wheel was widely used. Invented around the late 1400's, the saxony (also called a flax wheel), used a flyer and bobbin to spin thread and wind it onto the bobbin in a continuous fashion. This greatly improved the speed and efficiency of producing thread. Originally, this style of wheel was turned by hand. Sometime in the 1600's the treadle was added, allowing the spinner the use of both hands for drafting while turning the wheel by treadling with her foot.

Plying: After filling several bobbins with finely spun linen thread, several threads would then by played, or twisted together, to produce a stronger, thicker, balanced thread.

Skeining: The finished thread would be wound into a skein on a clock reel or on a niddy noddy.

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Niddy Noddy

Many tasks done in the days of colonial America were repetitive and mindless chores. To keep one's mind on the job there were rhymes and songs to recite or sing while working.

Niddy noddy, niddy noddy