Loom House Weaver

Loom House Weaver. The Essential Craft of the Canal Era. , Weaving for the Canal Homestead , If the woodsman's axe and the long rifle were first in importance to the pioneer, the spinning wheel and the loom would rank second. In colonial America many families wove cloth for clothing. bedding, curtains, and grain bags. Weaving produced utilitarian fabric to be used, worn out, and replaced. Home weaving in the Delphi area was a necessity until the canal came through in the 1840s bringing factory made cloth from New England. Looms were built from memory of the weaver by local carpenters who also built the barns. This is why the big looms are called barn looms. The barn looms use the mortise and tenon construction that was used in barn building. Since nails and screws were not used the looms could be taken apart, moved, and shared with other families. Looms were often built to satisfy the needs of the individual weaver. This accounts for the variation in size and materials that are common to historic looms.

Materials for weaving were hemp, flax, wool, and cotton. Hemp grew wild in the colonies and was used by the natives to make clothing, rope, and nets. Flax was also popular. The homesteader would plant a half acre of flax in the spring. It matured by fall. After removing the woody exterior of the plant, it was easy to spin and weave into linen. Wool was also popular, but the sheep on the frontier produced a coarse wool. Cotton which was grown in the South was considered difficult to spin because of the seeds in the cotton.