Making Things in the Mill

Making Things in the Mill. Textiles. Weaving fabric required very skilled workers. Award-winning fabrics required good designers as well as attentive machine operators., People became identified by the job they did in the mill. What position a person had depended upon ability, family connections, and mill politics. Many laborer positions were open only to men. Many of the fine detailing jobs were filled only by women. Children were used wherever possible, as they were the cheapest laborers., (captions) , Warping Frame The threads were dyed and then wound again for the fabric wearing process. A simple weave of fabric was made with crossed threads. Threads running the long way were called the warp. Threads running the width were called the weft. The pattern in the fabric depended upon the colors and position of the warp and weft threads. Skilled laborers set up the colors and patterns to be on the warp They wound the warp upon wide spools then moved it to the weaving room., Weaving Frames holding warp threads moved allernately up and down on the weaving looms. The weft thread was slid in a shuttle across the first warp frame, then the frame war lifted. The weft thread was shuttled back across the second warp frame, and the frame moved back. This motion was repeated tousands of times to create a bolt of fabric.