I had a question put to me this past weekend. How do looms work? Looms are sophisticated pieces of equipment. In the book Women’s Work, the First 20,000 years, Barber makes the point that the first cloths were actually made of twisted fibers. The process of weaving had not been invented.  There have been a variety of looms (more about that later) but all looms share a few characteristics in common.

First, the primary job of a loom is to hold the warp threads taut. For those of you who are non-weavers, warp threads are the length-wise threads. The weft go crosswise.Unlike knitting or crocheting, in which interlocking loops form the cloth, the warp and weft cross each other at right angles. Different methods of holding the warp taut has been employed through history.

The other important feature is the ‘cross’. If one thinks about cloth, it is easy to see that the various threads don’t just lie upon one another. Each weft thread goes over and under the warp threads.Also, in a block of three weft threads, the middle one goes over and under  a different warp thread. So, there must be some way of lifting the warp threads to insert each one of the weft threads. Now handweavers use a shuttle, but this is a relatively recent invention. Backstrap weavers use their fingers to lift the threads so that the finished cloth is woven in a memorized pattern. Without the cross,(I.e. where the warp threads and weft threads cross) there would be no cloth. Heddles and shed sticks (or the sheds in, say the jack loom) make it easy to lift the appropriate warp threads.  Every other warp thread is lifted and then the alternate threads the next pass of the weft. This is how one ‘weaves’ the threads in and out.

Most of the other inventions connected with a loom basically provide some way to weave a pattern. Modern looms employ heddles (which look like long large eyed needles) and reeds (big comb- looking pieces).The more the slots (or dents in weaver talk) o a reed, the finer the cloth. These separate the threads and by connecting the treadles to the appropriate threads  various patterns can be constructed.

As looms grew more sophisticated. they went from the basic warp and weft (2 sheds)  to multiple sheds. A shed is simply the space between the warp and weft. More sheds mean more combinations for lifting the warp threads and so more patterns.

From out modern vantage point, we think of ourselves as sophisticated and worldly, and the eighteenth century as primitive and insular. Well, that may be partly true. But international trade during the 1790’s was extensive. Salem Mass, as the city that sent out the first American merchant ships, was especially cosmopolitan and affluent to boot.

We learn in school about the search for spices. And spices were a big part of the trade. The first merchant ship that went to India and environs in 1783, the Grand Turk, returned to Salem with pepper and made a profit of 700%.

But spices, although important, were not the only cargo. Ships went out to Russia and traded furs and iron, to India for spices, cloth and opium, and finally to China. One of the trade goods that became such a part of American culture that no one recalls the origin is the humble bandanna. Yes, these simple cloth squares were imports from India and became an essential part of, first, a sailor’s wardrobe, and then a cowboy’s. The fabric used was bandhini (hence the name) which means tie and dye.

Sailors, primarily whaling men. brought back the art of tattooing from Polynesia. This is why early stereotypes of sailors mark them as tattooed; they adopted the practice before it became popular in the wider American culture.

Moreover, People in Salem saw merchants from these exotic countries. Salem is home to one of the first colonies of immigrants in the US.

Salem declined in importance as a shipping port during the 1800s as the harbor began to silt up and Boston took over. But the East India Marine Society established a museum (and a library as well as a number of other institutions) which included artifacts from India and numbered some Indian gentlemen among the donors.

In this image of a child’s sweater, (what I decided to use the indigo dyed yarn for), the different shades of blue are clearly visible. Although I chose to wad up the skein of yarn, so that the strands dyed at different intensities, indigo is usually used in a vat. In a large container like a vat, the fiber can spread out and every part dyes equally.

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hough indigo is a pain to work with, and will dye your sink, your hands, the vat and practically anything it touches, it produces such a wonderful blue that one can’t help but love it.

Besides the silk scarf I dyed, that came out a pastel, I also dyed lambswool. It is intended for a young boy’s sweater. I prefer the tie-dyed look and that is what I got. Usually the fiber is spread out in a vat so that it dyes evenly.

It is easy to see the variation although these strands are primarily lightly dyed.

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Some of the strands dyed the dark indigo, so familiar to denim wearers.

And the skein overall demonstrates the variation, from very light to very dark.