Colonial Cloth Making

If you enjoy sewing and quilting you may have noticed the price of fabric going up. In actuality the cost of raw cotton has doubled in just a years time, which has been followed by an increase in fabric and clothing prices. This rise is due to difficulties around the world: droughts in China, restricted imports within India and devastating floods in Pakistan. Centuries ago, trade began between countries for commodities. Today however, we have become so specialized and reliant on imports, that we no longer possess the skills to create some of the items that people in the past used to. One of these antiquated skills was making linen cloth, which seems like a very complicated and daunting project that would take more patience and skills than many of us possess.

Early colonial women were among those who knew how to make linen cloth.  They began the process by planting, tending and harvesting a quarter-acre of flax each year. After it was harvested, the seeds were removed and the flax stalks were spread on wet ground and the edges of ponds, which allowed the stalks to rot and loosen the flax fiber from its woody cores and outer bark.

After the fibers had sufficiently rotted, the bundles were dried over a fire and broken into smaller pieces that were then “hackled.” This was done by separating the flax fibers with combs - known as hackles, which were made from pieces of wood with steel spikes in them. The women used three sizes of hackles to produce finer fibrous strands. At this point the hackled flax looked like limp, thin hair. Next it was spun into linen yarn, then into linen thread and lastly, woven into linen cloth.

The linen cloth was then beaten with wooden clubs, sized and flattened to lessen the gaps between the weaves of the fabric. The cloth produced was always a dull, gray color that matched the dreary autumn sky they worked under.

Before the linen cloth could be used for making clothes, it was bleached in lye. This was done in a “bleaching yard” which was simply a fenced off area, far from the kitchen garden; the fence kept dogs, geese and children from running across the drying linen cloth. The bleaching process began, as the linen cloth was soaked in warm water for a few days, then saturated for two days in lye and cow dung. Afterwards it was stretched out in the bleaching yard, washed off and beat with wooden paddles for approximately three hours. The process of soaking, stretching and drying was completed 5-6 more times. Next the cloth was soaked in buttermilk for two days and stretched in the bleaching yard. This buttermilk procedure was completed six more times after which the cloth was finally transformed from a dull grey, to a clean white.

The fabric could then be transformed from fabric into clothes, however, remember this was accomplished during a time when there were no paper patterns or sewing machines. Often women chose to sew simple dresses for themselves and mend clothes that were wearing out instead of making now cloth and clothing.

If we had the expertise to make our own cloth, we would not have to worry about the price of cotton in China. However, I think I will use up my fabric stash and not complain too much about rising cotton prices. I do not think my neighbors could tolerate the assorted smells of lye, cow dung and buttermilk during the final month of a hot summer.

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Cross, Gary and Rick Szostak. Technology and American Society: A History. (New Jersey: Pearson, Prentice Hall, 2005), 45-47.

Messer, Sarah. Red House. (New York: Penguin Books, 2004), 90-92.

A Woman’s Work

            I think many of us view the life of colonial and pioneer women in a romantic way from watching shows like “Little House on the Prairie.”   Pa works all day and comes home tired to a warm home, a well-set table and a wholesome meal.  Everyone is happy, as they discuss the problems of the day over their perfect meal, then Pa plays the fiddle and they all go to bed with smiles on their faces.  Don’t get me wrong, I loved watching that show but through my studies, I have come to realize that life was probably not exactly like that.  Cross and Szostak’s book Technology and American Society: A History, discusses how tiring and endless work was for these women.

            I found it interesting that most colonial families were not self-sufficient, so to acquire necessary goods they had to trade, or sell excess crops and services at the market in town or at their homes or do without.  Women often ran a side business from their “backyard storage shed” where they sold or traded garden surplus, candles, linens, yarn, teas, beer, etc.

            Early colonial women were extremely involved in the financial success and well being of their lands and home and worked alongside the men.  Many of these women were responsible for making financial decisions and running businesses with their husbands and then, many times, taking over the lands and crops when the husband died or was away for an extended time for war or business (Cross and Szostak, 41).

            Some of the tasks these colonial women accomplished were to clean out the fireplace and save the ashes to make soap (Cross and Szostak, 42).  They also planted and cared for a garden as a means of providing food for their families and used the excess to trade for goods they needed.  Women also had to keep several fires of various temperatures constantly going in the large kitchen hearth in order to properly cook the daily meals.  In addition, they helped butcher pigs and collected the fat to make candles, which provided light in their homes after the sun went down. Women and children also milked the cows and separated the milk to make butter.  In each family, the wife also tended a quarter acre of flax so she could make cloth, which allowed them a means of manufacturing clothing for their families (Cross and Szostak, 45-46).

            These early women put us all to shame with our modern conveniences, as they labored to provide necessities for their families and continually worked to keep their homes in order.

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Cross, Gary and Rick Szostak, Technology and American Society: A History.  (New Jersey: Person Education Inc., 2005).