Lots of Weavers!.....

AnnieMack · Post by **AnnieMack** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 10:15 pm

I've got lots of weavers in my family tree! There are Power Loom Twisting Masters, PL Beamers, Cotton Weavers, Warpers...it's quite exciting.

I just wanted to know if a Power Loom Twisting Master was a job of authority?

Oh and I have a shawl manufacturer too....we must have been clothing half of Paisley ha ha!!

Annie

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 10:43 pm

Have a look at http://talkingscot.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4156

David

AnnieMack · Post by **AnnieMack** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 3:52 pm

I did look at that already but it didn't answer my question

hence my post.

Never mind.

Annie

Russell · Post by **Russell** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 4:43 pm

Hi Annie

I don't know whether you want to be related to a slave driver i.e. Power Loom Twisting Master.
When weaving was mechanised the entire series of processes had to be mechanised with it. Carding, spinning, twisting before they could even begint to think about the actual setting up of the loom. Yarn has to be twisted to bind the fibres together and give it strength. Making up thicker yarn could involve several finer threads being twisted together to make up to the thickness needed. Woman and children had the finer, nimble fingers to replace full bobbins and start a new one filling as it came off the machine. Can you imagine reaching in to open, whirling machinery all day for 12 or 13 hours; then next day ...then next....
The overseer was always a man and some would not be averse to physically punishing a child who slacked or a woman who failed to keep her quota.
Beamers did the actual threading of the warp through the heddles of the loom so that the weaving process could be started. I mentioned setting up the warp in my other post.
You commented that your relatives must have been clothing half of Paisley. Make that Half of Britain. A silk Paisley shawl was a prized fashion item and figured muslins were a major export. The pineapple/tear-drop design came originally from India and was re-exported back to them in the form of Paisley pattern materials. Fine linens were another export until cotton rather took over as the main thread since it was cheaper.
Women did not have coats to keep warm and dry. They wore shawls, plain weave and plaids, often in wool because it was warmer. It was only when fashions changed that the shawl lost its place as a main clothing item. Even into the 1950's the fishwives wore shawls as part of their working clothes.
Hope this has explained a bit more?

Russell

Here is a web site that covers the old Scots occupations
http://www.scotroots.com/occupations.htm