Monday, June 3, 2013

More Fustian Information

I found this interesting information in "The Shuttle-Craft Book of American Hand-Weaving, (copyright 1928) regarding 'fustian'. I am about half way through the heddles. I am threading front to back.

In 1683 a certain "Master Ezekiel Rogers established at Rowley, not far from Ipswich, Massachusetts, the first textile factory on American soil...... the output of the Rowley industry was in the main cloth for clothing----- fustian, sometimes called thick-sett, which appears to have been the fabric we call corduroy..."

"a book published in Philadelphia about 1850, has this to say: Fustian cloths have ribs or cords running the full length of the piece, the floats of the wefts are cut in the middle of each rib. Fustian cloths are made into clothing for overlookers, weavers and mill operatives".

Your new vocabulary words for the week:
1. thick-sett
2. corduroy
3. overlookers

I have been known to look over something, so I must have been an overlooker when doing it!

The draft I have does not look like corduroy, so "fustian" must be a word for a category of woven fabrics and not a weave structure. I am beginning to believe that this is a catch all name for a heavy fabric.

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