Fashioning Fabric: The Arts of Spinning and Weaving in Early Canada

Beautiful full-colour photographs reveal the story of spinning and weaving in Canada

Every spring in early Canada, fluffy sheep dotted the countryside, and in summer, blue flax flowers waved in the wind. By the fall harvest, they provided raw materials for the production of wool and linen, the focus of Fashioning Fabric: The Arts of Spinning and Weaving in Early Canada.

This engaging social history explores the methods, tools, and patterns used by early immigrants to create their homemade textiles. The Acadians, Quebecois, Scots, English, American Loyalists, and German Mennonites all brought with them traditions that were reflected in their beautiful handiwork. The process was laborious -- it took a full day to spin a pound of wool -- but also social and creative. As settlements prospered, spinningwheel makers opened shops and commercial weavers set up operations -- until industrial mills moved the whole process out of the home.

Lavishly illustrated with colour photographs, this book explains all the stages in making fabric and offers striking examples of clothing, quilts, and coverlets. The photography highlights the work of historical interpreters at prominent sites, including Black Creek Pioneer Village, Upper Canada Village, Kings Landing, Lang Pioneer Village, Highland Village Museum of Nova Scotia, and Joseph Schneider Haus. Fashioning Fabric will appeal to any reader interested in the "fabric" of everyday nineteenth-century life.