Hands to the spindle : Texas women and home textile production, 1822-1880 / by Paula Mitchell Marks ; illustrated by Walle Conoly.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Marks, Paula Mitchell, 1951-

Series:

Clayton Wheat Williams Texas life series ; no. 5.

The Clayton Wheat Williams Texas life series ; no. 5

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women textile workers--Texas--History--19th century.

Women textile workers.

Women weavers--Texas--History--19th century.

Women weavers.

Hand weaving--Texas--History--19th century.

Hand weaving.

Spinning--Texas--History--19th century.

Spinning.

History.

Texas.

Physical Description:

xviii, 133 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

College Station : Texas A&M University Press, [1996]

Summary:

In nineteenth-century Texas women's hands often created the fabrics their families wore, the blankets used to cover their tired bodies, and the textiles that furnished their homes. Through spinning, weaving, dyeing, and knitting of clothing and linens, women displayed their abilities and their dreams of a better future. These day-to-day activities of Texas women spinners and weavers come to life in award-winning author Paula Mitchell Marks's Hands to the Spindle. The hum of the spinning wheel and the clatter of the loom provided regular accompaniment to the lives of many Texas women immigrants and their families. Producing much-needed garments and cloth also provided an escape from the worries and isolation of frontier life. One early chronicler, Mary Crownover Rabb, kept her spinning wheel whistling all day and most of the night because the spinning kept her "from hearing the Indians walking around hunting mischief". Through the stories of real women and an overview of their textile crafts, Paula Mitchell Marks introduces readers to a functional art rarely practiced in our more hurried times. Photographs of some of their actual handiwork and evocative pen sketches of women at work and the tools and dye plants they used, delicately drawn by artist Walle Conoly, bring the words to life.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [121]-127) and index.

ISBN:

0890966990

OCLC:

33442618