What have we done, then?
We have: visited several historical textile sites, some with working machinery, none of them "in production". (Cromford mill, Masson mill, Paradise mill, the knitting factory of Johnston’s of Elgin (in Hawick), Quarry Bank Mill – maybe I have forgotten some places…
We have: met with several weavers, Belinda, Sam, Ashleigh (and several others, who may also have websites - sorry), Cally, Andrew, Stacey.
We have: been to Handweaver’s studio, the Fashion museum and the V&A.
We have: bought some yarn (and I have bought some fabric)
And I have heard a new-to-me weave structure name: double-sided damask (said to be "the same technique as used for cloth of gold"). The museum ppl (at the silk museum in Macclesfield) did not know how that differed from ordinary damask, and only one side was displayed. The 'net is of no particular help – most of what I find just states that cloth of gold is cloth made from gold. Well - . (This article (on page 8 ff) from Complex weavers is interesting, but does not help with the "double-sided" question)
So: does anybody know about "double-sided damask", and how it differs from "ordinary" damask?
4 comments:
Kerstin-
I wonder if double sided damask is the same as the double damask refered to by John Murphy in his book "A Treatise on the Art of Weaving" 1824-59? (many editions, all identical after the 1st) It's in the Drawloom chapter, page 380-82.
http://www.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/books/mj_weav_5.pdf
Jean
Thanks for the tip! - I just looked, and found it too complicated to understand in just a quick read-through. Will study it better next week - .
I agree, it is dense....and I'm not sure what a lot of it means. Like, I don't know what 'front lash' and 'back lash' means.
But, there is another link to double damask in Murphy- at the end of the doubleweave chapter (pg 113-114) he presents double faced twill (one warp, two wefts) and says this structure is used for imitation Angola shawls. (again, not being a 19th c. denizen, I don't know Angola shawls from any other shawl....) He says that 'recourse must be had to a drawloom' to weave patterns in this structure and at that point they are called double-dumb flowers or double damask, and are explainred in the drawloom chapter.
I get how to pattern the double-faced twill- have done 3-4 blocks with long-eyed heddles and shaft draw. I wonder if the front lash and back lash might not have to do with using the upper or lower half of the split shed (that you'd get if you didn't set the patterns shafts so that the warp was at the bottom of the shed)
Have I rambled too far?
Thank youu for writing this
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