Date: Mon, 27 May 1996 21:55:53 +0000
Subject: red fibers


No, Rahul, modern forms of macrame probably descended from medieval 
sailors, passing time with practicing knots and developing decorative 
knotwork as an alternative to carving wood and ivory on long voyages.

Much more anciently, the oldest samples of fiber art [hides don't count] 
is netting made very slowly by looping fiber into rows of half hitches 
to make a bag.  This method required passing the whole length of fiber 
through the loop at every hitch, and the fiber was probably kept short 
and added onto with hand-twisting it as one went along, rather than 
being spun into a whole ball of fiber ahead of time.

Now pioneer stuff I have more of.  Previous to the Civil War, all 
clothing was hand sewn.  There was a terrible cottage industry of 
piecework involved for production of many white shirts, for instance.

But for making oneself a dress, it would take so long to do it alone, 
and the close fitted and fancy styles were so difficult, that it was 
common for all but the poorest women in the outlying areas with no 
stores to have a travelling dressmaker come to the house.  She knew the 
latest styles, would fit and cut, and between the two and maybe some 
other women, they could put together a new outfit in a few days.  

This was a big source of news and socialization, combatting the 
isolation of homesteading women stuck out in the middle of nowhere.  
After the spread of home sewing machines around the 1860's, this came to 
an end.  Modern women were now able and expected to sit home alone and 
sew for the whole family.

This probably resulted in an increase in emphasis upon quilting, partly 
just for the social value it held.  Some homes today still have a quilt 
on the frame at most times, for spare moments and visiting friends.  

In Utah and all the Mormon territory, the church organized quilting as 
one of the major, steady occupation of the women's arm of the church.  
Various congregations even got competitive about providing more quilts 
to the church to be given to the poor.  This was and still is part of 
the church's glorification of "service" by women, and at the same time 
was one of the few social and creative outlets available to women in 
that situation.  Thus, we see women developing and expressing themselves 
within constraints outside their control, at the same time that they are 
being kept in their place.

Most of these charity quilts and also quilts for regular home use were 
relatively simple designs, easy to make.  A few women became very 
serious and artistic about their work, preferring to work alone with 
very complex designs.

Quilting was not only a way to recycle old clothing, flour sacks and 
leftovers from sewing, but became sometimes almost a fetish of 
frugality.  This was at least in part a result of the conditions of 
production, i.e. fabric was expensive and hard to come by with a largely 
non-cash subsistence economy and living very far away from any 
manufacturing centers.  This condition lasted longer in the pioneer west 
than much of the rest of the country. One of my ancestors was said to 
never throw away a piece of fabric until it was smaller than a dime.   

Thanks for asking,
Lisa


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