Homespun (1975)

[Music] the craft of hand weaving has always been a part of America's Heritage when the early Colonists came to America they brought their looms and spinning wheels with them hand weaving was a necessary skill that provided clothing for the settlers by the time of the American Revolution in 1776 the wearing of Homespun cloth had also become a symbol of patriotism in protest against British trade restrictions on Goods woven in America in the 19th century most textile manufacturing moved from the homes into the factories where newly invented Machinery could produce cloth rapidly and cheaply but the practice of hand weaving continued in many areas throughout the United States in the southern Appalachian Mountains for example the traditions of hand weaving have been passed down from generation to generation since colonial times at the hamage center a weaving studio in Northern Georgia the practice of handw weaving continues today people of all ages still participate in the making of handwoven items from shearing the Sheep to Preparing the wool to spinning dying and weaving in America hand weaving is still a living craft [Applause] as I went down to town all on a market day I saw the biggest L that was on [Applause] Hy oh the W that's on this R say was the dragon on the ground I took it to the Weaver and it weighed 5,000 [Music] the hair on this Ram it so long and th it ca the a season for to [Applause] spin the W between his hor I think it's very fine get about theze of twine and if you don't be Lead Me and think I tell a lie so you go down to D town and see the same as ie we used to here wash wool three times a day at this time of year Monday and Wednesday and Friday CU it would dry about that quick if the sun shined and that's the way we kept the wool we try to wash it before winter time you can't stand outdoors and wash it winter time too [Music] cold well the first thing you do is build a fire and fill up your pot you have a big pot like we've got down there see it it holds 100 gallon of course you could do with a lot less but that's one we have and you fill your pot up with full of cold water and build a fire under it and uh fix three wash tubs and then the first two is soap powder and you dip out your water and just have it warm enough till your hands can stand if you don't want your wool in too hot of water you put soap powder in the first two waters and the last one's clear just clear warm water plain warm water for the last one let it go through all three tubs then put on these racks out to dry and keep on repeating until you washed all the wool that you intend to wash well you know when the wool is dry has gotten dry you have to go over it and pick it if it's got cuckle birds in pick it out with your hands you have to comb your wood before you can make thread out of it see and the these course cards is is the breaking cards and you run it through them first and make a bat like this and then the bats are pulled up run through the roll cards and make rolls and then the rolls are spun in [Music] thread cing is hard and so it's spinning you can change and then rest you see you sit down the card and you have to stand up and spin [Music] well I learned how to card and spin years ago a long time ago my mother-in-law CED and spun and my grandmother at home did it too they used to spin all the time and make our knit our stockings and sweaters and things like that people had their own sheep around here and they made their own clothes so you can see why handwoven things is is harder to make because you start with a sheep you got to feed the sheep then you got to sh them and wash the wool and card it and spin it and weave it into material and there's a finished product in there [Music] Oh Where Have You Been Billy Boy Billy Boy Oh Where Have You Been Charming bil I have been to seek a wife she's the joy of my life she's a young thing and still lives with her mother can she knit and can she SW Billy boy Billy boy can sheit and can she Charming Billy she can knit and she can s she can even tie a bow she's a young thing and learned it from her mother can she card and can she s Billy Boy Billy boy can she C and can she s Charming bil she can Cen she can spin she can do most anything she's a young thing and learned it from her mother [Music] n [Music] the [Music] [Applause] [Music] the [Music] [Applause] [Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] through doing loo which is the crossing of the warp threads which are then held in place by a weft shot I just came to regard each warp thread itself as an individual and that happened when I put in warp threads of different colors and saw the different colors cross and it was like the lives of two people crossing and then they diverged and the we thread that is shot through to hold that cross in place is like is a thread of humanity that binds everyone together everyone on the planet [Music] in doing each piece when I would get through with it um I would look at it and it would look like it would be the world to me with all the individual warp threads running through and then they would cross and diverge and come back and cross again diverge and come back and cross again a little bit later and you could pick out uh especially when you were doing when I was doing different color warp threads I could pick out one thread and then follow its path as it went through the weaving [Music] in the mon of October when the C was in Blom I stay to good old Georgia made is my happy home I visited man your Mery which has my Pleasant Doom none has when I [Music] Bon I was her papered fingers as they dance among the W and Sh little sh as it could not be CAU [Music] you may well it was aight to seeo a naughty thread her chance would break but not a word she say gently and put it through the FL neck would drop and with her face would blo it surely was a bewitching with her Bon [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]