Category Archives: News

The ups and downs of working with historic textiles. We are warping a reproduction of a Venetian carpet that I have wanted to weave for a long time. The surviving piece is in the collection of Old Sturbridge Village but it is very similar to drafts in the Silas Burton account book. It contains Plaids that make the carpet unusual. That’s going very well at the moment.

The downs are that for no apparent reason after running perfectly at the start up the camel hair running on the little S6 took out about 150 ends on each side of the warp. The cloth will be beautiful but unexpected crashes aren’t a joy on a Friday.

I thought you might want to see the steps a little further along. The Damask Venetian Carpet for Hyde Hall is now running. Come see it this weekend or next! Here is the complete warp, beaming the warp and the beginning of tying in to the existing carpet.

Visit our showroom of historic fabrics
See what we’ve woven for the movies
Tour our weaving mill with equipment from the early 1900’s
Get a glimpse into the weavers’ trade past and present

Holiday gifts for sale: shawls, scarves, blankets, placemats, runners and carpets, all at our special holiday sale!

Saturday December 6, 10am-4:30pm
Sunday, December 7, 12-4:30pm

We will be open all week long, 10am to 4:30pm and again on

Saturday, December 13, 10am-4:30pm
2 pm Lecture by Rabbit Goody: The Ghosts of Carpets Past

Working on a Damask Venetian carpet for Hyde Hall. Trial carpet is striped but in very different colors than it will, be but we had to trial the pattern. Images to follow. This is a very unusual carpet construction that is mentioned in George Clarke’s receipts and mentioned in a few obscure places. Not being reproduced by anyone else that we know of but very interesting construction. Here is an image of a surviving piece. I have a fragment to work from but that’s all. Article coming out in Early Homes mag on unusual carpets of the 19th centurywritten by Jill Maney and me.

20 creel changes across. Lots of weavers knots to start each section. This is an adaptation of a surviving carpet done in worsted wool carpet yarn spun for us by Jagger Bros in Springvale, Maine and dyed by ChromoTek in Georgia.

I am giving away this 1920’s skein to bottle bobbin winder. Lots of bottle bobbins, lots of swifts for both cotton and silk. It is skidded up ready to go. Travels on a flat utility trailer. in perfect working condition. All parts and motor and belts. Please find it a good home!

Cireed fabric (glazed) worsted in plain weave and matching cording and tassels for some chairs at Granger Homestead.

The wing chair at Granger Homestead finishes the room nicely but still a few other touches to come. Gwen Spicer did the upholstery. The fabric is our worsted and mohair baize embossed and the trim is a handwoven diamond trim copied from a fragment.

Anna Coit passed away this morning. She was a great supporter of all things historical. She was well over 104 and I knew her when I worked at Mystic Seaport in CT and when I went back to do research on the weaving trade in Stonnington she was a great supporter of all the efforts. There are few left who make the connection between centuries so poignant. She will be missed and so will her past knowledge and the world she grew up in. Her stories were wonderful touchstones. Rest in peace and thank you for all you have shared with us.