Post by spence on May 17, 2020 13:01:23 GMT -7
In a recent thread the subject of fulling woolen cloth came up, and it started me thinking about how many times I've run across that subject in doing my research. A bunch.
Fulling is the process of shrinking and thickening wool cloth by putting it into hot, soapy water and then pounding it. Wool fibers have little barbs, and by moving the fibers against each other they lock together, compacting the cloth. The soap and heat help the fibers slide better and improve the results. Well fulled cloth is warmer, heavier and sheds water better.
I read somewhere about "fulling parties" which were held in colonial times in this country, something similar to the "husking bees" described in Joel Barlow's poem Hasty Pudding. When the ladies had woven a quantity of new woolen cloth they invited the neighbors, especially the young people, to help full it. They set up a big kettle of hot, soapy water and would put the cloth in it, then took it out and put it onto a table set up nearby. The people would sit around the table, arrange the cloth in a circle around it, pick it up and slam it down, shift it toward the neighbor, repeat, repeat, repeat. They frequently sang a song as they worked, one soloist 'calling', the rest answering, to a beat.
This was also the final, finishing step in manufacturing the famous woolen cloth of the Scottish isles. The gaelic term for fulling was "waulking", the songs they sang were called waulking songs, and all this was still being done up until present days. Here is a link to a video showing some Scottish ladies at work:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CmGJ5dwBuk
There is an entire genre of Scottish and Irish gaelic waulking songs very popular today.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3As9BcnPKJQ&index=21&list=RDm2v2BjNBH7w
This process was eventually mechanized, industrialized by the fulling mill quite early. This was a water-powered mill which pounded the cloth for hours, and is impressive to see. There is a good demonstration of one in action in England in this video, part of the series by the BBC, The Tudor Monastery Farm, set in early 16th century. (An excellent series in every way.) Scroll to minute forty-seven, the lady is taking some newly woven cloth to the fulling mill. Be sure to watch until she demonstrates the tenter bar.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhZv2iYuWVE&list=PL72jhKwankOjhQylqI7dETpKpcSV0JcB_
I've collected several references to fulling mills in this country in 18th century, as in this one:
The Pennsylvania Gazette
July 9, 1747.
"To be SOLD or LETT, A Plantation, on the head of Timber Creek, about 8 miles from Gloucester, containing 300 acres of land, with a good dwelling house, and about 50 acres of it cleared, besides 10 acres of extraordinary good meadow, chiefly clover, and about 20 or 30 acres more that may be made, at some distance from the dwelling house; likewise a good fulling mill, with all the necessary utensils, in extraordinary good order, such as a workhouse or shop, an iron bound press, a new screw and box, and a new plate, with three pair of sheers, two of them extraordinary good, a new copper, almost new set, that will hold betwixt 5 and 6 barrels, and a set of good tenter bars; also a good grist mill, with one pair of stones, and a boulting mill, partly new; said mills in the driest season have always enough of water, and at common times sufficient for a sawmill. Any person or persons inclining to purchase, by applying to the subscriber, living on said plantation, may be informed of the title and terms. John Blackwood. N.B. The said mills stand within a mile of a landing and with a small charge, by clearing the creek, boats may be brought to the mill's tail, so that it would answer very well for a merchant's mill and store."
You had to be careful around those big pounding hammers:
The Pennsylvania Gazette
November 11, 1736
"Rhode Island, Octob. 15. We are informed that about fourteen Days ago, one Joseph Borden of Tiverton, was killed by the Pounder of a Fulling-Mill, that fell by accident on his Head, and crush'd out his Brains."
A term I ran across for years and could never quite get a grip on was "milled clothing". I found several references such as this one from Benedict Arnold while on the march to Quebec in 1775, requesting clothing for his troops:
Letter of Benedict. Arnold to George. Washington, requesting:
"600 blankets, 600 thick clothes, 600 shirts, woolen, 600 milled caps, 600 do. gloves, 600 do. hose, 600 thick woolen breeches lined with wool or leather."
I finally found this:
Definition of milling, as in milled textiles: “The process of consolidating or compacting woven or knitted fabrics that usually, although not exclusively contain wool. Note, the treatment, which is usually given in a cylinder milling machine or in milling stocks, produces relative motion between the fibers of a fabric that have been wetted out and swollen with a liquid of suitable ph. Depending on the type of fiber and structure of the fabric and on variations in the conditions of milling, a wide range of effects can be obtained varying from a slight alteration in handle to a dense matting with considerable reduction in area.” It resembles fulling or felting, and may be synonymous.
The usual definition of milled cloth in dictionaries is: "cloth that has been beaten in a fulling mill."
A type of clay mined at various parts of the world is called "fullers earth". It was originally used by kneading it and water into the raw wool cloth to absorb the lanolin and grease from it before fulling.
Enough, I'm sure you are full up, by now.
Spence
Fulling is the process of shrinking and thickening wool cloth by putting it into hot, soapy water and then pounding it. Wool fibers have little barbs, and by moving the fibers against each other they lock together, compacting the cloth. The soap and heat help the fibers slide better and improve the results. Well fulled cloth is warmer, heavier and sheds water better.
I read somewhere about "fulling parties" which were held in colonial times in this country, something similar to the "husking bees" described in Joel Barlow's poem Hasty Pudding. When the ladies had woven a quantity of new woolen cloth they invited the neighbors, especially the young people, to help full it. They set up a big kettle of hot, soapy water and would put the cloth in it, then took it out and put it onto a table set up nearby. The people would sit around the table, arrange the cloth in a circle around it, pick it up and slam it down, shift it toward the neighbor, repeat, repeat, repeat. They frequently sang a song as they worked, one soloist 'calling', the rest answering, to a beat.
This was also the final, finishing step in manufacturing the famous woolen cloth of the Scottish isles. The gaelic term for fulling was "waulking", the songs they sang were called waulking songs, and all this was still being done up until present days. Here is a link to a video showing some Scottish ladies at work:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CmGJ5dwBuk
There is an entire genre of Scottish and Irish gaelic waulking songs very popular today.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3As9BcnPKJQ&index=21&list=RDm2v2BjNBH7w
This process was eventually mechanized, industrialized by the fulling mill quite early. This was a water-powered mill which pounded the cloth for hours, and is impressive to see. There is a good demonstration of one in action in England in this video, part of the series by the BBC, The Tudor Monastery Farm, set in early 16th century. (An excellent series in every way.) Scroll to minute forty-seven, the lady is taking some newly woven cloth to the fulling mill. Be sure to watch until she demonstrates the tenter bar.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhZv2iYuWVE&list=PL72jhKwankOjhQylqI7dETpKpcSV0JcB_
I've collected several references to fulling mills in this country in 18th century, as in this one:
The Pennsylvania Gazette
July 9, 1747.
"To be SOLD or LETT, A Plantation, on the head of Timber Creek, about 8 miles from Gloucester, containing 300 acres of land, with a good dwelling house, and about 50 acres of it cleared, besides 10 acres of extraordinary good meadow, chiefly clover, and about 20 or 30 acres more that may be made, at some distance from the dwelling house; likewise a good fulling mill, with all the necessary utensils, in extraordinary good order, such as a workhouse or shop, an iron bound press, a new screw and box, and a new plate, with three pair of sheers, two of them extraordinary good, a new copper, almost new set, that will hold betwixt 5 and 6 barrels, and a set of good tenter bars; also a good grist mill, with one pair of stones, and a boulting mill, partly new; said mills in the driest season have always enough of water, and at common times sufficient for a sawmill. Any person or persons inclining to purchase, by applying to the subscriber, living on said plantation, may be informed of the title and terms. John Blackwood. N.B. The said mills stand within a mile of a landing and with a small charge, by clearing the creek, boats may be brought to the mill's tail, so that it would answer very well for a merchant's mill and store."
You had to be careful around those big pounding hammers:
The Pennsylvania Gazette
November 11, 1736
"Rhode Island, Octob. 15. We are informed that about fourteen Days ago, one Joseph Borden of Tiverton, was killed by the Pounder of a Fulling-Mill, that fell by accident on his Head, and crush'd out his Brains."
A term I ran across for years and could never quite get a grip on was "milled clothing". I found several references such as this one from Benedict Arnold while on the march to Quebec in 1775, requesting clothing for his troops:
Letter of Benedict. Arnold to George. Washington, requesting:
"600 blankets, 600 thick clothes, 600 shirts, woolen, 600 milled caps, 600 do. gloves, 600 do. hose, 600 thick woolen breeches lined with wool or leather."
I finally found this:
Definition of milling, as in milled textiles: “The process of consolidating or compacting woven or knitted fabrics that usually, although not exclusively contain wool. Note, the treatment, which is usually given in a cylinder milling machine or in milling stocks, produces relative motion between the fibers of a fabric that have been wetted out and swollen with a liquid of suitable ph. Depending on the type of fiber and structure of the fabric and on variations in the conditions of milling, a wide range of effects can be obtained varying from a slight alteration in handle to a dense matting with considerable reduction in area.” It resembles fulling or felting, and may be synonymous.
The usual definition of milled cloth in dictionaries is: "cloth that has been beaten in a fulling mill."
A type of clay mined at various parts of the world is called "fullers earth". It was originally used by kneading it and water into the raw wool cloth to absorb the lanolin and grease from it before fulling.
Enough, I'm sure you are full up, by now.
Spence
