Weaving and Dyeing in Highland Ecuador

CHAPTER 8: Treadle-Loom Weaving

CHAPTER 8 Treadle-Loom Weaving Introduction ann p. rowe The treadle loom operates under principles quite different from those of indigenous Andean looms (Figs. 8.1 and 8.2). The use of foot treadles to operate the shed-changing mechanism probably originated in China, spreading first to the Middle East, and then to Europe around the eleventh or twelfth centuries (Hoffman 1979). As introduced into Europe, treadle looms were used for production weaving on a commercial basis by professional male weavers, and the same is true of its introduction into the Americas. The treadle loom is associated with professional production weaving because it is much faster to operate than a loom with heddle rods and shed rods. The treadles are connected with cords to a series of rectangular frames, called shafts (harnesses in North American handweaving terminology) containing the heddles (Figs. 8.1 and 8.2). Each heddle has an eye in the middle through which a warp yarn passes. For plain weave, one shaft controls the odd warp yarns, another, the evens. To open the shed it is necessary only to press one or more treadles, without any need to scrape the warp or insert a sword. Beating is done using a rectangular framework with closely spaced slats through which the warp yarns pass. This framework, called a reed, is in front of the heddles and connected to the loom supports with bars that pivot. A single jerk with the reed against the cloth suffices to beat in the weft (shown in Fig. 8.16). The weft is wound on a tube (the bobbin), set on a pin in a smooth, hollow, wooden carrier (called a boat shuttle) so the bobbin can rotate, releasing the weft as it moves across the warp.The weaver can thus send the shuttle through the shed with a quick flick of the wrist. 218 Weaving and Dyeing in Highland Ecuador 8.1 Profile diagram of a treadle loom, based on the most conservative type found in Ecuador. Solid black elements are bars that go across the full width of the loom. Dotted lines indicate elements passing behind the loom framework. Drawing by Laurie McCarriar based on a drawing by Ann P. Rowe. The weaving motion therefore consists of (1) depressing the treadle(s), (2) throwing the shuttle, and (3) pulling once on the reed. Each of these actions can take less than a second. Further speed is attained by using a very long warp, enough for multiple garments. The bars on which the unwoven warp and finished cloth are wound may be set underneath the plane of the weaving. These bars, called the warp beam and the cloth beam, respectively, can be rotated and secured. The working plane of the warp is supported by the breast beam and the back beam. Figures 8.1 and 8.2 show looms with a breast beam but no back beam, a common configuration in Ecuador, but looms with back beams also occur. A back beam also may allow the warp to feed more smoothly through the heddles. European treadle looms have all these parts built into a single construction that may even include a weaver’s bench, thus making them a substantial piece of furniture. The warp tension on treadle looms is fixed, so it is easier to weave balanced and weft-faced fabrics than on the backstrap loom. Clothing fabrics woven on treadle looms in Ecuador usually have a balanced weave, with warp and 8.2 Colonial-style treadle loom. Cuicuno, Cotopaxi province. Photo by Laura M. Miller, 1988. 220 Weaving and Dyeing in Highland Ecuador weft yarns similar in size and spacing. The tapestries woven for sale in the Otavalo and Salasaca areas, which are weft-faced, are also woven on treadle looms. Also, because the warp on a treadle loom is so long and the end of each yarn is cut to be put through the heddles and reed, the ends of the fabrics are necessarily cut. Therefore, it is usually easy to distinguish a backstrap-loom woven fabric, with its looped ends, from a treadle-loom woven one, with cut ends (as in Fig. 8.27) (also A. Rowe [ed.] 1998: 36–37, figs. 24–25). Although plain weave is often woven on treadle looms, for which two shafts are sufficient, four shafts are necessary to weave twill (Fig. 8.2). In twill weaves, the weft...