Tell Me About….
Antique Canadian Spinning Wheels – Marjo Wheat
I volunteer
at a local museum and got a wonderful surprise this last week. A local family donated a spinning wheel that
had belonged to the family’s grandmother.
It is a beauty and is in working order!
Here’s a picture of it:
As you can
see, it is a double drive single treadle wheel.
Part of my excitement was that up to now I haven’t seen any evidence
that pioneers in this area did any spinning.
There’s lots of evidence that they made carded wool quilt; there are
hand and drum carders in the museum’s collection. This is the first spinning wheel, and it is a
working one!
I put this
picture out in a discussion group on Facebook to see if anyone could identify
this wheel. The first response was that
was a Canadian Production Wheel. These
were made in St. Hyacinthe, Quebec and had some distinctive features. They used a tilt tension system and had a
metal treadle. Here’s a picture of a
typical one:
This is not
the same as the museum wheel. I found
another lead on the internet, that it might be a wheel made by the Bisson
family, Louis or Joseph, also from Quebec.
I googled these names and found this picture of a Bisson Wheel.
Bisson
Wheels typically had only 8 spokes and a steeply tilted table. They also used a screw tension, unlike the
Canadian production Wheels. It looks
like this might be the original maker of this wheel. I’ll have to do some more digging and see if
I can find out more.
This wheel
has also had a good repair job done to the flyer.
If only this wheel could talk and tell me about its long life! Do any of you have an antique wheel? What have you found out about where and when it was made?
This is only one of the many articles in Threads Along the Peace Newsletter available with membership to Peace Country Spinners and Weavers.
***
We received this email:
In May we led our fourth textile
tour around the Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia on board the Ombak
Putih. The weavers and dyers in this area really do produce some
outstanding textiles and our group visit is one of the highlights of
their year.
Six of the
twelve cabins are already booked for next year’s tour. (Click on the web site)... which gives more details in case this is
of interest to your members. Best wishes, Sue Richardson
***
Here are current group projects at Artspost in Fort St. John.
This is Norma's shawl project in wool/acrylic.
Cheryl has started the cotton bath towel project.
Alex is weaving the first cotton tea towel.
Spinners' and Weavers' activities:
- October 13,14,15, 2017 PCSW Fall Conference. Spinning Art Yarns with Sarah Elizabeth Fibreworks, Lakeview Inn, 10103 98th Ave., Fort St. John. Class size is 15. Deadline for the spinning workshop is one week before workshop. A Weaving Retreat is the second option. No instruction, just bring lots of projects to work on at your own pace. There may be last minute registration for the retreat. See registration form in June blog. Come to the Annual Meeting on Saturday at 4:30.
- April 7, 2018 PCSW exhibition at the Fairview Fine Arts Centre for the month of April. Show opening is from 2:00-4:00. Regular gallery hours are Monday to Saturday 12:00-5:00. Details of Spring Conference and how to enter work to be announced. Items can be for sale or not.
- Remember to find Peace Country Spinners and Weavers on Facebook.
- For more information contact peacecountrysw@gmail.com.
Happy Spinning and Weaving!
