Yesterday, I braved the terrible heat and humidity to attend a flax dressing historical demonstration that was held right here in Gilmanton. It was hosted by the Gilmanton Historical Society, and the presenter was Gina Gerhard of 752 Murray Hill Road in the town of Hill, New Hampshire. It was a fun outing and a divergence from all my cotton quilting fabric to learn about colonial processing of flax.
We were lucky that the rain held off until the night.
Everybody gifts me those calendar-printed linen dish towels each Christmas and I never appreciated how much trouble colonial women had to go through to make such an item.
Check out that flaxen wig in the upper photograph! Imagine that.
Sorry the above photo is rather dark, but off to the right were two women spinning flax on spinning wheels. On a third spinning wheel, wool was being spun for linsey-woolsy.
It was a very enjoyable presentation and if you would like your own guild or group to inquire about having Gina Gerhard give her talk at your event, her email address is dyednwool@aol.com.
Raven did not go because she said there were no dog biscuits so it was boring.
My husband, Felix has passed away after almost 50 years of marriage. I live on our 20+ acre hobby farm in beautiful downtown Gilmanton Iron Works, New Hampshire, U.S.A.
1 comment:
looks interesting, so easy to forget about how fabric was fashioned before modern weaving methods. so labor intensive for sure
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