Frances Goodrich subtitled this early 1900s photograph "Granny Banks with flax - and brake and heckle." Banks stands behind the flax brake [break]. A bundle of flax stems leans towards her. Her flax spinning wheel is to the left in the photo. ...
A flax spinning wheel is generally smaller then a wool spinning wheel. This 1800s-era example was done as a model. It has an attached distaff (coming out toward the camera). The spinner would sit to the right, facing left as he/she spun, working...
Hand carders are used as a pair to prepare fiber for spinning. By pulling the carders in opposite directions, the wool or cotton fibers align to make spinning easier. While the wooden pieces were handmade, the leather with wires poked through was...
This is an 1800s-era flax hackle; the creator of this item is unknown. After flax has been broken and scutched, it is hackled to remove the last of the plant material. The hackle was clamped to a table or held between the worker's knees. The...
A flax break such as this one is used to break the stems of flax plants so that the strands of fiber can be removed for spinning. The top boards are raised so that the plant stems lie in between top and bottom. When the boards are lowered, they...
This is an 1800s-era flax hackle; the creator of this item is unknown. After flax has been broken and scutched, it is hackled to remove the last of the plant material. A handful of flax stems or a strick is pulled through the long metal teeth...
This flax hackle was created during the 1800s and the name of its maker is unknown. After flax has been broken and scutched, it is hackled to remove the last of the plant material. The hackle could be clamped to a table or held between the...
This is a modern example of a very old fiber tool called a flax distaff. There are many variations on distaffs, but they all sit upright beside a spinning wheel to hold the flax fibers waiting to be spun. This distaff would fit like an umbrella...
This photograph of Arminda Anderson Curtis depicts her standing in front of a spinning wheel in front of an outdoor fireplace. Curtis, also know as "Aunt Mindy," was the wife of Amos Curtis. She lived in the community of Green Cove, N.C. The...
This photograph of Arminda Anderson Curtis depicts her standing in front of a spinning wheel in front of an outdoor fireplace. Curtis, also know as "Aunt Mindy," was the wife of Amos Curtis. She lived in the community of Green Cove, N.C. The...
This hand-tinted photographic postcard depicts two women on the porch of a mountain cabin with their spinning and weaving tools. At right a woman stands with at a great wheel, used for spinning wool. In the center foreground is a wrapping reel...
This photographic postcard shows a woman spinning on a great wheel, in front of a log cabin. The postcard was probably produced around the 1940s from a hand-tinted photograph that was probably taken in the early 1900s. The title comes from the...
In this 1926 photograph, Aunt Myra Anderson and Arminda Curtis are spinning yarn to weave in front of the fireplace of a traditional Appalachian log cabin. Curtis, also know as "Aunt Mindy," was the wife of Amos Curtis. She lived in the community...
This photograph, taken by Doris Ulmann in 1933, shows Zillah Wilson seated out of doors in front of a spinning wheel, also called a great wheel. Zillah, and her sister, Fanny, were spinners and weavers from Highlands, North Carolina.
Although the exact origin and who used this particular spinning wheel is unknown, it is typical of the type of spinning wheels used throughout the southern Appalachian mountains during the 19th century to spin wool and cotton. This spinning wheel...
This mounted photograph shows Elmeda Walker spinning on a big wheel outside of a mountain cabin in the late 1890s or early 1900s. Walker lived in Tennessee (or Elkin, North Carolina), just west of Allanstand, North Carolina; and Frances Goodrich...
This instructional booklet on how to spin wool, flax, and cotton was written and illustrated by Howard C. "Toni" Ford as part of a series of eleven "brieflets" published by Penland School of Handicrafts (now Penland School of Crafts) around 1943.
This photograph of Sarah Sanoma Hatchett was taken by Doris Ulmann in the Brasstown, N.C. area, in the summer of 1933. Hatchett, known locally as "Granny Hatchett," was a weaver and spinner from Bellview, North Carolina. Hatchett is shown sitting...
This 1978 photograph was taken by an unknown photographer inside one historic home at New Echota, the site established as the capital of the Cherokee Nation in 1825. The photograph depicts a variety of implements that would have been commonly used...
