Weaving process. Basics of weaving. What kind of process is weaving? See what “Weaving” is in other dictionaries

This is a set of technological processes necessary for the production of harsh (unfinished) textile fabrics. Sometimes weaving is called weaving. Depending on the type of processed raw materials (fibers, threads), cotton, wool, silk, linen weaving, etc. are distinguished. Historical reference.

Weaving, like spinning, arose in the Neolithic era and became widespread during the primitive communal system. A handloom with a vertical warp appeared approximately 5-6 thousand years BC. e. F. Engels considered the invention of the weaving loom to be one of the most important achievements of man at the first stage of his development. During the feudal period, the design of the loom was improved, and devices were created to prepare yarn for weaving.

The first attempts to mechanize the weaving process date back to the 16th-18th centuries. Among them, the invention of the so-called airplane shuttle by J. Kay in 1733 was of greatest importance. At the end of the 18th century in Great Britain, E. Cartwright invented a mechanical loom, the design of which was subsequently made various improvements (mainly in Great Britain): goods receiving mechanism (R. Miller, 1796), heald-lifting devices (J. Todd, 1803), a mechanism for coordinating the movement of the main beam and the commodity roller (R. Robert, 1822), etc. In 1833, a self-acting rope (a device for stretching fabric at the edge) was invented in North America. Russian inventors also made a significant contribution to improving the design of the loom: D.S. Lepyoshkin, who in 1844 patented a mechanical self-stop when the weft thread breaks; S. Petrov, who in 1853 proposed the most advanced system of combat mechanism for laying a shuttle, etc. In the end. 19th and early 20th centuries. machines with automatic shuttle changing were created. The most successful solution to the problem of automatically changing the weft spool in a shuttle belongs to the Englishman J. Northrop (1890).

However, shuttle weaving looms have significant disadvantages: small size of the weft package; free flight of the shuttle through the throat with high accelerations; simultaneous laying of only one weft thread, etc. At the beginning of the 20th century, several designs of shuttleless looms appeared, in which the weft thread was unwinded from large stationary packages and laid in the shed using special mechanical devices. Machines of this type were created in 1926 by Gabler (Germany), Soviet engineer V.E. Leontiev in 1936, and others. In 1927, S.A. Dynnik (USSR) proposed the design of a multi-shed circular loom; in 1949, V.A. Prozorov (USSR) created a flat multi-section machine. Weaving technology. In accordance with the technological process of fabric production, weaving production consists of preparatory operations, weaving itself and final operations. Preparatory operations include rewinding the warp and weft threads, warping, sizing, threading the warp and tying the ends of the threads.

The purpose of the preparatory operations is to create packages of warp and weft threads suitable for use on a weaving loom. Rewinding of warp threads is usually carried out from spinning cobs onto conical cross-winding bobbins (less often onto spools), necessary for the next operation - warping. Rewinding is carried out on winding machines and automatic winding machines. If the spinning packages satisfy the requirements of the warping process, then rewinding is eliminated. When warping, threads from a large number of bobbins or spools (up to 1000 threads) are wound onto a warping roller.

The process is carried out on warping machines. Sizing of the warp (impregnation with an adhesive colloidal solution - sizing) increases the endurance of the threads and their resistance to abrasion and repeated stretching during weaving. Threading the warp threads into the lamellas is necessary to automatically stop the machine when the thread breaks; Threads are threaded into the eyes of the heddle to form a shed on the loom (space for the movement of the shuttle) and to obtain fabric of a given weave.

Threading the threads into the teeth of the reed ensures that the weft thread reaches the edge of the fabric and obtains the required density of the fabric along the warp. Rewinding of weft onto bobbins for shuttle machines is carried out on weft-rewinding machines. For shuttleless weaving machines, bobbins are used from winding machines or directly from spinning machines. Weft yarn is often subjected to an additional operation - moistening (or emulsifying, steaming) in order to wind it without so-called flyaways (falling of several turns from the package). For weaving, the warp and weft from the preparation workshop enter the weaving workshop to produce fabric from them. During the weaving process, warp threads experience greater impacts from the working parts of the machine than weft threads, so increased demands are placed on them in terms of strength, endurance and wear resistance. The warp, as a rule, is made from better raw materials than the weft, with a higher twist and is further strengthened by sizing. Breakage of threads, especially warp threads, is the main reason for stopping looms; it deteriorates the quality of fabrics and creates yarn waste.

Final operations of weaving production. - measuring the length of fabric on measuring machines, cleaning and cutting it, quality control on rejecting machines and laying on folding machines. All final operations are carried out on production lines on which the raw fabric moves in a continuous web, sewn from individual pieces of fabric. Defects in raw fabric are assessed by points (defective units), the number of which determines the type of fabric.

Weaving production is also called the combination of a weaving shop (shops), a preparation shop, a workshop and a rejecting department. Weaving production can be independent (usually called a factory) or part of a textile mill, consisting of spinning, twisting, weaving and finishing production. The optimal capacity of weaving factories depends on the industry sector, for example, a cotton factory usually has 2-4 thousand shuttle looms or up to 2 thousand shuttleless ones, a silk weaving factory - up to 3 thousand pneumatic ones, a worsted cloth factory - up to 800 shuttleless ones. Further improvement of textile production is aimed at mechanization of labor-intensive operations and automation of production. processes; introduction of shuttleless and multi-shed weaving looms, development on their basis and development of new forms of labor organization; aggregation of processes and machines in order to reduce transitions in preparing yarn for weaving.

In the 19th century, until the 1870s, one of the most widespread crafts, especially in the center of Russia and the Russian North, was weaving. Weaving “manufactories” were just beginning to emerge at that time. And homespun linen, according to the peasants, had almost no competition at that time.

Tseytlin E.A. Essays on the history of textile technology. M.-L., 1940; Rybakov B.A. Craft of ancient Rus'. [M.], 1948; Kanarsky N.Ya., Efros B.E., Budnikov V.I. Russian people in the development of textile science. M., 1950; Weaving technology. T. 1-2. M., 1966-67: Gordeev V.A., Arefiev G.I., Volkov P.V. Weaving. 3rd ed. M., 1970; Design of weaving factories. M., 1971. I. G. Ioffe, V. N. Poletaev.

Source: Great Soviet Encyclopedia and other materials

Gradually, the production of yarn and homespun canvas for making clothes was replaced by handicrafts, which existed on a very small scale in some places for another twenty to fifteen years - the production of “tracks” on looms from bobbin threads and old chintz cut into narrow strips. Now this can only be seen in museums.

The weaving mill consists of a simple bed and pallet made from thick beams. All its moving parts are attached to the latter: thread frames - a heald with loops made of linen threads. The even warp threads are threaded into the loops of one of the frames, and the odd warp threads into the loops of the other frame. Ropes connecting the footrests to the healds are passed through movable blocks tied to the palate. Stepping on one of them raises the even group of the base, and the other - the odd one.

The weaving technique determined the nature of the bran patterns and their compositional structure. On valances and towels, the patterns were arranged in strict horizontal rows, with a predominance of three-part compositions: a wide middle stripe and borders symmetrically framing the central border. Especially elegant ones were decorated with multi-tiered compositions - gift towels intended as gifts.

History of weaving and Weaving in Rus'

Origin (read on the next pages. Weaving of Rus' - on the last page of the article)

It is difficult to judge the time of the birth of art and crafts, the roots of which are lost in the depths of millennia, and the material traces (wood, fibrous materials) are fragile and short-lived. We have only one path left - the path of a reasoned hypothesis based on the following main groups of information sources: ethnographic - ancient devices and methods preserved in the traditions of modern civilizations or used by primitive tribes;

archaeological - finds of weaving devices or their parts, fabrics;
artistic - images in works of art of the corresponding period (vase or wall paintings, reliefs, etc.);
literary-folklore - historical descriptions from various literary monuments of the corresponding period or descriptions preserved in folklore;
analytical - based on the analysis of socio-economic conditions, preserved tissues, and their possible distribution across geographic regions.

In relation to the initial period of the history of weaving technology, only the fifth group will be useful, in that part where we are talking about the analysis of socio-economic conditions. The main incentive for the appearance of clothing in humans is considered to be the need to protect the body from adverse environmental influences. According to some researchers, an additional incentive was the satisfaction of the instinct of creation among ancient people, especially among those who lived in places with favorable climatic conditions.

A necessary prerequisite for weaving is the availability of raw materials. N and at the weaving stage these were strips of animal skin, grass, reeds, vines, young shoots of bushes and trees. The first types of woven clothing and shoes, bedding, baskets and nets were the first weaving products. It is believed that weaving preceded spinning, since it existed in the form of weaving even before man discovered the spinning ability of the fibers of certain plants, among which were wild nettles, “cultivated” flax and hemp. Small livestock farming provided various types of wool and down.

None of the types of fibrous materials could survive for a long time. The oldest fabric in the world is linen fabric, found in 1961 during excavations of an ancient settlement near the Turkish village of Catal Huyuk and made around 6500 BC. e. Until recently, this fabric was considered to be wool, and only a careful microscopic examination of more than 200 samples of old woolen fabrics from Central Asia and Nubia showed that the fabric found in Turkey was linen.

During excavations of settlements of the lake inhabitants of Switzerland, a large amount of fabrics made from bast fibers and wool was discovered. This served as further evidence that weaving was known to people of the Stone Age (Paleolithic). The settlements were opened in the winter of 1853-1854. That winter turned out to be so cold and dry that the level of the alpine lakes in Switzerland dropped sharply. As a result, local residents saw the ruins of pile settlements, covered with centuries-old silt. During excavations of settlements, a number of cultural layers were discovered, the lowest of which are dated to the Stone Age. Coarse, but quite usable fabrics made from bast fibers, bast and wool were found. Some fabrics were decorated with stylized human figures painted with natural colors.

The first fabrics were very simple in structure. As a rule, they were produced using plain weave. However, quite early they began to produce ornamented fabrics, using religious symbols and simplified figures of people and animals as decorative elements. The ornament was applied to raw fabrics by hand. Later they began to decorate fabrics with embroidery.

The monuments of culture and applied art that have reached us have made it possible to restore the nature of the patterns used at that time, covering the border of the collar, sleeves and hem of clothing, and sometimes the belt. The nature of the patterns changed from simple geometric ones, sometimes using plant motifs, to complex ones with images of animals and people.

Western Asia and fabrics

Weaving and weaving were widely developed in Ancient Mesopotamia. Reed was most often used for weaving. Reed braids were used to cover or wrap the dead, they hung door and window openings, and the walls of houses. Baskets were woven from reeds to store documents in temples and palaces. Finer things were woven from grass. Such weaving is depicted on a gold filigree scabbard from the Meskalamdug tomb.

The date palm culture played a leading role in the economy of Mesopotamia. Reins, whips, various covers, and wickerwork for cargo carts were made from its leaves.

In the fine art of Mesopotamia there is only one relief of late time depicting a noble Elamite woman engaged in spinning, but in the most ancient settlements of Khlam, spindle whorls and copper axes wrapped in pieces of fabric were found. Whorls made of baked clay and stone were found by R. Koldevey during excavations in Babylon. The texts from Fara-Shuruppak mention threads, fleece, and yarn wound on a bobbin. During excavations in Ur, remains of fabric (or felt) were found, which was used to line the famous golden helmet of Meskalamdug.

Weaving was practiced by both slaves and free artisans. Slaves worked under an overseer in the “weavers’ house” on royal and temple farms and were divided into two categories: senior and junior weavers. Free artisans lived in a special quarter: a text from Kerkuk, kept in the Louvre, mentions the “weavers’ quarter.” Records of weavers working around 2200 BC. e., found in the Chaldean city of Ur. In large farms, weavers were given “copper looms” on a count basis: probably, we are talking about some kind of weaving equipment.

Entire lists of clothing from the time of the Third Dynasty of Ur have been preserved, where, along with clothing made of fiber and “grass,” they speak of luxurious clothing covered with gold and precious stones, soft, delicate, hard and dense clothing. The clothes made were weighed (one of them, for example, weighed about 1300 grams).

Bas-reliefs give a good idea of the fabric patterns of that time. For example, the alabaster bas-reliefs that once covered the walls of the palaces of Nineveh date back to no later than the 8th century BC. e. According to many Assyriologists, the ornamentation of the bas-reliefs is nothing more than an imitation of Babylonian fabrics, and the bas-reliefs themselves are indirect evidence of the existence of carpet production.

Among the first textile materials were wool and linen. In the 7th century BC. e. After the conquest of Babylon by Sennacherib, the peoples of Mesopotamia became acquainted with cotton. "Wool-producing trees" are mentioned on an Assyrian cylinder of the time.

Babylonian fabrics, known in antiquity, were famous for their multicolored and intricate patterns. According to Pliny the Elder, it was in Babylon that multicolor embroidery was invented.

Copper and bronze needles found during excavations indicate that embroidery and sewing in Mesopotamia were known perhaps earlier than 1100 BC. e.

The weaving technique of the peoples of Ancient Mesopotamia still remains unknown, since neither parts of weaving looms nor their images have yet been found, and the weaving technology is also unknown to us.

The oldest textile colored products of Western Asia are carpets and fabrics found in the glaciated mounds of the Altai Mountains. The oldest knotted wool carpet in the world is the 5th century BC. e., discovered in the fifth Pazyryk mound, made somewhere in Media or Persia. The rectangular carpet measures 1.83 x 2 meters and has a complex pattern that includes images of riders with horses, fallow deer and vultures. In the same mound, fabrics were found that covered a felt saddle cloth and a bib and were made on a horizontal loom with vertical lines of the pattern along the weft. All fabrics are double-sided, multi-colored, warp density 22 - 26 threads per centimeter. In the fabric covering the saddle cloth, the weft density is 55 threads per centimeter, in some patterned areas - up to 80 threads per centimeter, the width of the fabric is at least 60 centimeters.

A strip of fabric 5.3 centimeters wide and 68 centimeters long with a weft density of 40 to 60 threads per centimeter is sewn onto the bib. The fabric depicts 15 lions walking in a line; along its edges there is a border of alternating colored triangles.

The quality of the fabrics and the fineness of the design allow us to judge a fairly high level of weaving in Western Asia in the middle of the first millennium BC. e. For example, it can be noted that in the images of human figures on the fabric covering the saddle cloth, even fingernails can be distinguished, and this is with the width of the fabric itself being 6.5 centimeters. The high quality of the fabrics suggests a good level of weaving in an earlier period. The famous Soviet art critic S.I. Rudenko believes that “the needle-sewn patterns mentioned by ancient authors... are not embroidery at all in the modern sense, but the finest tapestry designs obtained in the process of making fabric on a loom.”

Ancient Egypt

Starting around 3400 BC. e. It is quite easy to follow the development of weaving. The Egyptian method of mummification, the burial of many objects from everyday life with the deceased, the special climatic conditions of Egypt, which contributed to the preservation of a large number of burials, gave humanity significant practical information about the life and habits of the ancient Egyptians. In addition, many monuments of Egyptian painting and sculpture have reached us, from which we can also judge the development of weaving.

Linen fabrics from the Neolithic, Badarian, Predynastic and 1st Dynasty periods have been preserved. Fragments of linen from a predynastic burial at Gebelein depict a hippopotamus hunt in two boats of different sizes. In the tombs of the pharaohs of the 1st and 2nd dynasties (3400 - 2980 BC) fabrics were found with warp and weft threads of the same thickness and with a warp density of 48 threads per centimeter and a weft density of 60 threads per centimeter. Fabrics of the Memphis dynasty (2980-2900 BC), found in tombs in Upper Egypt, are thinner than modern linen and have a density of 19X32 and 17X48 threads per square centimeter.

Wooden and clay figurines (circa 2500 BC) of weavers and warpers at work have also been found in Egyptian tombs. Warping with pegs driven into the ground is still used by some peoples in hand weaving (for example, in Guatemala).

Among the paintings on the walls of the tomb of Hemotep from Beni-Hasan (2000 - 1788 BC) there are several drawings depicting a vertical loom and working weavers, as well as the processes of making yarn and preparing it for weaving. Similar images are found on the walls of several more tombs of the XII dynasty in Beni Hassan and El Bersha, as well as in the tombs of the XVIII dynasty in Thebes. In Thebes, archaeologist Winlock found a model from the 11th Dynasty depicting women weaving.

The fabrics of Egyptian mummies show that the people of Ancient Egypt had perfect weaving skills. With all our modern equipment, we cannot achieve some of the results once obtained by ancient masters. In some fabrics of Egyptian mummies, the warp density exceeds 200 threads per centimeter, while modern weaving equipment does not allow the production of fabrics with a warp density greater than 150 threads per centimeter. For example, the bandage on the forehead of a mummy kept in one of the English museums is made of linen with a warp density of 213 threads per centimeter. The linear density of the yarn in this fabric is 0.185 tex (i.e., the mass of one kilometer of yarn is 0.185 grams). The mass of one square meter of such fabric would be 5 grams.

The results of a study of a tissue sample from an Egyptian mummy stored in the Ivanovo Art Museum are interesting. The fabric dates back to the 16th - 15th centuries BC. e. and consists of four layers: canvas impregnated with a transparent substance of yellow-ocher color, white primer, reminiscent in color and shine of loose snow, paint of green, red and yellow colors, transparent varnish of a grayish-ash color. Plain weave fabric has a warp density of 24 threads per centimeter and a weft density of 13 threads per centimeter. The soil consists of small anisotropic crystalline fragments of white color, insoluble in ether. The paint is amorphous, with crystalline inclusions, insoluble in either water or universal organic solvents, and has retained its freshness and brightness. The varnish is amorphous and has not undergone crystallization. The results obtained indicate that at that time, Egyptian craftsmen knew how to make durable linen fabrics, knew how to protect them from decay, and they knew a non-crystallizing varnish that preserved the brightness and freshness of colors for a long time.

Museums around the world contain a large number of examples of ornamented fabrics dating back to around 1500 BC. e. Several examples of colored tapestry linen were found in the tomb of Pharaoh Thutmose IV (1466 BC). The carpet from this tomb shows a pattern in the form of lotuses, semicircles and a cross-shaped amulet common to Ancient Egypt. In the burial of the young pharaoh Tut, dating back to approximately the same time, a large number of amazingly beautiful fabrics were found.

On the wall of a bedroom in the main palace of Akhetaten, the capital of Pharaoh Amenhotep IV (Akhenaton), remains of a painting depicting the pharaoh's daughters sitting on pillows are preserved. The pattern of the fabrics on the pillows consists of parallel blue diamonds on a pink background. The relief from the tomb of Parennefer in Akhetaten also contains an image of a pillow covered with patterned fabric. The fabric pattern is made in the form of “roads” of rhombuses of different sizes. The lid of a casket from the tomb of Tutankhamun (1375-1350 BC) depicts a scene of the pharaoh hunting lions. The pharaoh wears clothes made of golden-colored fabric with simple geometric patterns. The horse in the pharaoh's chariot is covered with a patterned fabric, probably a carpet, with geometric motifs on a golden background and with three dark blue stripes along the edges. The field of fabric between the stripes is filled with the same pattern as the main background of the fabric.

The ancient Egyptians knew and widely used yarn dyeing. The mummies' fabrics have blue and yellow-brown edges. The bed of Tutankhamun's mummy was covered with dark brown cloth. The fabric covering the ceremonial staffs was painted in a color close to black. A thin dark yellow cloth was draped over the bodyguard statue at the entrance to the tomb. Several items made of colored tapestry linen fabric were also found in Tutankhamun's tomb.

In ancient Egypt, weaving was closely associated with small peasant farming. Fabrics were a natural tribute to landowners in both the Old and New Kingdoms. During the 18th dynasty, Vizier Rekhmir accepted various types of fabrics among the gifts presented to him.

Based on Roman period textiles found in Antinous and Alexandria, archaeologist E. Flemming suggested that they were made on a garter loom. However, the question of the origin of these tissues remained controversial for a long time. The first finds were made in Antinous back in 1896 - 1897, and the leading orientalists of that time - Strzhigovsky and later Herzfeld - recognized the Iranian origin of the fabrics, dating them to the Sassanid period (224 - 651). The German art historian O. von Falcke, in his famous work “The Artistic History of Silk Weaving,” defended the hypothesis of the local origin of fabrics. This point of view was held by many scientists, including E. Flemming, until R. Pfister, based on additional materials obtained by a French archaeological expedition, proved that the fabrics were made in Sasanian Persia. The greatest historian of textile art, A. Mayer, who devoted her entire life to the study of artistic fabrics, like E. Flemming, believes that the mentioned fabrics were produced on a loom with garters. Iran is the birthplace of this remarkable technical invention, which we will talk about later.

Let's return to Egypt. During the Ptolemaic period, weaving was a royal monopoly, but from the 2nd century BC. e. Private weaving production also begins to spread. As a rule, private weaving production was family-owned, but sometimes hired labor was also used.

America

The Indians, like the Egyptians, began with simple plain weave fabrics, but soon produced fabrics in such weaves as twill and leno. They created complex geometric patterns that were woven or painted by hand.

Ancient people used flax, grass, bison hair, rabbit hair and opossum hair for weaving. Later they learned to use the wool of these animals, and their acquaintance with cotton occurred simultaneously with the peoples of the Old World. The looms were similar to those found during excavations in Egypt. The only difference was that instead of a shuttle they used a long twig to insert the weft into the shed.

Woven bags, fishing nets, shoes woven from grass, and clothing made from feathers have been found in ancient rock caves in the Ozark Mountains. Ancient Algonquin pottery vessels have fabric or rope marks, indicating that the vessels were wrapped in woven material during manufacture.

The so-called basket makers (2000 BC) made woven bags and finely woven baskets. A significant step forward in the art of weaving was made by the peoples who lived after the “basket makers” in the southeast of North America. Among the samples of fabrics made at that time are fabrics made from yarn obtained from fibers of wild plants. After cotton began to be used as a raw material for yarn, feathers (for example, turkey feathers) were often woven into cotton fabrics. Prehistoric Indians passed on their ability to make fabrics to descendants of the Camino Indians, about whom there is written evidence. The latter, in turn, trained the Navajo Indians, who moved to the Toro-west of North America after Spanish colonization. The Navajo proved to be capable students and soon surpassed their teachers. They made finer and more complex fabrics.

And now Indian women of the Navajo tribe weave on handlooms in the same way as their distant ancestors did. They weave blankets, the patterns of which are stored only in their memory. Navajo blankets and bedding are made using the tapestry technique. Most of these products are woven so tightly that they do not allow water to pass through. Until now, Indian women in one place disturb the design so that the “evil spirit” can come out of the blanket. This distinctive marking distinguishes Navajo blankets.

From Mayan weaving, only a whorl and a small number of fragments of fabrics found at the bottom of the Chichen Itza spring remained. And only frescoes, ceramics and sculpture tell us about Mayan fabrics, which, judging by the images, were as beautiful as Peruvian fabrics. The raw materials widely used were annual and perennial cotton, which grows throughout the Yucatan Peninsula. Rabbit wool was brought from Mexico. Before weaving, the yarn was dyed in accordance with the symbolism adopted by the Mayans. They made simple, coarse “manta” fabrics 16.5 m long, colorful “huipil” fabrics for women, fabrics for men’s pants and curtains, capes for leaders, priests and idols. Protective equipment was made from manta cloth soaked in salt solution.

The Mayan weaving devices were no different from the conventional devices used by all American Indians. Weaving among the Mayans was a domestic occupation for women. Unlike the Incas, the Mayans did not assign “selected women” to weave in monasteries. Fabrics were made both for themselves and for sale.

Peru. One of the outstanding centers of ancient weaving is Peru. The dry climate of the Peruvian coast resembles Egypt. As in Egypt, burial sites were chosen in desert areas where there is practically no rain, which ensured good preservation of the tissues. Peruvian “mummies,” like Egyptian ones, were wrapped in thin fabrics, probably specially made for funerary purposes.

The ancient inhabitants of Peru knew cotton, wool and bast fibers (except flax, which was unknown). We have no information about the beginning of textile production in the mountains, but on the coast the first fiber was cotton; bast fibers were used mainly for special products: thin hair nets, ropes, etc. Very early wool from llamas, alpacas and wild animals appeared among the materials. vikun. For coarse fabrics, llama wool (yellow-brown) was used; finer fabrics were alpaca wool (white, black and brown).

The earliest Peruvian textiles were found during excavations at Huaca Prieta, a Paleolithic site on the North Coast dating back to around 2500 BC. e. About 3 thousand fragments of fabrics were found, mostly cotton, and only a small amount of some local bast fiber; there were no woolen fabrics at all. About 78 percent of the fabrics are made using the leno technique, which directly developed from weaving.

Europe

Animal bones were used by our ancestors to make a variety of things. In Northern Europe, including in Ancient Novgorod, where more than 400 such bones and 0 tools were collected during excavations. But even more sharp objects were found there, called piercings and made from the bones of a sheep, goat, horse, dog, elk or other animals. The largest number of Novgorod perforations belong to the most ancient horizons of the 10th century, fewer of them were found in the layers of the 11th century, and the number of even later ones is completely insignificant. The same is typical for other centers of Ancient Rus'. If we assume that such pointed bones were used as a tool for piercing the skin, then the decrease in their number could be associated with the advent of more advanced tools. This, however, is not observed.

Most likely, the piercings served as a tool for the weaver, who used them to beat the weft threads and, by the way, sword-shaped wooden tools, usually mistaken for children's toys, could be used for the same purpose. The decrease in the number of both in later archaeological layers is apparently associated with a period of improvement in weaving production. The fact is that such padding was needed only when working on a vertical loom, where the fabric was woven from top to bottom. Such machines - due to their exceptional simplicity - were available in literally every household, because all clothing in those days was homespun. With the advent of the horizontal loom, the weaving technology itself changed: a special lattice device began to evenly distribute the warp threads and press the weft threads.

(The horizontal machine was already much more efficient and usually belonged to a professional artisan. In Western Europe, it became widespread in the 11th century - with the emergence of the first large centers of the textile industry in Flanders, England and northern France.

Archaeological evidence of the appearance of the horizontal machine is scarce: some of its parts are found in the strata of the 11th century in Hedeby and Gdansk. And its distribution is often judged by the absence of vertical machine parts in the layer - such as piercings and sword-shaped objects from Novgorod.

Weaving in Rus'

The entire history of Slavic weaving can be told from peasant household items. The most common types of folk household art were embroidery, patterned weaving, knitting, wood carving and painting, and processing of birch bark and metal. Such a variety of forms of visual creativity was determined by the very life of the people. Subsistence farming conditions forced people to create home furnishings, utensils, tools and clothing with their own hands. These things accompanied him throughout his life, and therefore it is clear that the peasant sought to make not only useful and convenient, but also beautiful objects.

Patterned heald weaving is an ancient type of folk craft- was developed in many villages of the Nizhny Novgorod region, especially on its northern outskirts. Peasant women decorated rugs, clothes, bedspreads, tablecloths, tabletops, and towels with homespun patterns. The materials used for weaving were flax, wool and cotton. Nizhny Novgorod weaving was distinguished by its large patterned geometric patterns and subtlety of color. The number of colors in the fabric is small, harmonious and noble in shades. These are mainly white, red, blue colors. Thanks to the finely found compositional solution of color and ornament, the weavers' products had a special sophistication.

The art of patterned weaving reached a high level of development among the Slavs. On primitive weaving mills they produced smooth fabrics and patterned fabrics that were beautiful in their artistic merit. Some of the patterned items decorated clothes, while others decorated peasant interiors. The material was linen threads. Often hemp or wool thread was added to linen thread.

Ornamental patterns were created through the use of various techniques of weaving threads in the fabric itself.

The simplest and most common method of ornamentation was used by the Slavs in variegated fabrics with plain weave. These fabrics were used for everyday clothing - men's and women's shirts, sundresses. The motley patterns for clothes were checkered, striped, and very subdued in color. Blue, gray, and lilac tones predominated, echoing the color of the surrounding nature. Sometimes bright and rich colors were used in fabrics with the addition of wool or hemp thread: red, brown, pink and others.

Festive clothes, in particular women's shirts, were made from white canvas, the hems were decorated with a red stripe of a woven pattern. The general coloring and selection of tones in traditional clothing testify to the amazing taste and sense of harmony of Slavic craftswomen.

Woven patterned towels, valances and women's shirts were made using the double-weft weaving technique. The technique of double-weave weaving is not particularly complicated, but it is very labor-intensive and required a lot of attention from the weaver - the slightest mistake when counting the threads caused distortion of the entire design.

The weaving technique determined the nature of the bran patterns and their compositional structure. On valances and towels, the patterns were arranged in strict horizontal rows, with a predominance of three-part compositions: a wide middle stripe and borders symmetrically framing the central border. Especially elegant gift towels were decorated with multi-tiered compositions.

Despite the small range of original motifs, woven patterns are extremely diverse in general appearance, which was achieved through various combinations and rearrangements of figures. Even simple lengthening or shortening of geometric shapes created a new ornament.

The weaving looms of the ancient Slavs were made of thick beams of the bed and palate. All its moving parts are attached to the latter: thread frames - a heald with loops made of linen threads. The even warp threads are threaded into the loops of one of the frames, and the odd warp threads into the loops of the other frame. Ropes connecting the footrests to the healds are passed through movable blocks tied to the palate. Stepping on one of them raises the even group of the base, and the other - the odd one.

The peculiarity of North Russian folk fabrics is their patterning, careful graphic development of the pattern itself, sometimes quite complexly woven, and at the same time restraint in its use: only the edge of the product was decorated with a colored pattern, leaving the main part of it either smooth white or with white relief , very modest and discreet design. The coloring of northern fabrics is also restrained: it is based on a classically strict combination of red and white, where white quantitatively predominates (the white field of the fabric itself and the narrow red border). In the border itself, the red pattern appears on a white background, and the white and red colors are balanced, their number is almost equal, which is why the overall tone of this pattern is not deep red, but pinkish. This gives the color of northern fabrics a certain lightness and sophistication. If the fabric is multi-colored, for example, a striped rug or a motley checkered pattern, then the coloring here is often soft and relatively light.

The artistic design of patterned fabrics is largely determined by the weaving technique. And the technique of patterned weaving in Pomerania was very diverse. Thus, for the manufacture of everyday and work clothes (men's shirts, work skirts and sundresses), household items (pillowcases and sheets), the plain and twill weave technique was used. The materials for the manufacture of linen, cloth, canvas and half-woolen fabrics were flax, hemp, paper and wool. The most common were Pomeranian moths. The basis for them was cotton linen fabrics with checks or stripes. Patterned heald weaving was less common in Pomerania. Fabrics made using the multi-shaft weaving technique were called “Kamchatka”. Craftswomen decorated bedspreads, tablecloths, tabletops, and towels with such patterns.

The technique of bran weaving made it possible to create the most complex patterns. Typical types of Pomeranian textile products are towels, women's shirts, and floor runners. Their ornamentation was dominated by geometric patterns.

In the most ancient weaving techniques, belts were weaved without the use of a loom. They were performed - on planks, with weaving, on a reed ("on a thread", "chock", "in circles"). Belts were a mandatory part of the traditional northern costume.

Literary sources for this article:

Boguslavskaya, I. Ya. Patterns on canvas// Boguslavskaya. I. Ya. Northern treasures: about the people. art of the North and its masters. - Arkhangelsk: North-West. Book Publishing house, 1980.P. 53-63.
Klykov S. S. Belt as an element complex of women's costume / S. S. Klykov // // Folk costume and ritual in the Russian North: materials of the VIII Kargopol scientific conference / scientific. ed. N. I. Reshetnikov; comp. I. V. Onuchina. - Kargopol, 2004.P. 242-249.
Kozhevnikova, L. A. Features of folk patterned weaving of some regions of the North // Russian folk art of the North: collection. articles.L. : Sov. Artist, 1968.P. 107-121.
Lyutikova, N. P. Ornamentation of Russian fabrics population of the Mezen River basin at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries: weaving, embroidery, knitting / N. P. Lyutikova // Folk costume and modern youth culture: Collection of articles. - Arkhangelsk: 1999. - P.110-125.
Fabrics and clothing of Pomerania in the collection of the Solovetsky State Historical-Architectural and Natural Museum-Reserve: cat. / Solovets. state history-architecture. and nature museum-reserve, Vseros. artist scientific restoration center named after acad. I.E. Grabar, Arkhang. Phil. ; auto entry Art. and comp. G. A. Grigorieva; photo by V. N. Veshnyakov, M. F. Lugovsky; drawing S. M. Boyko, G. A. Grigorieva. - Arkhangelsk: Pravda Severa, 2000. - 280 p.
Fileva, N. A. Patterned weaving on Pinega/ N. A. Fileva // Folk masters. Traditions, schools: vol. 1: Sat. articles / Research Institute of Theory and History of Images. art of the Order of Lenin Acad. xdos. THE USSR; edited by M. A. Nekrasova. M. : Image Art, 1985. - pp. 122-129.
Churakova, S. V. Types of hand-patterned weaving / S. V. Churakova // Folk art. - 2006.No. 5.S. 34-47.

It would seem that the most active time of the ancient Russians was summer. However, even in the fall, our ancestors had a lot to do. Collect the harvest, prepare the land for winter crops, dry the grain, thresh it, prepare food for the cattle for the winter, insulate the house for the cold, store firewood... and much more! It is also necessary to celebrate the harvest festival, thank the Sun and bow to Mother Earth for the earthly fruits, meet Mother Osenina, and send the sun to its winter rest. Make protective protection against autumn colds and fevers, and make other amulets for your home, family, and livestock before the onset of the dark time.

Audio release of the program

http://sun-helps.myjino.ru/sop/20171011_sop.mp3

However, this is not all! During the winter, women had to weave enough linen to last the whole family until the next winter., since everyone wore clothes made with their own hands from homespun fabric. In every house, in every hut, women spun and weaved on autumn days. They learned this from early childhood, and by the age of sixteen the girl was a real master.

Craftswomen who knew how to weave beautiful patterned fabric were always held in high esteem and were often freed from everyday duties. In the north of Rus', they produced mainly linen, hemp and wool fabrics. The process of preparing threads from plant fiber was very labor-intensive. In the fall, when it was time to harvest, the flax was pulled and left in the field for a couple of weeks so that the fibers softened. Then the flax was dried and crushed in special wooden crushers, successively pressing the flax bundle along its entire length, while the solid component, the kernel, was separated. Then the flax was ruffled by holding a bunch of flax in one hand and hitting it from top to bottom with a wooden ruffle, separating the remaining flax fiber from the flax fiber. After this, the flax was brushed.

After shearing the sheep, the wool was also washed, crumpled, carded, and then spun into wool thread. Special brushes made of a wooden base with iron teeth hammered into several rows were also used for carding wool.

Wooden spinning wheels were used to produce yarn. Spinning wheels were often decorated with carvings and paintings. The fiber for the yarn was secured to the spinning wheel blade using a rope. The spinner sat on the bottom of the spinning wheel and worked with the tow with her left hand, and with the spindle with her right hand.
Tow thread was made by twisting the fibers using a wooden spindle. The spindle was twisted by hand like a top, then the finished thread was wound onto the middle part of the spindle. A thickening in the form of a ball or disk was often made on the lower part of the spindle to give the spindle stability during rotation and greater twisting force.
The spinner twisted the beginning of the thread with her left hand, trying to take it out of the tow as evenly as possible; the quality of the thread depended on this. Then the threads were wound onto a tyurik, which is the name of a wooden spool. In this form, the weaving thread was convenient to use in the future.

Having obtained a sufficient number of threads by spinning, they were used to make fabric on a handloom. In the old days, every peasant family had a “weaving mill”. In the past, craftswomen mastered many techniques and types of weaving. Work on the weaving mill proceeded as follows: the weaver sat on a bench in front of the first “beam”, pressed the footrest, the “thread” connected to this footboard went down, dragging along one of the two rows of “warp threads”. A “shuttle with a weft thread” was thrown into the resulting “pharynx.” Then the woman pressed the second step, the warp threads alternated: the upper threads went down, the lower ones went up. A shuttle was passed into the resulting “pharynx”, and then the threads were nailed with a “reed”.

The fabric produced was boiled in Russian stoves in large cast iron with lye from the ash. They rinsed it in an ice hole, then spread it over the snow crust, leaving the canvases overnight so that not only the snow and sun, but also the frost would bleach the canvas. Women wove not only fabric from fine threads, suitable for linen, tablecloths and towels, but also coarser, which was used for bags and footcloths. Peasant women often dyed fabrics in different colors. Since ancient times, the favorite color in Rus' was white - a symbol of purity, red - a symbol of the sun and black - a symbol of earth. Natural materials were used for painting: leaves, bark, stones.

well and the next stage in the creation of clothing and household items was sewing and embroidery. These are already topics for future programs. Currently, the craft of spinning and weaving is practically disappearing into oblivion; only through the power of enthusiasts does the revival of old traditions begin. The strength of the roots of our ancestors cannot disappear without a trace in our people, which is why many are so drawn to ancient crafts. We would like our people to also be drawn to nature and reverence for the Sun and the natural forces of the Earth, because this is the only way to achieve the former harmony of existence.

Weaving is an ancient craft, the history of which begins with the period of the primitive communal system and accompanies humanity at all stages of development. A necessary prerequisite for weaving is the availability of raw materials. At the weaving stage, these were strips of animal skin, grass, reeds, vines, young shoots of bushes and trees. The first types of woven clothing and shoes, bedding, baskets and nets were the first weaving products. It is believed that weaving preceded spinning, since it existed in the form of weaving even before man discovered the spinning ability of the fibers of certain plants, among which were wild nettles, “cultivated” flax and hemp. The developed small-scale cattle breeding provided various types of wool and down.

Of course, none of the types of fibrous materials could survive for a long time. The oldest fabric in the world is linen fabric, found in 1961 during excavations of an ancient settlement near the Turkish village of Catal Huyuk and made around 6500 BC. It is interesting that until recently this fabric was considered to be wool, and only a careful microscopic examination of more than 200 samples of old woolen fabrics from Central Asia and Nubia showed that the fabric found in Turkey was linen.

In the 70s of the twentieth century, with the development of underwater archeology, research into settlements in the vast Alpine region on the borders of France, Italy and Switzerland began again. The settlements dated from 5000 to 2900 BC. e. Many remains of fabrics were found, including twill weave, balls of thread, reeds of wooden looms, wooden spindles for spinning wool and flax, and various needles. All finds indicate that the inhabitants of the settlements were engaged in weaving themselves.
In Ancient Egypt, a horizontal frame was preferred. A person working near such a frame would certainly have to stand. From the words “stand, stand” the words “stan”, “machine” come from. It is curious that weaving was considered the highest of the craft arts in Ancient Greece. Even noble ladies practiced it. In the famous work “The Iliad” by Homer, for example, it is mentioned that Helen, the wife of the king of Sparta Menelaus, because of whom, according to legend, the Trojan War broke out, received as a gift a golden spindle whorl - a weight for a spindle, which gave it greater rotational inertia.

The first fabrics were very simple in structure

. As a rule, they were produced using plain weave. However, quite early they began to produce ornamented fabrics, using religious symbols and simplified figures of people and animals as decorative elements. The ornament was applied to raw fabrics by hand. Later they began to decorate fabrics with embroidery. In the historical period of the last centuries of Christianity, the type of trellis weaving on looms that appeared in Europe in the Middle Ages gained popularity. This type of weaving made carpets popular, which were woven both with pile and smooth. Tapestry weaving in Western Europe developed from the 11th century until the 17th century, when in France in 1601 the workshop of the Gobelle brothers arose, who produced smooth woven material with rep weave of threads, creating an original pattern of the play of threads on the material. The workshop was noticed by the French king himself, who bought it to work for the royal court and wealthy nobles, thereby providing the workshop with a constant income. The workshop became famous. And such woven material has since been called a tapestry, similar to a mat.
A loom is a mechanism used to produce various textile fabrics from threads, an auxiliary or main tool for the weaver. There are a huge number of types and models of machines: manual, mechanical and automatic, shuttle and shuttleless, multi-shank and single-shank, flat and round. Weaving looms are also distinguished by the types of fabric produced - wool and silk, cotton, iron, glass and others.
The loom consists of a hem, a shuttle and a hip, a beam and a roller. Two types of threads are used in weaving - warp thread and weft thread. The warp thread is wound on a beam, from which it unwinds during the work process, going around the roller that performs the guiding function, and passing through the lamellas (holes) and through the eyes of the heddles, moving upward for the shed. The weft thread passes into the shed. This is how the fabric appears on the loom. This is the operating principle of a loom.

At the end of the 19th - mid-20th centuries. weaving in Moldavia was a widespread women's occupation with deep traditions. The materials for weaving were hemp and wool; flax was used much less. From the middle of the 19th century. purchased cotton thread came into use. The process of preparing fiber for spinning was lengthy. Yarn processing and weaving were carried out using homemade tools. The specifically Moldavian method of spinning on the go was using a spinning wheel with an elongated shaft, strengthened by the spinner behind her belt. The peasant family independently produced various fabrics necessary for sewing clothes, used for household needs and decorating the interiors of the home. Moldavian women wove many towels on a horizontal weaving mill ("stand"), using various types of techniques (branch, choice, mortgage). Some towels were mandatory attributes of wedding, maternity and funeral ceremonies, others were used for household needs, and others were used to decorate the interior of the home. Ornaments on towels for ritual or decorative purposes were a rhythmic repetition of one geometric or floral motif.

Carpet weaving
The centuries-old traditions of Moldavian carpet weaving led to the emergence of a distinctive type of carpet, made on a vertical weaving mill using the kilim technique. As a rule, women were engaged in carpet weaving, and men participated only in preparatory work. The ability to weave carpets was highly valued among the people. Girls began to learn this craft at the age of 10-11. Each bride's dowry, among many other necessary household items, necessarily included carpets. They testified to the wealth in the girl’s family and the hard work of the future housewife. The process of making a carpet was extremely labor-intensive: carpets and runners from two to three kilograms of wool were woven in two to three weeks, and a large carpet from 10-15 kilograms of wool was made in three to four months, working together.
Decor of Moldovan carpets
The Moldavian lint-free carpet is characterized by clarity of composition and shaped balance, which does not imply strict symmetry. The skillful use of natural dyes by Moldovan carpet makers determined the color richness of the carpet. The light background of carpet products, characteristic of the late 18th - first half of the 19th centuries, was then replaced by a range of black, brown, green and red-pink tones. The pattern was based on geometric and plant motifs; zoomorphic and anthropomorphic images were less common in carpet compositions. The types of Moldavian carpets, their ornamentation and terminology differed depending on the place of use.

Moldavian carpet weaving reached its peak in the 18th - early 19th centuries. One of the characteristic features of Moldavian carpets was the variety of ornamental motifs. The most common are floral patterns depicting trees, flowers, bouquets, fruits, as well as geometric ones - rhombuses, squares, triangles. Less common are images of human figures, animals and birds. In the distant past, ornamental motifs had a certain symbolic character. One of the most common motifs was the “tree of life,” representing the strength and power of nature, its eternal development and movement. The image of a female figure was considered a symbol of fertility. Over the years, the original meaning of many common ornamental compositions has been lost.

The size and purpose of the carpet, the nature of the motifs, the color scheme, the central pattern and border determined its ornamental composition. One of the most common techniques was the alternation of floral or geometric motifs along the entire length of the carpet. On many carpets, the central pattern consisted of a repetition of one or two motifs, having a vertical or horizontal direction. In areas of the carpet not filled with main patterns, small motifs-signs could be located (year of manufacture, initials of the owner or carpet maker, household items, etc.). An important role in the decorative design of the carpet was played by the border, which differed from the central pattern in both color and pattern. Typically, Moldavian carpets had a two-, three-, or four-sided border. Since ancient times, ornamental motifs and carpet compositions have had names. In the 19th century the most common names were “Rainbow”, “Loaf”, “Nut Leaf”, “Vase”, “Bouquet”, “Spider”, “Cockerels”. When creating a carpet, Moldavian craftswomen always solved a seemingly already known composition or ornamental motif in a new way. Therefore, each of their products is unique and inimitable.
Traditional dyes
Another important feature of Moldovan carpets is their amazing colors. The traditional Moldavian carpet is characterized by calm and warm tones and color harmony. Previously, solutions prepared from flowers, plant roots, tree bark, and leaves were used to dye wool. Mackerel, dandelion flowers, oak bark, walnut and onion peels were often used to obtain dyes. Carpet makers knew how to determine the time of harvesting plants, knew the best combinations of plant materials, and had excellent knowledge of wool dyeing methods. Natural dyes gave the old folk carpet extraordinary expressiveness. The most common colors were brown, green, yellow, pink, and blue. If any motif was repeated in a carpet composition, it was done in a different color each time, which gave it undoubted originality. With the appearance in the second half of the 19th century. aniline dyes expanded the color spectrum of Moldavian carpets, but the artistic value decreased somewhat, since pastel, calm tones gave way to bright, sometimes devoid of sense of proportion, chemical dyes.
Moldavian carpet in the 20th century

During the twentieth century. carpet weaving continued to develop. The leading ornamental compositions in rural areas continued to be “Bouquet” and “Wreath”, bordered by garlands of flowers in combination with geometric motifs. The colors of modern carpets have become brighter and more saturated. Some subjects were borrowed from factory fabric patterns. The creativity of Moldovan carpet weavers had a certain influence on the carpet weaving of other nations, as well as samples of factory carpets, both domestic and imported. Despite the improvement of a number of technological processes on vertical weaving mills, the main work of rural carpet weavers, as before, was done manually. Carpet weaving is most widespread in the Moldovan villages of Baraboi, Plop, Criscautsi, Livedeni, Badichany, Petreni, Tabora and others. Also in Moldova there are Ukrainian villages, such as Moshana, Maramonovka, etc., where carpet weaving is also widespread.

The historian of textile technology E. A. Tseitlin adhered to the same point of view: “...Thus, by the end of the era of the early commune... mankind had already mastered such elements of textile production in the broad sense of the word as primitive leather processing, the use of tree bark , stems, leaves and animal hair, followed by felting them, weaving twigs, strips and ribbons, sewing... clothes, the ability to twist ropes and twist threads in an elementary way.”
An interesting statement by the famous German architect of the last century, G. Semper, about the relationship between weaving and architecture: “There is no doubt that weaving is older than architecture, that the ornament was transferred not from the walls to the fabrics, but, on the contrary, from the fabrics to the walls. It is enough just to look at the regular arrangement of lines and figures to recognize the alternation of threads in them.”
Of course, none of the types of fibrous materials could survive for a long time. The oldest fabric in the world is linen fabric, found in 1961 during excavations of an ancient settlement near the Turkish village of Catal Huyuk and made around 6500 BC. e. It is interesting that until recently this fabric was considered to be wool, and only a careful microscopic examination of more than 200 samples of old woolen fabrics from Central Asia and Nubia showed that the fabric found in Turkey was linen.

In the ancient literature of China, India, Western Asia and Egypt there are numerous opiations associated with weaving. There are many such references in Greek and Roman literature

There are known finds of spindle whorls* [*A spindle whorl is a weight placed on a spindle to give it stability and uniform rotation] in Crete, dating back to about 5000 BC. e. This is unmistakable evidence of a culture familiar with weaving. Whorls were repeatedly found in settlements of the same time, and places for weaving looms were found in Egyptian predynastic burials (5000-3400 BC).
During excavations of settlements of the lake inhabitants of Switzerland, a large amount of fabrics made from bast fibers and wool was discovered. This served as further evidence that weaving was known to people of the Stone Age (Paleolithic). The settlements were opened in the winter of 1853-1854. That winter turned out to be so cold and dry that the level of the alpine lakes in Switzerland dropped sharply. As a result, local residents saw the ruins of pile settlements, covered with centuries-old silt. During excavations of settlements, a number of cultural layers were discovered, the lowest of which are dated to the Stone Age. Coarse, but quite usable fabrics made from bast fibers, bast and wool were found. Some fabrics were decorated with stylized human figures painted with natural colors.

Design of a Lusatian culture loom around 1300.

In the 70s of the 20th century, with the development of underwater archeology, research into settlements in the vast Alpine region on the borders of France, Italy and Switzerland began again. The settlements dated from 5000 to 2900 BC. e. Many remains of fabrics were found, including twill weave, balls of thread, reeds of wooden looms, wooden spindles for spinning wool and flax, and various needles. All finds indicate that the inhabitants of the settlements were engaged in weaving themselves.
The first looms had a vertically positioned warp, which was tied to horizontal tree branches. At the bottom, the threads were attached to the trunks of fallen trees or clamped with stones. Young flexible shoots of bushes and trees, secured with pegs on the ground, could also serve as the lower part of such a vertical machine. The weft was woven into the warp by hand.
A variant of the vertical weaving device was the frame of the Brazilian Bakairi tribe. Two pillars were dug vertically into the ground and wrapped with thick cotton thread, which served as a base. The wefts were threaded by hand, running the warp with your fingers, using a stick on which the weft was wound. The vertical frame loom was also the original form of weaving technique among most African tribes. The work of picking warp threads by hand is tedious and unproductive. The further stage in the development of weaving technology was the appearance in the 5th millennium BC. e. handloom.
During the Bronze Age, weaving looms were so improved that they are still used unchanged by some uncivilized tribes today. A crossbar was attached to two vertical pillars at the top, to which the warp threads were tied. Weights suspended from below to the warp threads ensured their tension. A further development of machines of this type was the introduction of warp and fabric storage units (beam and commodity roller).
Ethnographers Chapel and Kuhn divide all types of primitive looms into three groups: 1) with one fixed beam mounted on two vertical beams; 2) with two fixed beams and a footrest (in most cases, horizontal type); 3) with two rotating beams.
The loom appeared at a fairly late stage in the development of human culture. He remained unknown throughout the territory of Polynesian culture, most Indian tribes, the tribes of South Africa and the Far North, and the steppe peoples of Asia. All these tribes used braiding or leno devices, as well as other methods of making clothing (from tree bark, from animal skins, felt, etc.).
The first fabrics were very simple in structure. As a rule, they were produced using plain weave. However, quite early they began to produce ornamented fabrics, using religious symbols and simplified figures of people and animals as decorative elements. The ornament was applied to raw fabrics by hand. Later they began to decorate fabrics with embroidery.
The monuments of culture and applied art that have reached us have made it possible to restore the nature of the patterns used at that time, covering the border of the collar, sleeves and hem of clothing, and sometimes the belt. The nature of the patterns changed from simple geometric ones, sometimes using plant motifs, to complex ones with images of animals and people.

North and Central America. Weaving on the American continent, like weaving in the countries of the Old World, has its roots in ancient times. Excavations of settlements that existed long before the Incan civilization have shown that ancient people were very skilled in weaving.
The Indians, like the Egyptians, began with simple plain weave fabrics, but soon produced fabrics in such weaves as twill and leno. They created complex geometric patterns that were woven or painted by hand.
Ancient people used flax, grass, bison hair, rabbit hair and opossum hair for weaving. Later they learned to use the wool of these animals, and their acquaintance with cotton occurred simultaneously with the peoples of the Old World. The looms were similar to those found during excavations in Egypt. The only difference was that instead of a shuttle they used a long twig to insert the weft into the shed.
Woven bags, fishing nets, shoes woven from grass, and clothing made from feathers have been found in ancient rock caves in the Ozark Mountains. Ancient Algonquin pottery vessels have fabric or rope marks, indicating that the vessels were wrapped in woven material during manufacture.
The so-called basket makers (2000 BC) made woven bags and finely woven baskets. A significant step forward in the art of weaving was made by the peoples who lived after the “basket makers” in the southeast of North America. Among the samples of fabrics made at that time are fabrics made from yarn obtained from fibers of wild plants. After cotton began to be used as a raw material for yarn, feathers (for example, turkey feathers) were often woven into cotton fabrics. Prehistoric Indians passed on their ability to make fabrics to their descendants - the Indians, about whom there is written evidence. The latter, in turn, trained the Navajo Indians, who moved to the southwest of North America after Spanish colonization. The Navajo proved to be capable students and soon surpassed their teachers. They made finer and more complex fabrics.
And now Indian women of the Navajo tribe weave on handlooms in the same way as their distant ancestors did. They weave blankets, the patterns of which are stored only in their memory. Navajo blankets and bedding are made using the tapestry technique. Most of these products are woven so tightly that they do not allow water to pass through. Until now, Indian women in one place disturb the design so that the “evil spirit” can come out of the blanket. This distinctive marking distinguishes Navajo blankets.
From Mayan weaving, only a whorl and a small number of fragments of fabrics found at the bottom of the Chichen Itza spring remained. And only frescoes, ceramics and sculpture tell us about Mayan fabrics, which, judging by the images, were as beautiful as Peruvian fabrics. The raw materials widely used were annual and perennial cotton, which grows throughout the Yucatan Peninsula. Rabbit wool was brought from Mexico. Before weaving, the yarn was dyed in accordance with the symbolism adopted by the Mayans. They made simple, coarse “manta” fabrics 16.5 m long, colorful “huipil” fabrics for women, fabrics for men’s pants and curtains, capes for leaders, priests and idols. Protective equipment was made from manta cloth soaked in salt solution.
The Mayan weaving devices were no different from the conventional devices used by all American Indians. Weaving among the Mayans was a domestic occupation for women. Unlike the Incas, the Mayans did not assign “selected women” to weave in monasteries. Fabrics were made both for themselves and for sale.
Peru. One of the outstanding centers of ancient weaving is Peru. The dry climate of the Peruvian coast resembles Egypt. As in Egypt, burial sites were chosen in desert areas where there is practically no rain, which ensured good preservation of the tissues. Peruvian “mummies,” like Egyptian ones, were wrapped in thin fabrics, probably specially made for funerary purposes.
The ancient inhabitants of Peru knew cotton, wool and bast fibers (except flax, which was unknown). We have no information about the beginning of textile production in the mountains, but on the coast the first fiber was cotton; bast fibers were used mainly for special products: thin hair nets, ropes, etc. Very early wool from llamas, alpacas and wild animals appeared among the materials. vikun. For coarse fabrics, llama wool (yellow-brown) was used; finer fabrics were alpaca wool (white, black and brown).
The earliest Peruvian textiles were found during excavations at Huaca Prieta, a Paleolithic site on the North Coast dating back to around 2500 BC. e. About 3 thousand fragments of fabrics were found, mostly cotton, and only a small amount of some local bast fiber; there were no woolen fabrics at all. About 78 percent of the fabrics are made using the leno technique, which directly developed from weaving.
Huaca Prieta fabrics are made using a very simple technique. They are much coarser than later fabrics, but they cannot be called primitive. All fabrics are no more than 20 cm wide and approximately twice as long. The density of the warp is higher than that of the weft. Sometimes short sections of the base were left free to form the pattern. Leno fabrics were probably made without a frame, with warp threads suspended from a stick. After laying, the welt was tied to the edge. The most commonly used ornamental motifs are images of snakes and birds.
During the so-called creative period (1250-850 BC), several more types of weaving techniques appeared, but the production of leno fabrics also continued.
In the burials of the cultist period (850-300 BC), a sufficient amount of fabric was preserved in order to judge the level of weaving. Technology has made significant advances over earlier periods. Among the types of technology used are tapestry technology, the production of openwork and two-layer fabrics. Fringe and tassels were used to decorate gauze fabrics and fabrics such as modern greensbon. During the same period, the use of pedals on the loom was noted.
The most famous burial of this period is Paracas Cavernas, located on the South Coast. Coarse cotton fabrics of medium quality were found here, most of which were decorated with embroidery and openwork fabrics. Almost all openwork fabrics are cotton, but sometimes wool. The oldest examples of double-layer fabrics were found in Paracas Cavernas. Their high quality suggests a long period of development of this type of technology, one of the most beloved by ancient Peruvian weavers. To produce two-layer fabrics, two warps and two wefts were used, each pair had its own color. The result was a fabric with contrasting colors on the front and back layers, which were knitted along the contour of the pattern with changing layers. Double-layer fabrics were mainly used for bags. During production, warp and weft of the same linear density were taken. The density of the fabrics is small and does not exceed 19 threads per centimeter. Almost all two-layer fabrics are cotton, the most common colors being white and brown. Rare examples of three- and four-layer fabrics, each layer of which has its own color, were also found. Brocade fabrics are also widespread in Paracas Cavernas, but the earliest examples were found in Supa on the Central Coast. Brocade, or brocade, weaving consists of introducing an additional patterned weft into the shed across the entire width of the fabric, which is brought to the surface where it is necessary for the pattern; in other places it is hidden by a thick ground weft.
The earliest tapestry fabrics, in some cases with areas of openwork weave, also belong to the cultist period. Unlike tapestry fabrics from other countries, Peruvian tapestry fabrics are medium in size and woven very tightly. They were mainly used for clothing, bags, etc., although there are some examples of trellises. When working in the tapestry technique, the weaver can either complete one line of weft using all the colors, or finish the pattern in one color completely and then move on to a pattern in another color. The latter technique is more complex, but, in all likelihood, it was the one used by Peruvian weavers in the production of kelim and eccentric fabrics. The characteristic decoration was a regularly repeating pattern, often geometric with straight lines, although a pattern of stylized images of animals was quite often used. The most perfect, thinnest and most beautiful Peruvian fabrics were made using the new tapestry technique.
Tapestry fabrics have always been made with a cotton warp and wool weft at a very high weft density. The famous researcher of Peruvian antiquities D. Bird describes a sample of fabric with an average weft density of 128.7 threads per centimeter, reaching in some places up to 197 threads per centimeter. (In European tapestry fabrics, the weft density did not exceed 33.5 threads per centimeter. For the weft, a woolen thread was usually taken in two plies, for the warp, a cotton thread in three plies. The usual warp density was 26.4 threads per centimeter.) Almost every technique Peruvian weavers had their own variations of weaving. One such variant of the tapestry technique, called the "transparent tapestry", is a sparse cotton crepe woven from single threads and has the appearance of a veil.
On the North coast, fabrics from the experimental period (from 300 BC to 200 AD) were not preserved enough to judge the development of textile production, but on the South coast, in 1927, Tello, not far from Paracas Cavernas, discovered a Necropolis, intended for the burial of representatives of the highest classes, leaders or priests. The body was wrapped in long cotton cloth. These fabrics are interesting for their size. Some of them are 3.9 meters wide and 25.5 meters long, while fabrics 1.5 meters wide are almost unknown throughout Peru.
The fabrics of Necropolis are perfectly preserved. Several types of technology were used to develop them. The fabrics are mainly decorated with embroidery. In some of them, embroidery covers the entire surface. Embroidery stitches are directed along the threads. In terms of the overall level, Necropolis fabrics are among the best in the world.
In the years 200-600, Peruvian textiles entered the classical stage of development. All types of weaving techniques were used to produce fabrics. Not a single technical improvement was made until the Spanish conquest. Particularly interesting are the fabrics of this period from Nazca (South Coast).
In Tiahuanaco (Southern Highlands), pile and terry fabrics first appeared, for which several processes were used in Peru. In the first, the laid duck was pulled upward with loops approximately 2.5 centimeters long, which made it possible to obtain horizontal loop lines. Probably the burrs passed through a rod, which was then removed. An interesting Peruvian invention is the use of colored bundles of fibers that are caught in warp and weft loops. Then the pile was trimmed and a flat, smooth surface was obtained. This technique was used to make hats, headbands and bags. In fabrics, this technique was used for insulation.
In the following historical periods, while the general nature of the fabric ornament remained unchanged, only some of its elements changed. The main motifs were “roads” and stripes with repetition of small geometric shapes and stylized images of animals in several colors. The characteristic Peruvian technique is the “rod” technique, or “weft support”, or “patchwork” technique. The essence of the technique was that weaving was carried out on special skeletal yarn or cords, which were removed from the finished fabric. The fabric was then strengthened by introducing additional threads (often after back-dying), usually using a needle.
During the period of the “Epigonian” Tiahuanaco, tapestry technology reached its peak. At this time, the thinnest tapestry fabrics were made.
The best examples of warp-laying fabrics found on the South Coast belong to the later periods. The warp in them was always cotton, the weft was either cotton or wool. Reps and linen fabrics with a rep effect were common.
Most peoples in the early stages of development used pieces of fabric as clothing, so their appearance was very important. The Peruvians made trapezoid-shaped fabrics and decorated them with borders and fringes. In borders, as a rule, a pattern was made that was different from the background pattern; it was often made using a different technique. The fringe was made from warp loops, with which it was secured to the crossbars of the machine. Temporary outer warp threads were probably removed from the sides. Often the fringe loops were trimmed with threads.
One of the interesting achievements of the Peruvians was the weaving of tubular belts, ribbons and belts. This technique has not been studied, but according to the American historian Mason, the warp was pulled over rings and the weft was laid in a spiral. Usually one of the warp weaves was used. Handles for bags were made from hollow fabrics. This type of weaving became widespread only in later periods.
Three types of looms were probably used in Peruvian weaving. The first type refers to belt weaving devices; most fabrics were woven with it. One crossbar was attached to a pole or tree, the other to a belt that covered the weaver's back. The necessary tension of the base was maintained using a belt. After receiving half of the fabric, the device was turned over and weaving began on the other side. As the clearance decreased, the wooden shed-forming strips were removed. The last welt was made using a needle. This primitive weaving device was used virtually unchanged for many centuries. Two other types of looms - horizontal for making blankets and vertical for tapestry weaving - were common in all countries.

T better art in ancient literature and art

Weaving has always occupied an important place in people's lives. Almost all peoples of the world have myths and legends associated with the production of textiles, which are reflected in the literature and art of that time.
There are many references to weaving in ancient Greek literature (Homeric epic). Thus, weaving is the favorite pastime of the goddess Athena. Almost all the women mentioned in the poems weaved: Aretha, Helen, Penelope, Circe, etc. From vase paintings it is known that the vertical type loom with weights suspended from the bottom of the warp, described by Homer, was known throughout Greece.

Homer tells the famous story of Penelope and her loom in The Odyssey. Odysseus, king of the island of Ithaca and husband of Penelope, was one of the main heroes of the Trojan War. After the end of the war, upon returning to his homeland, Odysseus had to experience a number of adventures over the course of 10 years. Penelope remained faithful to Odysseus and asked her many fans to wait for an answer until she finished weaving a shroud for old Laertes, Odysseus’s father. Penelope diligently weaved all day, and at night she unraveled everything she had done during the day. The bribed maids revealed to the suitors the secret of her endless work. Penelope had a hard time in the face of angry fans, but Odysseus returned in time. The gods thanked Penelope well for her devotion to her husband (and weaving too), making her the patroness of weaving. Elsewhere in the Odyssey the high quality of the fabrics is spoken of:

"...fabrics
They were so dense that even thin oil did not penetrate into them.
How excellent were the Phaeacian men in government?
Fast their ships on the seas, so excellent are their wives
Were in weaving: the goddess Athena herself taught them
All handicraft arts, revealing them and many tricks.”

There are also many indications in later Greek literature that weaving was a very common household activity. Athenian girls made one patterned blanket per year for Athena, the patroness of the city. Aristotle noted that the most famous master weavers in the weaving of Panathenaic peplos were Akezas and Helikon. Fabrics made by Pamphilias and Alcimenes were very popular in the Greek world. Iphigenia, the heroine of Aristophanes’ comedy “Lysistrata,” spent a lot of time at the weaving loom. From literary sources it is known that Miletus was famous at that time for purple patterned fabrics and carpets, Imbros for fabrics made of hare’s hair, Megara for everyday fabrics. In the tragedy of Euripides “Iphigenia in Tauris” it is said that the heroine wove a fabric depicting a solar eclipse and the quarrel between Atreus and Thyestes.
The poet Fiocritus in the idyll “The Syracusans” described the fabrics made for the religious mysteries in Alexandria:

“What kind of weavers, Athena, wove these covers for them!
Whose skillful brush created the beauty of these images:
After all, the living stand, the living walk on the fabric.
You will say, with their souls: there is no wiser man in the world!

Patterned fabrics with mythological scenes woven on them are mentioned by the historian of the Egyptian king Ptolemy Philadelphus Callixenus, when describing the royal tent.
The patterns of Greek fabrics of that time can be judged from vase paintings. An amphora from Melos (circa 6th century BC) depicts Apollo, Argo, Opis and Artemis coming towards them. The figures wear clothes made of fabrics with a checkerboard pattern, as well as a pattern based on a geometric pattern. Complex patterns consisting of elements of geometric and floral patterns cover the clothes of Achilles and Ajax playing checkers in an amphora painting from the third quarter of the 6th century BC. e. (Vatican Museums, Rome), Dionysus in a boat on a kylix painting dating from the same time (Museum of Ancient Small Art, Munich).
Roman authors often mention weaving. For example, Pliny the Elder wrote about the production of patterned fabrics in Alexandria and the gold-woven “robes of Attalus.” Ovid in “Metamorphoses” spoke about the beautiful Greek woman Arachne from Lydia, a skilled weaver who dared to challenge the goddess of wisdom, patroness of sciences, arts and crafts, Pallas Athena, to a competition. Athena depicted on the canvas the Acropolis and her dispute with Poseidon for the possession of Attica:

“Mars Tritonia hill on the Kekropov fortress with a thread
It also depicts a dispute about how to name this land.
Here are the twelve gods with Jupiter in the middle
They sit in high chairs, in majestic peace. Any
One can recognize by appearance...”

Arachne created a canvas - “an exposure of the vices of heaven” with the image of Olympus and the life of the gods. An angry Athena hit Arachne in the face with a shuttle, after which Arachne hanged herself out of resentment. But this was not enough for the vengeful goddess; she revived the girl and then turned her into a spider, doomed to weave a web forever.
Other peoples had similar legends. Many paintings of the Egyptian goddess Isis have been found with a shuttle in her hand, indicating that the supreme goddess of Egypt, sister and wife of Osiris, goddess of arts and crafts, was also the goddess of weaving. Enki, the Sumerian god of wisdom, “created the thread,” perfected the “craft of woman,” entrusting it to the weaving goddess Uttu. According to Pliny the Younger, the Assyrians attributed the honor of discovering weaving to Queen Semiramis, the wife of King Ninus, the founder of Assyria. Pliny himself believed that this discovery belonged to the Egyptians. The Greeks believed that the goddess Athena taught people how to weave, the Romans - Minerva. Muslims thought that this was done by the grandson of Noah, one of the characters in the Old Testament and the Koran, the Incas - Mama Oklo, the wife of Manco Copac, their first semi-legendary ruler.
In the myths of the Chibcha Indians (Colombia), there is a certain bearded old man Bochica, who came from the East and taught them to weave cotton fabrics, grow fruits, build houses, and worship the gods. Having passed on the knowledge, the elder left. But soon an evil woman appeared to the chibcha, who wanted people to forget everything, teaching them idle idleness, dancing and merry celebrations. The sage found out about this, returned and turned the evil woman into an owl.
Many Far Eastern peoples have legends about heavenly weavers helping poor and humiliated people.
The sun goddess Amaterasu in Japanese mythology weaves together with the celestial weavers.
A poetic adaptation of ancient Iranian legends is the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi, in which Tahmures, the third ruler of Ancient Iran, is considered the discoverer of weaving. Ancient Iranians believed that the first textile fiber used by humans was wool:

“The king began to teach people a new business,”
Sheep fleece is sheared and twisted;
Taught how to turn fleece into clothing,
Weave it so that it becomes a carpet.”

Only the next ruler, Dzhemshid, teaches people to use flax and silk and produce patterned fabrics:

“Then he invented for battles and feasts
Clothes: spent another half century
For the manufacture of silk, furs, linen
From cocoons, skins and light flax,
He taught how to spin threads and, standing at the loom,
Weave cleverly into the warp of the wefts.”

By the beginning of the new era, weaving reaches such a level that people cannot think of weaving other than as a gift sent down to them from heaven.

Isto riya weaving industries
Everything has a story.
D. Granin “Painting”

Cotton weaving

The most important raw material of the textile industry is cotton, but it took its leading position among other types of raw materials only at the beginning of the 19th century. Until this time, this role belonged to flax.
The birthplace of cotton weaving is India, where cotton fabrics woven between 3250-2750 BC were found at Mohenjo-Daro. e. Detailed information about cotton and fabrics made from it is given in the Indian sacred books “Manu” (about 800 BC).
Other information about cotton weaving in India appears several centuries later. Herodotus in 445 BC e. reports on the production of cotton fabrics in India: “There are wild trees there, on which wool grows instead of fruits; the beauty and quality of the wool obtained from sheep is superior. The Indians make clothes from this tree wool." Theophrastus (370-287 BC), a Greek philosopher and naturalist, shed light on the issue of cotton cultivation to some extent: “The trees from which the Indians make fabrics have leaves like mulberries, but in general they are similar to rose hips. They plant these trees in rows so that from a distance they look like a vineyard.” Nearchus, a military commander in the army of Alexander the Great, reported: “In India there are trees on which wool grows. Locals make it into linen clothing, wearing a knee-length shirt, a sheet wrapped around the shoulders, and a turban. The fabrics they make from this wool are finer and whiter than any others.” The Greek geographer Strabo confirmed the validity of Nearchus' report and noted that in his time (54-25 BC) cotton fabrics were produced in Susiana, a Persian province on the shores of the Persian Gulf.
The first mention of the trade in cotton fabrics, made by the Greek writer, merchant and sailor Flavius Arrian in the 2nd century, also dates back to India. In his description of the voyages, he talks about the trade of several Indian cities with the Arabs and Greeks, naming calico fabrics, muslins and other fabrics with floral patterns as goods brought by the Arabs.

In the 9th century, Arab travelers wrote that India produced fabrics of such perfection that could not be seen anywhere else. The fabrics produced are so thin that they can be passed through a ring. Marco Polo gave an enthusiastic review of the quality of Indian fabrics in the 13th century.
In 1563, Oscar Frederick, a Venetian merchant, noted that in India there are paints that only become fresh after washing. In the mid-17th century, Tavernier, a merchant and traveler, wrote about bleaching calico fabrics in lemon water. Some of them were so thin that the hand could hardly feel them. He saw such a fine variety of calico that a person's skin was visible through clothes made from this fabric.
The spread of cotton weaving to China, neighboring India, was very slow. The first mention of cotton here dates back to 2640 BC. e., however, it is also known that in the 7th century, cotton in China was used mainly as an ornamental plant. According to the reports of Arab travelers, at this time in China they wore mainly silk clothes. In the 6th century, Emperor Wu Li had a very expensive cotton dress, but most likely he received it as a gift. The wide spread of cotton weaving in China occurred only at the end of the 13th century after its conquest by the Mongol-Tatars.
Ancient Egyptian literature and art do not give us information about the use of cotton in that era and do not mention cotton weaving in earlier times.
Herodotus reports that Pharaoh Ahmose II (XXVI Dynasty, approximately 569-525 BC) donated two linen breastplates embroidered with cotton threads: one to the Samians and Lacedomonians, and the other to the temple at Linda. The virtuosity of the Egyptian spinners can be judged by the fact that the threads in the breastplates are spun from 360 single threads. Pliny the Elder pointed out that Egyptian priests, like ordinary people, wore clothes made from cotton grown in Upper Egypt, near Arabia. According to this author, cotton weaving was known to the inhabitants of the island of Tilos (Bahrain).
The oldest cotton fabrics found in Egypt were discovered in Caranoga (Nubia) and date back to the Greco-Roman period. At first they were even mistaken for linen, and only later research established their cotton nature. However, a number of authors have suggested that these fabrics are of Sudanese origin, based on fabrics from the Greco-Roman period found in Meroe (Sudan). Archaeologist R. Pfister dates the beginning of cotton weaving in Egypt to a time several centuries removed from the Arab conquest, pointing out that all cotton fabrics from earlier periods found in Egypt were imported.
From India, cotton growing and cotton processing spread to neighboring countries, which was largely facilitated by the campaigns of Alexander the Great. There is evidence that in the 2nd century, cotton weaving from local raw materials existed in Elis (Greece). The ancient Romans, having conquered the Eastern and Southern coasts of the Mediterranean Sea, took from there a large amount of cotton fabrics, but nothing is known about the production of cotton fabrics by the Romans. But it is known that Caesar’s entire army wore uniforms made of cotton fabrics.

At the beginning of the 8th century, cotton weaving appeared in Japan, but soon the production of cotton fabrics in Japan ceased and was revived there only in the 17th century by the Portuguese.
Very early on, the inhabitants of Central Asia, which lay at the crossroads of the great caravan routes, became acquainted with the cultivation of cotton. In 1252, the monk William de Rubricis, an envoy of Louis IX, noted the trade in cotton fabrics and the use of clothing made from these fabrics in the Crimea and southern Rus', where they were delivered from Central Asia.
Arabs, conquerors and merchants played a major role in the spread of cotton in the Middle Ages. According to numerous sources of the 8th-9th centuries, cotton clothing was widely used in Arabia. Having conquered Spain in the 8th century, the Arabs brought cotton processing technology there. In Valencia, paper and muslin were woven until the expulsion of the Arabs. In the 13th century, in Barcelona and Granada there were cotton establishments that were significant at that time, producing canvas and velvet. However, with the expulsion of the Arabs, cotton weaving in Spain fell into decline. From Spain, cotton weaving of some types of fabrics moved to Venice and Milan in the 14th century. In the 14th century, in Milan, as well as in southern German cities, they produced paper, a fabric with a linen warp and a cotton weft.
The Crusades played a significant role in the spread of cotton in Europe. Thanks to them, Genoa and Venice became centers of lively trade between Europe and the East. From Italy, cotton production came through Switzerland to Germany, where the city of Ulm became the center of this production. From Ulm, cotton weaving spread to other cities in Germany, especially in Saxony. In 1532, a special type of velvet was made in Chemnitz, which was in great demand in Europe. From Germany, cotton weaving came to France and then to England.
Among the goods imported to England, cotton was first mentioned in 1212, but until the 14th century, only wicks for lamps were made from it, and until 1773, cotton threads were used only as weft. Cotton fabrics began to be produced only in 1774. In the same year, a law on their labeling was adopted: counterfeiting a trademark or selling fabrics with a false brand were severely punished.
Despite the spread of cotton weaving throughout Europe, misconceptions about the growth of cotton continued to exist for a very long time, fed by the inventions of idle travelers. An unknown Liege author of the 14th century, hiding under the fictitious name of the English knight John Mandeville, wrote that “in India there grows a wonderful tree, at the ends of which lambs grow. These branches are so flexible that they bend down for the lambs to browse on the grass on the ground.”
The history of cotton in America goes back centuries. Cotton appeared on the Peruvian coast around 3000 BC. e. It has been proven that American-cultivated cotton is a hybrid of Asian cultivated and American wild cotton.
The first written mention of American cotton appeared in the journal of Christopher Columbus on October 12, 1492, when describing the first island he discovered in the Caribbean. A few days later, Columbus saw tents, clothing, bags and nets made from cotton threads. In 1519, Magellan discovered the use of cotton in Brazil.
In Russian literature, mentions of cotton weaving date back to the reign of Ivan III (1440-1505), when Russian merchants brought “muslin fly and cotton paper” from Kafa (Feodosia). With the discovery of the North of Russia by the British, cotton and products made from it began to enter the country through Arkhangelsk from the middle of the 16th century. However, until the beginning of the 19th century, the production of cotton fabrics in Russia was relatively small, concentrated in certain places, such as Astrakhan, Moscow and Vladimir provinces.
Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, wanting to expand the consumption of cotton fabrics, decided to start cotton growing in Russia. In 1665, he instructed the Armenian Lgov to get cotton seeds in Astrakhan. The following year, the Astrakhan governor received a royal order: “to call upon Indian artisans who know how to make kindyak and calico, and send... cotton paper, since it’s a lot more beautiful.” Lgov got the cotton, but the governor could not fulfill the royal order. The tsar's second order was not fulfilled either - to find weavers in Astrakhan. However, in 1672, the tsar gave a new order to the governor: “to find among the foreigners the cotton seed of Dobrov himself, as much as possible, and a gardener who knows Dobrov himself and Smirnov, who would be able to start paper in Moscow. And if there is no one found in Astrakhan, the boyar and the governor of the seed will be ordered to contract and bring out from across the sea... and the master will be called from across the sea.” Further, in the same order, it was instructed to find “weavers who could make calico, muslin, kindyak, ferespir, calico and paper from cotton paper.” But this order of the tsar was not carried out, since there is no information about the cultivation of cotton near Moscow and the production of cotton fabrics during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich.
The first in Russia to produce cotton fabrics was the Russified Dutchman, the owner of a linen establishment in Moscow, Ivan Tames. In the 20s of the 18th century, he began making cotton fabrics “from Chinese paper, Persian motley paper, paper buttons, Indian gingas, various German motleys, German teak.”
In the early 40s of the 18th century, the first “decree” factory was established in Astrakhan, created by decree of the Manu invoice board. In addition to cotton fabrics, it also produced silk fabrics.
In 1775, Catherine II published a manifesto proclaiming freedom “to each and every one... to voluntarily establish all kinds of camps and produce all kinds of handicrafts on them, without requiring any other permission from a higher or lower place.” From that time on, the rapid spread of cotton establishments began. By the end of the 18th century, the center of Russian cotton production moved to the area adjacent to the village of Ivanovo.

Flax weaving

Flax grows wild in the area between the Persian Gulf, Caspian and Black Seas. For thousands of years it was cultivated by the peoples of Mesopotamia, Assyria and Egypt. Remains of linen fabrics have been found in many excavations of ancient human settlements, with the oldest of them, found in Catal Huyuk (Turkey), dating back to around 6500 BC. e. . From here, linen weaving spread to Europe and the Far East. There is one Sumerian mythological poem that tells how a coverlet was made for the wedding bed of the goddess Inanna.
The soaking of flax was first described by the famous Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder in his encyclopedic work Natural History. According to him, “thanks to flax... Egypt is able to import goods from Arabia and India” and the country “makes huge profits from flax.”

Weaving is the process of forming fabric from threads and yarn. When weaving, the warp (longitudinal) and weft (transverse) threads are intertwined with each other in a certain order. The weaving process includes preparatory operations and the actual weaving performed on a loom.

Preparation of weft threads consists of rewinding the yarn onto the cobs and eliminating any existing defects. Warp threads in pro-

The desse of preparation is subjected to rewinding, warping, sizing, oiling and threading into lamellas, eyes of the heddle, reed.

The weaving process is carried out on various types of looms: shuttle and shuttleless. Shuttles include: mechanical eccentric and carriage; automatic single-shuttle and multi-shuttle; jacquard. Shuttleless - STB (micro-shuttle) looms, hydraulic (the weft thread is thrown with a drop of water), pneumatic (air jet), pneumomechanical (pneumo-rapier), etc.

Recently, more productive machines have appeared, for example, the TMM-360 multi-strand weaving machine is several times more productive than an automatic one. The introduction of the Jacquard-1 system makes it possible to increase the pattern programming process in the production of jacquard fabrics by 30-50 times compared to the manual process.

Weaving is a certain order of mutual overlap in the fabric of the warp and weft threads. When fabric is formed on a loom, the warp threads in a certain sequence lie either above or below the weft ones. The place where the warp thread passes under the weft thread is called the weft overlap, the place where the weft thread lies under the warp thread is called the warp overlap. Thanks to the combination of individual overlaps, a weaving pattern is formed on the surface of the fabric. Therefore, the weave is one of the factors that determines the structure of the fabric. Depending on the weave, the appearance and properties of the fabric change.

Due to the interweaving of a large number of warp (O) and weft (U) threads in the fabric, the weaving pattern of the fabric is usually repeated many times. The smallest number of threads that form a complete repeating pattern is called repeat.

The shift is a number that shows how many threads the overlap formed during the next weft insertion shifts from the adjacent one located during the previous weft insertion.

The variety of weaving weaves can be divided into four classes.

The main weaves have one system of O and U threads; in rapport, the number of threads O is equal to the number of threads U; all threads in the repeat have the same number of overlaps. The main weaves include plain, twill, satin and satin.

Rice. Simple (main) weaves:

a - linen; b - twill; c - satin with main covering; a - satin with weft covering

Finely patterned weaves are divided into two subclasses: derivatives from the main ones and combined ones. The main derivatives include: derivatives of plain weave - rep and matting; derivatives of twill - reinforced twill, complex twill, broken and reverse twill, diagonal; derivatives of satin and satin - reinforced satin, reinforced satin. Combined weaves: crepe, waffle, translucent, lapitine, etc.

Complex weaves differ from those previously discussed in that their formation requires more than two systems of warp or weft threads. Complex weaves are divided into one-and-a-half-layer, two-face, two-layer, pique, leno, loop (terry), pile, etc. (Fig. 2.4, a, b; 2.5, a, b).

Large-patterned weaves are characterized by a large rapport on the warp and the presence of a variety of patterns, both in shape and in complexity. These fabrics are produced on weaving looms with Jacquard machines. Therefore, large-patterned fabrics are usually called jacquard. They are divided into simple and complex, with large and small patterns.

Rice. Finely patterned weaves: a - matting 2/2; b - broken twill; c - combined weave

Rice. Weave: a - looped (terry); b - leno