I am always on the lookout for interesting books on historical textiles and quilts. Many times, a book on historical women will have wonderful tidbits about textiles in their lives. And that is how I ended up finding another interesting textile book.

I found this book after seeing an article about it in the DAR magazine “American Spirit S/O 2020” pg. 41-42.

This book of 500 pages covers the importance of the textiles industry in the pre-Revolutionary America. 

 In this time, England got the raw materials for textiles from the Colonies, made the textiles in England, and then sold the complete goods back to the Colonies.  The quality was high, and buying finished goods was a huge time saver for people with the money to buy the goods.

Along came the whole taxation without representation issue via the Townsend Act in 1767. This stopped many people from buying finished goods from England, including textiles and textile products.

The book goes on to describe how this issue pushed the Colonies into making much of their own textiles, which were known as “homespun”. Suddenly the skills necessary for making textiles became significant. There was a rash of contests for spinning and weaving in various areas around the Colonies.

This interesting textile book, at a minimum, is worth borrowing from the library and reading the chapters that may interest you.  At a maximum it is worth purchasing for your own personal library.

Another interesting book on historical quilts and textiles.

PLEASE NOTE: 
ALL PHOTOS AND WRITTEN CONTENT ARE MY OWN UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.