Demonstration Day: Drop Spindle Spinning

Settlers on the Texas frontier, especially settlers who lived far from the urban centers like San Felipe de Austin and Columbia like the McCormicks, had to rely on their own skill to make fabric for clothing. Women made homespun cotton, flax, or wool thread using spinning wheels and primitive looms. Women passed knowledge of spinning from mother to daughter, making textiles a great window into the past.

One of the simplest tools for spinning is a called a drop spindle. Unlike spinning wheels, drop spindle can be easily held in the palm of one’s hand and used to spin threads of various coarseness and thicknesses. The drop spindle can be found in numerous cultures as far back as pre-historic times!

On June 20th, come learn about the history of textile spinning and witness a live demonstration of thread spinning on a drop spindle.