Textile technology
Follow the journey from hand-spun fibres to mechanised spinning and weaving.
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How did people turn loose fibres into thread, thread into cloth, and handwork into an industry? Follow the stories below, then explore the machines behind them. Historical research and guest essays are brought together in one reading guide.
The evolution of spinning
Stories & perspectives
The Evolution of Textile Machinery: From Hand Spindles to Fully Automated Mills
Few technologies have shaped human civilization as profoundly as textile production. For thousands of years, clothing, sails, ropes, and fabrics defin...
The Evolution of Spinning (I): Industrial Espionage
The rise of the Industrial Revolution can, more or less, be traced back to a breathtaking episode of industrial espionage…In reality, things were not...
The Evolution of Spinning (II): The Long Night
Spinning is the primary skill that enables humans to make use of fibers. The craft of spinning began to develop not long after humans first started ma...
The Evolution of Spinning (III): The Gift of Plants
Imagine that you are a clever and dexterous Neanderthal living in the Late Paleolithic. You need thread and rope. You need thread to join animal skins...
The Evolution of Spinning (IV): Humanity's Friends
Plants contributed their bast fibers to humanity’s great textile enterprise. But what about animals? At first glance, the answer seems obvious: are no...
The Evolution of Spinning (V): Arthropods
In addition to those animal fibers that “grow out,” there is also another kind of animal fiber that is “spun out” or “secreted”—one of enormous import...
Related collection
Full collection
Spinning Jenny
Finger-twisting (Hand spinning without tools)
Thigh Spinning (Hand spinning without tools)
Drop Spindle (Hand spinning)
Warp-Weighted Looms
The Spinning Wheel
