Damask Weaving
Hmm. I need to take a break from ‘the dark side’ of the 1910′s and I found just the document to cheer me up.
The document in question is one in a series of Department Store Manuals published in 1917, the volume for cotton goods and linen.
Now, we all know about the demise of the department store. I bought a dress in Sears (Liz Clairborne tunic 40.00 only) a couple of weeks ago but I had to wait ‘an eternity’ in line as only one cash was open. (I bought it for my trip to New York next week.) And yesterday, in Winners (not really a department store) I had to go check the price of a Calvin Klein hat and glove set myself. But I did find all the (cheap)stuff I needed to accessorize my new tunic.
Flashback to the 1970′s. I had a part time job in the lingerie department of the Bay when I was in Jr. College. How boring. No customers. I just stood there all day fiddling with hangers to ‘look busy.” Of course, I could have cared less about the products I was selling. I didn’t even wear a bra in those days.
In 1972, the department store was already in decline.
But in the 191o’s the department store was a rising concern – and fairly new in Canada. Here’s a paragraph from the introduction of the manual:
“A knowledge of textiles is necessary for anyone who sells textile materials. The sales people in the cotton goods department should know how cotton is grown and picked, how it is manufactured into cloth, and especially should understand the finishing processes which make one cotton material different from another. Otherwise they cannot judge qualities and values.”
Hmm. But no mention of needing to learn about the social and socio-economic impact of the cotton industry. What a surprise! The book does mention that ‘cotton is picked by negroes, or families of negroes.”
And what a great resource it is, thorough and easy to understand, because it is aimed at shopgirls. Crepe de Chine, muslin, chambray, calico. Who was to know? These are cottons and these are all mentioned in the Nicholson letters. Now I can read up on it all.
I think I will begin each chapter of my book with a definition of one type of cotton: sort of like the knot thing in Shipping News.
I think I will have Flora explore the prospect of being a shop girl. Or someone she knows.
