LOOM AND THE SEWING-MACHINE 53 



sale in stores at a far lower cost after taking time and 

 all materials and supplies into consideration. The ar- 

 tistic and emotional gains from the practice of this 

 craft would therefore be a clear gain. 



In the average home, a loom which will weave a 

 width of a yard is sufficient. Ours is able to handle 

 fabrics up to forty- four inches in width. While many 

 things can be made on a simple two-harness loom, we 

 find the four-harness loom a more useful type because 

 of its greater range of design. But every loom should 

 be equipped with an efficient system for warping, 

 and with a flying shuttle, if it is to enable the home- 

 weaver to compete upon an economic basis with the 

 factory. Neither of these are expensive in fact, the 

 whole investment in equipment in order to weave 

 need not exceed $75 if one can make the flying- 

 shuttle arrangement oneself. The shuttle attachment 

 on my loom was home-made and took me only three 

 or four hours to put together. With such a loom, even 

 an average weaver can produce a yard of cloth an 

 hour and a speedy weaver, willing to exert him- 

 self, can produce thirty yards per day. Since it takes 

 only seven yards of twenty-seven-inch cloth to make 

 a three-piece suit for a man, it is possible to weave 

 the cloth for a suit in a single day on a small loom, 

 and in less than a day on a loom able to handle fifty- 

 four-inch cloth. 



Some idea of the possibilities of weaving, even with- 

 out much experience, can be gained from our first 

 experiences with blankets one was woven by a friend 



