China
Africa
Explore chapters and articles related to this topic
Introduction to Weaving
Published in Yasir Nawab, Syed Talha Ali Hamdani, Khubab Shaker, Structural Textile Design, 2017
This is a process of raising and lowering warp yarns by harnesses to make an opening for the filling (weft) yarn to pass through. In shedding motion, warp threads are divided into two layers. The top layer is called top shed line, and the bottom layer is called bottom shed line. The raised and lowered form of warp yarns is called shed, and there are three types of shedding motions available for different types of fabrics, namely tappet shedding [2], dobby shedding, and jacquard shedding. The shedding is achieved by means of treadles, dobby, or jacquard. The treadles are used in handlooms, operated by the weaver's feet, and in power looms, operated by shedding tappets. The dobby and jacquard are either mechanically controlled or electrically controlled shedding systems. Healds are used in tappet and dobby shedding systems, whereas jacquard controls the warp threads individually for producing sheds by means of hooks, needles, harness cord, and knives. A simple shedding motion controlled by harness is shown in Figure 3.3. On the basis of shed geometry, the shedding is broadly divided into two classes: closed shedding and open shedding.
The tools of tailoring as technologies-in-use in twentieth century Benin, West Africa
Published in History and Technology, 2021
The colonial administration upheld specific models of sewing machines, foot-operated or treadle machines, as inappropriate for women. Foot-operated machines allowed users to guide fabric under the needle with both hands, while their feet moved the treadle, which powered the constant turn of the handwheel and movement of the needle. In nineteenth-century France, male doctors and workers were preoccupied with the effects of treadles on French women’s bodies. These men contended that foot-operated sewing machines had ‘harmful masturbatory effects’ on French women and that the constant movement of their legs and friction between their thighs led to excessive sexual excitement, causing an overall deterioration of women’s health.26 In the colonies, the French were less concerned about the sexual excitement of African women, but were invested in controlling their reproduction.27 French administrators and medical practitioners proposed that the rocking motion and vibrations associated with using the treadle diminished women’s ability to conceive and anecdotes linked treadle machine use to miscarriage.28