May 2023 – September 2023
Until the mid-nineteenth century, Long Island families spent many hours engaged in household textile production. Months of labor were involved, even before weaving took place–from growing flax and raising sheep, to processing the fiber, to spinning and dyeing the yarn. While some households had a loom for weaving simple textiles, families could also bring their homespun yarn to a professional weaver, who had the training and equipment to weave more complex textiles. Featuring locally-made textiles from the Huntington Historical Society and Preservation Long Island, From Farm to Fabric: Early Woven Textiles of Long Island explores the influence that the available tools and materials had on the appearance of those textiles, with a particular focus on the design of woven bed coverings known as coverlets.
