Home Economies and Folk Artistry featured at the Home Textile Tool Museum this summer

Spring has finally sprung, and the Home Textile Tool Museum (HTTM) season is not far off. With varied workshops and demonstrations to give you multiple reasons to return, this jewel of a museum in a beautiful rural setting offers much to learn and experience for all ages. 

Have you ever wanted to make baskets, learn to make soap or see a sheep being sheared? Would you like to make rugs? Or learn the basic principles of weaving – on a piece of cardboard, or on a timber-frame loom? All of these things are possible this summer at the Home Textile Tool Museum (HTTM) in Bradford County, Pa. 

Attracting weaving and spinning experts from many states for specific programs, the museum is also appropriate for children and adults who just want a taste of 1800’s farm life and how things were done.

Opening on Saturday, May 19, the Home Textile Tool Museum is located in the idyllic village of Orwell, Pa. and celebrates the many aspects of at-home fiber processing and cloth production in our region in the early 1800’s. The museum is open every Saturday during the summer (except July 7) from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and hosts a variety of activities, demonstrations and workshops.

Opening day demonstrations on May 19 include spinning, weaving, flax processing, natural dyeing and blacksmithing.  

On May 26, Mike Hudyncia will demonstrate sheep shearing. Museum staff will demonstrate the use of Inkle looms designed to weave narrow items such as straps and belts. Pat Hilts will present use and processing of flax to make linen.

Sheep to Shawl Day will take place on June 2.  Local and regional guild members start with shearing a sheep’s wool and proceed to the processes of carding it into roving, spinning it into yarn and ultimately weaving it into a shawl – all in one day. Also on June 2, Dan Rhodes will show how to turn plant fibers into Cordage; Pat Hilts will present “All things Linen” (cloth made from flax) and Dick Warner will be on hand to talk about wood joinery.

Saturday, June 9, will be Bobbin Lace Day with HTTM Curator Pat Hilts. The following week, on June 16, will be Rocker Beater Looms Day with Phyllis Dean. Phyllis completed a graduate thesis on rocker beater looms and weaves on one that has been in her family for generations.

June 23 will be Natural Dye Day with Laryssa Zahajkewycz showing various plants and substances used in the past to color natural fibers. 

June 30 to Aug. 25 feature regular museum tours every Saturday except July 7 (closed for Independence Day holiday). July 14 features Early Samplers with Gary Parks, a sampler collector and Executive Director of the Thomas T. Taber Museum in Williamsport.

Other special Saturday programs include “Sister’s Work: An Exhibit and Talk of Shaker Textile Tools” on July 21; Rug Day on July 28; Small Looms Saturday on Aug. 4; Survey of Early Sewing Machines on Aug. 11 and special lectures on “Memories of Pioneer Mothers” and “Scandinavian Spinning Wheels in the Midwest” on Aug. 18.

The final day of the HTTM season – Aug. 25 – offers the unique experience of Wool Waulking Day. Waulking is the process of finishing wool cloth that has been woven on a loom. The process historically involved soaking (sometimes in urine), pounding, pulling and stretching the cloth to soften the fibers. It is a group activity practiced in various ways around the world (sometimes also referred to as “milling,” “fulling” or “tucking.”). In Scotland, there is a tradition of singing in the Gaelic language while doing the work. At HTTM, visitors and staff will finish a tweed fabric woven at the museum and singing may occur to accompany the task. 

A series of special in-depth workshops are scheduled on select dates (mostly Fridays) from late June to the end of August. Topics featured in these longer workshops include: Coiled Pine Needle Basket Making with Carolyn Lukovich on Friday, June 15; “Drafting Longbow” Spinning workshop with Tracy Sayre on Friday, July 13; Soap Making with Laryssa Zahajkewycz on July 20; “Painting with Wool” Needle Felting with Denise Tarbox on July 27 and “Reading and Understanding Early Weavers Notation” with Pat Hilts on Thursday and Friday, Aug. 16-17. Visit www.httm.org for registration information for these special workshops.

The museum welcomes everyone and has ramps for all buildings.

The Home Textile Tool Museum is located at 1819 Orwell Hill Rd. on State Rte. 1036 and is open Saturdays through Aug. 25. Admission is $5 for adults and free for children under 12. 

See HTTM’s website, www.httm.org, and Facebook page for updates on all programs and workshops. Activities are funded in part by the Bradford County Tourism Promotion Agency and the United Way of Bradford County.