![Lithograph of c. 1880 watercolor by Walter Satterlee [1844–1908] of a young Breton woman spinning.](https://spwhsl.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/French-3-B-2-walker.jpg)
Description
Highlights From This Issue
In this issue we travel to France and Japan to learn about antique textile tools. In France we learn about early handspindles and the distaffs to hold the fiber. In Japan we are introduced to the traditional tools to prepare silk cocoons for hand reeling and those used for reeling itself.
Custom and Convenience: French Handspinning with Fuseaux and Quenouilles
In their extensive collection of textile tools Zephram de Colebi and Johannes Zinzendorf have examples of fuseaux, or hand spindles, and quenouilles, or distaffs, found in the Brittany region of France. They describe the characteristics and variations in these tools and how they work, as well as their historical context.
Silk Processing Tools From Japan
Esther Peregrine raises silkworms and gives workshops on how to reel silk fiber from cocoons. In 2023 she had the opportunity to participate in a silk study tour to Japan. She describes the different traditional tools that are used: the kebatoriki, or deflosser, to prepare cocoons for reeling and the zaguri that is used to wind the reeled fiber. She also explains how she adapted some of these old tools to reel fiber from her own cocoons.
