Bobbin rack

The process of making fabric is a long and skilled one. The weavers of the time used a variety of equipment and tools to weave. One of these was the bobbin rack, also known as a bobbin stand. It was a wooden frame, somewhat resembling a ladder, in which at least two rows of bobbins with warp threads wound on them were placed vertically. The yarn from the bobbins was threaded by the weaver through a flyer, a board with holes. Each thread passed through one hole, which prevented them from tangling. From the flyer, the threads went to the spinning mill – a rotating device for spinning the warp by hand – and from it, evenly arranged, to the loom feed shaft. It is worth noting that in weaving, the name bobbin rack also refers to an instrument used to wind woven thread onto coils or spools. The presented bobbin rack from the collection of the Pomerania Ethnography Department has the typical shape of a vertical frame set on a horizontal base. The upper part of the base is decorated with a delicate wood-cut pattern in the shape of slightly rounded teeth. The frame has 14 rows of holes into which metal rods were inserted. Spools were placed on them, two on each rod. Fourteen wooden bobbins with different coloured threads have been preserved in this piece. Agnieszka Słowińska