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Publisher’s Corner

A Homespun Compliment journalofantiques.com

he word “homespun” today is often used pejoratively In Sutherland, Massachusetts, a Publisher
to say someone, or something is “simple” and lady of fashion made and quilted a Maxine Carter-Lome
T“unsophisticated” as it relates to look, fashion, or petticoat from remnants in her journalofantiques@gmail.com
philosophy but its origin in the American vernacular has far scrap bag, patching together forty- Maxine Carter-Lome Business Manager
more noble and patriotic roots. five pieces for the outside and ninety-two for the lining.” Jeffrey Lome
In the decades of resistance leading up to the War of While the women focused on the production and jeffrey@journalofantiques.com
Independence, Americans throughout the colonies began industry of turning raw materials sourced in the Managing Editor
boycotting the importation of British goods in protest of American colonies into American-made finished goods, Judy Gonyeau
increased taxation on everyday items, including cloth for their husbands were looking at ways to circumvent the editorial.journalofantiques@gmail.com
sewing clothes and finished fashions. In response, the laws that restricted the resale of the wool, wool yarn,
Quakers in Boston, Massachusetts, initiated what became and wool cloth they produced for export to England, and Art Director
known as a homespun movement in 1767 to encourage provide a new industry for their plantations to meet this Lynn Cotterman
colonists to only purchase cotton, linen, and wool textile homespun demand. The answer came in the form of ads@journalofantiques.com
manufactured in the American Colonies and produce flax and hemp, two plants not commonly associated
their own garments. today with clothing but at the time, potentially more Production
As the popularity of the boycott of British goods grew profitable for some farmers and plantation owners than Lynn Cotterman
and spread throughout the Colonies, wearing homespun growing tobacco. Judy Gonyeau
clothing was seen as a patriotic symbol of the fight against The outbreak of war in April 1775 would create
British rule. Women in particular took a leading role in an even larger problem for Colonists: clothing and Jill Montague-Kaitbenski
the movement in the most socially-appropriate fashion equipping an infant army and navy. According to an
for that time. They avoided imported satin and silk in article on the Colonial Williamsburg website, “The 508-347-1960
favor of locally-made materials to spin cloths, created a military needed enormous amounts of textiles for clothing, Toll free:
cottage industry for spinners, weavers, and seamstresses to tents, knapsacks, haversacks, and blankets. Initially, tens
support domestic demand, turned spinning into a social of thousands of yards of fabric arrived in storehouses 888-698-0734
event, and showed their support for the cause by wearing across the Colonies, including both pieces bought before Fax: 508-347-0911
their homespun garments in public with great pride like the nonimportation agreements and homespun woven in Mailing:
Martha Washington. homes, farms, and plantations. These materials were P. O. Box 950
Homespun fabric even became a political statement quickly depleted, and more were immediately needed. Sturbridge, MA 01566
for Americans visiting England. Edmund Jenings, a With no imports coming from Great Britain and
Virginia-born lawyer who lived in London, wrote a letter domestic production not meeting the demand, the info@journalofantiques.com
to Richard Henry Lee informing him of his new clothing. American army faced major supply shortages.
He wrote, “Your brother has given me cloth made in your Dressed in a very plain manner with a pine marten fur UPS and FedEx
family I wear it on all occasions to show the politicians of this cap, Benjamin Franklin was dispatched to the court of Shipping Address:
country that the sheep of America have not hair on their France for help to get materials, especially textiles, for its 113 Main Street, Unit 2
backs. — They can hardly believe their eyes.” newly established military force. The French Court Sturbridge, MA 01566
Homespun took on even greater urgency on Dec. 1, admired Franklin and his unique American dress, which
Journal of
1774, when the final nonimportation agreement was they may have believed was homespun. Franklin secured Antiques and Collectibles
signed by the first Continental Congress. The Colonies the Treaty of Alliance between the newly formed United is published monthly in digital
would no longer import any goods, including textiles, States of America and the French that allowed these and quarterly in print by
from Great Britain. Virginians along with the other 12 much-needed supplies to flow into the United States.” Weathervane Enterprises, Inc.
American Colonies would need to produce all the textiles After the war, Americans continued to produce
for their households and apparel, a nearly impossible homespun fabrics as wardrobe supplements but returned 113 Main Street, Unit 2
task if not for the resolve, sacrifice, and employment of to importing their higher-end textiles and fashionable Sturbridge MA 01566
colonial women. garments from England. Once again, merchants found it Periodicals postage paid at
In her book, The Age of Homespun, historian Laurel cheaper to import these high-quality English goods than Sturbridge MA
Thatcher Ulrich notes that the nonimportation move- invest in a new domestic industry. That fashion trend,
ment of the 1760s gave cloth-making a significance it had however, was about to change.
never had before. Stories about spinning meetings and At his inauguration on April 30, 1789, George POSTMASTER:
contests in the local papers helped to spread homespun Washington wore a brown broadcloth three-piece suit Send address changes to
fever and engage women of all ages: made from fabric woven at the Hartford Woolen The Journal of Antiques
“In Boston, patriotic merchants revived the spinning Manufactory, a newly established business in
schools. In Hartford, members of a society for promoting Connecticut. By choosing American-produced broad- and Collectibles
arts, agriculture, and commerce offered a bounty of cloth for his first inaugural suit, Washington, known as a ISSN: (1539-5618)
twelve pounds to the person who manufactured the most bit of a clothes horse with a history of importing the latest P.O. Box 950
yards of woolen cloth in a year. In Newport, the editor fashions from the best fabrics, showed his leadership Sturbridge, MA 01566
of the Mercury displayed at his printing office ‘a Sample support for the economic and industrial growth of the
The Journal of Antiques and Collectibles
of Cloth, made by a Young Lady in this Town, which new republic with a boost to the American textile reserves the right to reject any advertising that
is equal in Width, Fineness, and Goodness, to an industry. Today, that uniquely American homespun does not comply with our standards. The
Journal will not be liable for any errors or
English Plain.’” industry represents $1.5 trillion in annual sales! 02/23
omissions but will print a correction in the
Newspapers trumpeted even the smallest success. In following issue if notification of such error is
Newport, Rhode Island, a seventy-year-old woman who sent by the appropriate deadline. Original
manuscripts are welcomed by qualified
had “never spun a thread in her life before” became a very writers. We assume no responsibility for loss
good spinner. In Windham, Connecticut, one woman Maxine Carter-Lome, Publisher of unsolicited material.
raised six thousand silk balls from a single mulberry tree. Copyright 2023
All rights reserved

4 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles