Hands-on with textiles at the Ahern Home

Submitted photo
Submitted photo

Terrific textiles allow P.J. Ahern Home visitors to take a spin through history Sunday during a "Spinning History" event presented by the Texarkana Museums System.

Held from from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., "Spinning History" allows visitors to get hands-on experience with making textiles, working through various phases of the process. That includes carding raw cotton, spinning, basic weaving, coloring yarn with natural dyes and the sewing itself. Tatting and bobbin lace making will be demonstrated.

TMS Curator Jamie Simmons said "Spinning History" provides visitors a connection to pioneer ancestors and the necessity of making everything as they moved into the Territory of Arkansas. This year is Arkansas' Territorial Bicentennial.

Hands-on activities will be held outside on the lawn and the Ahern Home porch, weather permitting. Inside the home, an exhibit will highlight 19th and 20th century textiles with items like quilts, handmade clothes and more.

"It's designed around following the journey of a fiber from being turned into thread into being woven into fabric and then sewn into something," Simmons said. "You're going to follow that fiber from being processed into being made into an end product."

Leita Spears of Historic Washington State Park will demonstrate drop spindles. Visitors can add to a community tapestry, too, which will eventually be included in the TMS collection.

"We're eventually going to have a completed piece that will become part of our collection," Simmons said. "We'll also have a station where people can learn about natural dyes. We'll have two pots of dyes going."

Also, Zoe Nakashian will demonstrate the crafts of tatting and bobbin lace. With tatting, you tie a thread into knots. "It's a very delicate looking product, mainly laces," Simmons said. Tatting, crochet and the like are crafts every pioneer era woman would have known, the curator said.

"It wasn't just a pastime. It wasn't a hobby. That's what you needed to know to make clothing and outerwear for your family. Quilting and weaving, these were skills that were much more common among everyone because you had to make these products for your home," Simmons said.

A treadle sewing machine will be available for visitors to try.

"Then inside the house is an exhibit of the textiles that would have been made in the 19th century and early 20th century by hand, so you're going to see examples of hand-woven coverlets. And all the textiles we'll have on display were made locally, so they were made in Bowie and Miller counties," Simmons said. Many items were made before Texarkana even existed.

"You'll see some examples of antique quilts," Simmons said. Clothing made from home-spun fabric will be displayed. The indoors exhibit is part of a tour. Tour times are 1:15 p.m., 2:15 p.m. and 3:15 p.m. The outside activities are come-and-go.

(Admission: free for outside hands-on activities, $5 for P.J. Ahern Home tours inside for non-members. For more info, call 903-793-4831, or visit either TexarkanaMuseums.org or the Texarkana Museums System page on Facebook.)

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