Pre-shrinking traditional kilt fabric?

[Paul Henry]

Traditionally, woolen cloth and tweed was "waulked" or fulled" which was a process of cleaning the newly woven cloth sometimes with clay( for example :fuller's earth) or other substances, this helped to remove a certain amount of the grease but also softened the cloth, in the washing of the cloth to clean away the impurities it was often washed in soapy water and then waulked, that is hit, thumped, beaten, twisted by hand around a table in order to slightly shirnk the cloth, and in a sense to felt it as well.It seems that it was largely womens work to do this, and they would sing songs to make an otherwise fairly boring task passable.
I was under the impression that most Harris tweed is washed and pressed after weaving, this must be similar to the traditional process of waulking .

Growing up in Belfast and visiting linen mills often, I was always fascinated by the beetling mills, which thumped the linen cloth to soften the fibres and even out the cloth, admittedly a different substrate, but interesting that the actual process has similarites to waulking.

Perhaps today with more thorough first processing of the wool so much after finishing isn't done.

[figheadair]

Wollen and worsted are of course two different beasts. There is no requirement to wash, shrink or anything else good worsted cloth other than to soften it. If you manage to get your hands on some good worsted 'in the grease' i.e. straight off the loom you'll find that it's more like old hard tartan. Trouble is that most manufacturers are reluctant to sell 'unfinished' (their term) cloth.

Traditionally, woolen cloth and tweed was "waulked" or fulled" which was a process of cleaning the newly woven cloth sometimes with clay( for example :fuller's earth) or other substances, this helped to remove a certain amount of the grease but also softened the cloth, in the washing of the cloth to clean away the impurities it was often washed in soapy water and then waulked, that is hit, thumped, beaten, twisted by hand around a table in order to slightly shirnk the cloth, and in a sense to felt it as well.It seems that it was largely womens work to do this, and they would sing songs to make an otherwise fairly boring task passable.
I was under the impression that most Harris tweed is washed and pressed after weaving, this must be similar to the traditional process of waulking .

Growing up in Belfast and visiting linen mills often, I was always fascinated by the beetling mills, which thumped the linen cloth to soften the fibres and even out the cloth, admittedly a different substrate, but interesting that the actual process has similarites to waulking.

Perhaps today with more thorough first processing of the wool so much after finishing isn't done.