2014 Tour Day Two

Dan Coughlan

We spent the day in Paisley. The town has a history of weavers but before they wove the popular paisley pattern in the 1800's, they were known for their fine cotton and linen gauze weaving. To achieve the patterns in the fine cloth, they used draw looms. When the Jacquard loom was developed, these became the tool of the skilled weavers.

The Paisley Museum houses a fine collection of Paisley shawls and an excellent display of the equipment used in the trade. Dan Coughlan, weaver, loom technician and curator showed us how some of the equipment worked.

To read a detailed account of the Paisley Museum and other venues we visit in Paisley, see the blog post from 2012, Day 2