Straw hats & straw plaiters, a rural craft demonstration at Harrogate, Yorkshire, UK. 18th Sept, 2015. Straw Plaiter Margaret Wildig, from Tadcaster at the Harrogate Annual Autumn Flower Show. Straw plaiting is a method of manufacturing textiles by braiding straw and the industry that surrounds the craft of producing products including straw hats and ornaments,
Straw plaiting is a method of manufacturing textiles by braiding straw and the industry that surrounds the craft of producing these straw manufactures. Straw is plaited to produce products including straw hats and ornaments, and the process is undertaken in a number of locations worldwide. traw plaiting was a cottage industry. Wheat straw was interwoven into intricate patterns - rather as hair might be braided. The finished product was a length of twenty yards called ‘a score’. It was put onto a board to straighten it - a flat plait? The rough ends were clipped and the plait was measured, perhaps by notches cut into the wooden mantle of a fireplace. The plaiters (who were mainly women) then made the three mile trek from Preston to Hitchin market to sell their work. Or perhaps it was bought by one of a network of travelling plait dealers such as John Day and Edward Willmott (of Sootfield Green) who lived in Preston in 1841. In turn, the dealers sold the plait to the factories in Luton where it was formed or ‘blocked’ into hats. Luton was known as ‘Strawopolis’ and later its football team were called ‘The Hatters’. The huge demand for straw plait was fuelled by the fashion change from the cotton mob hats of the eighteenth century to the straw bonnets of the 1800s. Even when the English straw plaiting industry had been eroded by cheaper imports from France and the Orient, the straw boater was still essential summer wear. Watch the grainy film of the announcement of the end of The Great War in 1919, and wonder at the number of straw hats being launched into the air like so many frisbies.
Size: 3600px × 2400px
Location: Harrogate, Yorkshire, UK.
Photo credit: © MediaWorldImages / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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