The countryside saw the old coarse cloth again, full of memories.

"Haw resumes Haw, and Mulan acts as a household weave. I don't hear the sound of the machine, but I hear the sigh of the woman. " A well-known "Mulan poem" records the traditional family textile technology scene for us. A shuttle and a loom carry not only the production of raw materials for clothing and cover, but also a meaningful pace of life and thoughts.

From the fifties and sixties to the seventies of the last century, because of the lack of materials, the old coarse cloth textile was still widespread in rural areas. People take the old coarse cloth to the market and sell it to subsidize the family. Now, with the development of the textile industry, the old coarse cloth has long been withdrawn from the mainstream market. The old coarse cloth, together with the manual loom, has also become the memory of many people.

However, memory can also promote the reappearance of traditional handicrafts in life. Today, the industrious rural women in Anyang, Henan Province are weaving old coarse cloth in the familiar sound of machines.

Nowadays, in the rural areas of northern Henan, women begin to set up looms that have been out of use for 30 or 40 years. Several women unite to buy cotton thread and work together to weave cloth. This kind of old coarse cloth is warm in winter and cool in summer. It is very popular with everyone.

Throw shuttle, pedal, pull rope frame, close thread, warp thread, winding line, folk craftsmen Zhang Qiaoer, Zhang Aiqin, Zhang Guizhen in Li Song Village, Cuijiaqiao Town, Anyang County, move quickly to complete the process of weaving cloth. They repeat movements like this on the loom thousands of times a day. The loom, which has nearly disappeared in the village for 30 or 40 years, has returned to the hands of folk artists. Some young wives can't weave, so the middle-aged and old artists in the village teach them to weave.

It is understood that with the improvement of the living standards of urban and rural residents, more and more urban and rural people like "native"green" pure cotton home spinning, and old coarse cloth is becoming more and more popular with its characteristics of pure cotton, hand-weaving, ancient folk craftsmanship, and so on. "now we can make 70 or 80 yuan by knitting a sheet." The names of the woven sheets also have new ideas: like the beauty of the heart, the five blessings, the Grey Wolf, the family photo, the beautiful sheep and so on, which are deeply loved by everyone. Craftsmen Kang Fumei, Chen Tinger and Duan Aihua are all good at weaving cloth and can weave two or three sheets in one day. Three or five of them, seven or eight of them, worked together and set up one or four earth looms in a household to take advantage of their leisure time to weave together. Woven cloth, in addition to self-made pure cotton sheets for use, can also be given to children, woven more can be sold.

Of course, in Dongcaoma and other villages in this town and the Baizhuang market in neighboring Baizhuang Town, an industry has been built, such as wholesale cotton thread, color blending, pattern design, and so on, so that handicrafts can be developed into a new way to get rich. each person's annual income can be increased by thousands of yuan. Cuijiaqiao Town East Cao Ma Village, Kang Song Village, Li Song Village, Su Song Village, Guo Song Village and other village craftsmen in the leisure time, joined together to weave cloth. The consortium of several households in East Caoma Village is beginning to take shape, and the woven cloth has been introduced to the market.

Spinning thread

Buzzing, spinning thread. Cotton thread needs to be spun one by one, and coarse cloth needs to be woven one by one. Although the speed is very slow, the old coarse cloth is thick, flat, with clear warp and weft, which can better reflect the local flavor and national characteristics of the old coarse cloth. The author saw in Zhang Qiaoer's home that there were more patterns of these sheets. She took out more than 20 sheets at once and happily told me that she used more triple thread, no pulp cloth, and better softness, which was suitable for making bed sheets and pure cotton shirts and trousers.

She started weaving cloth last year. She told me that the cost of making a bed sheet is 80 to 90 yuan, and the selling price of a bed sheet of 2 meters × 2.2 meters is generally about 200 yuan. The sheets made by her and Zhang Aiqin have been sold to Tianjin, Anhui and Anyang by acquaintances. The main varieties are pure cotton sheets, as well as three-piece bedding sets and shirts.

Many people like the old rough cloth, especially the newlyweds who get married now, they usually buy a few pieces. It is said that old coarse cloth also sells well in Zhejiang Yiwu small Wholesale Market.

The author thinks that if people of insight can turn their hometown into a cultural exchange center for rural tourism and weaving culture, design wonderful patterns into one family, one pattern, one hospital and one characteristic brand, combined with the development of agro-ecology, environmental protection, organic food, and so on, the villagers will have more hope of increasing their income, which not only solves the problem that idle women have nothing to do, but also increases their income, inherits the local culture and harmonizes the neighborhood relations!

Introduction of a little knowledge

Old coarse cloth:

Also known as old-fashioned cloth, is a manual weaving process that has been used by Chinese working people for thousands of years. It is soft and comfortable, breathable, absorbs sweat, warm in winter and cool in summer, does not play the role of static electricity and anti-radiation, and has a strong affinity with the skin. Because of its thick lines, deep texture, no wrinkling and no crimping, the whole cloth forms countless natural massage points, which plays an unexpected role in health care and beauty of human skin, no irritation to the skin, prevention of mites and itching, regulation of metabolism, improvement of sleep and effective defense against ultraviolet rays.

Loom:

Also known as spinning machine, loom, cotton spinning machine. It once played an important role in the small-scale peasant economy of men's farming and women's weaving family workshops. The traditional loom has also been transformed from the earliest loom sitting on the ground several times and gradually perfected. Shuttle looms were widely spread in the rural areas of our country in the last century. Today, this old-fashioned loom is nearly extinct in many places. The beautiful picture in "slimming the vegetarian hand, Zhalong machine" has become a distant memory.