The Literary echo, and Pawcatuck advertiser. [volume] (Westerly, R.I.) 1851-1854, 1853-07-21
[For the Literary Echo.
The Art Of WeaviMg---NO. q.
THE WILTON CARPET.

The Wilton Carpet, ike thc brussels,
is composed generally of five colors, and
differs only in having the pile or web
cut in the manner Of velvet. In for
mer article I gave description of the
Brussels, therefore | shall omit such a
repetition here, and pass to the manner
of cutting the pile of the Wilton Carpet
The knife or cutter used for Gu tting the
piles of various fabrics, is steel rod
about two feet long and three eighths of
an inch thick, having square handle
at one end; the other end is tapered
away to blade as thin as the edge Of
of a razor. To prevent the point of the
knife from turning downwards and in
juring the cloth, its underside is covered
by guide, which serves to stiffen it, as
well as to prevent its under edge from
cutting the fabric during the operation.
The operative takes the handle in his
right hand, and insinuating the project
ing point of the guide under the weft,
pushes the knife smartly forward through
the whole breadth. This process is re-
peated upon every line throughout the
web. This was the old tedious way
A more expeditions way is now in vogue
invented by M. Tannias Falson, of the
city of Lyons. There are two principal
features of novelty in this method, the
first of which is, the weaving of two
webs or pieces of velvet at once, the
one above the other, the pile of each
turning inward, and the webs being
connected together by the pile itself.
The second feature consists of vibra-
tory cutter or knife, which passes be-
tween the two pieces of velvet, and cuts
them asunder, as fast as woven, by the
mere operation of the loom.
There is still another method of weav-
ing this and Brussels Carpets, which l
have heretofore neglected to mention,
and that is, by coloring the threads or
yarns which are to be used, a succession
of colors. For required length one
certain color, then change the color as
the pattern may require. Patterns of
carpet, are copied on design paper,
formed with as many horizontal lines
as there are to be picks Of the prepared
weft in the cloth after these lines of
the paper are cut asundcr into strips,
and numbered, the weaver enters them
through the reed Of the loom, and COM
mences to weave the colors of weft, in
the exact order in which the colors are
painted on these pieces of paper. In
this country we do not excel in patterns,
or designs. The fact is, almost every
man who takes in houses to paint, calls
himself, and is considered by his friends
an artist. On the other hand, no mat
ter how superior an ornamental design
may be, or how much study or knowl-
edge may have been required to pro-
duce it, still the production of such
although it may increase the wealth of
the individual, cannot raise him one
step in the scale of society; he is only
a mechanic in the eyes of the public.
If those branches of the fine arts that
are applicable to manufactures, and
other departments of useful industry
obtained with us, that relative situation
to the more intellectual and higher
branches, to which they are justly en-
titled, our design, and patterns for car
pets and fancy weaving would be vastly
improved.