Raising

Feeding a roll of blankets into a teasel gig raising machine at a Witney mill, early 20th century.

The blankets although now clean, dry and white were still rather hard and heavy. So they were taken onto the 'raising machine' (known as a 'gig mill' or 'rowing machine' in Witney) to raise the nap or pile. The raising machines had cylinders covered with fine steel wires which drew out the fibres of the wool from the surface of the fabric and gave it a soft, fleecy finish.

Unbleached blankets were passed through a similar machine but instead of using wires the nap was raised with teasels, a special type of thistle head with springy barbs that were imported from France; these gave a better quality finish.

After coming off the raising machine each piece was examined in a strong light and gone over by hand with a hand card (a wooden comb with steel wire teeth) to make sure the nap was evenly raised and there were no faulty patches.

Clare Sumner