By Kim Hilsenbeck

Some children in Buda got an up close look at how cotton becomes string, which is the foundation for the cloth that will later be made into the t-shirts, jeans and socks most of them wear daily.

As part of the Journey Church Create Camp, Amy Crockett of Buda presented a spinning wheel lesson and demonstration Friday morning. Her segment was part of the ‘Where in the World’ series at the camp. Basket weaving was the lesson a day earlier.

Her foot pumped the pedal that makes the wheel turn while the fluffy white raw cotton in her hands turned into thread before the children’s eyes.

Crockett, wearing the traditional garb of an earlier era (circa mid-1800s), grew up on a self-sustaining farm in Merkel, Texas. She taught herself how to use the spinning wheel.

“I was croqueting at age 4 and embroidering. We never ever sat down to watch television without some sort of handiwork. So I grew up in that world,” she said after the lesson.

Crockett said she also has outdoor cooking skills.

As she spoke, she was deftly manipulating the raw cotton she brought to show the children, drafting and twisting it by hand in her lap, in a way that seemed almost second nature.

“There’s two things that have to happen to make yarn: drafting and twisting,” she explained. “Drafting is drawing out the right number of fibers so that your thread is the right size. And the twisting is what holds it together.”

Crockett said cotton has much shorter fibers than wool, for example.

“So it has to be twisted tight so it will stay together,” she said as she demonstrated the process with her hands in the air.

And while she can draft and twist the raw material by hand, she said, “The spinning wheel takes what I just did with my fingers and makes it faster. Every time this [wheel] turns, a twist is made.”

Back in the day, Crockett tells children during demonstrations, girls would have two or maybe three dresses at a time, total. They are generally shocked and chagrinned, she said.

Crockett was using an Ashford spinning wheel, which she said is a modern brand of the traditional wheel.

“They’re just a good old work horse,” she said of the machine.

It came from a kit made in the 1930s. It’s the one she lugs around Central Texas for demonstrations, though she has a larger, older wheel at home for her personal use.

With her old timey skill set, Crockett is somewhat of an anomaly in Central Texas, yet she exuded modesty about her talent.

“You rarely get to see anyone spinning cotton,” she said. “It’s a very skilled thing. I did it for years in demo after demo.”

Over the years, she found ways to market her skills.

For example, when she first moved here from Merkel, she offered demonstrations at a Michael’s store. She also worked at Pioneer Farms, east of Austin, conducting textile history programs. Later she ran the programming for the French Legation museum in Austin. Over the years she’s also done several presentations for Girl Scout troops.

For about six years, Crockett also owned a yarn shop on Main St. in Buda. Women, and a few men, got together for knitting classes, which were also an opportunity for socialization. Eventually, she had to close the shop.

“It’s an expensive business to begin,” she said. “It has an off-season.”

Essentially, she said, store owners still need to pay the rent for the whole summer, despite the slowdown in business.

Crockett’s outfit was nearly as fascinating to the children as the spinning wheel. The dress and its four layers underneath – including a corset and bloomers – takes her about 30 minutes to put on each time she wears it.

During the conversation, Crockett said she only wears dresses. She doesn’t wear pants, ever. Not even in her everyday real life. But at least in her modern attire, fewer layers are required.

For a journey back…

Contact Cheri@thejourneyumc.org to schedule a demonstration with Amy Crockett.