One of Ireland’s last damask linen weavers, Deborah White, takes on the challenge of restoring a 200-year-old loom, a remnant of a proud craft that is almost lost to time.
Master handloom weaver Deborah White is attempting what may be an impossible task – to bring a 200-year-old Jacquard loom back to life.
One of the last damask linen weavers in Ireland, Deborah is part of a centuries-old tradition of skill and artistry. The loom she hopes to restore lies in pieces in her shed. Once a marvel of craftsmanship that produced fine linens for royal tables across Europe, the loom is now reduced by decades of damp, decay and neglect to something that wouldn’t look out of place in a scrapyard.
With no manual, blueprint or any guarantee of success, Deborah sets out on a restoration, armed only with determination and instinct. This is a huge challenge, and one she knows she cannot overcome alone. To help her rebuild the loom, Deborah assembles a remarkable team: a master carpenter in Ards, a Donegal spinning wheel maker, a royal saddler, a blacksmith and a Scottish loom restorer. Each member of the team has a specific skill that Deborah hopes will help breathe new life into this venerable machine while she learns more about its legacy.
As Deborah traces the loom’s story, from the weaving heartlands where linen production was at the heart of life in many Ulster-Scots communities, to revolutionary events in 18th-century Glasgow that saw migrant weavers from Ulster speak truth to power, she reveals the ties that bind Ulster and Scotland’s shared weaving heritage. The crucial return of a historic Jacquard machine, originally brought over to Scotland by the Ulster-Scots weaving families who helped set up the linen industry in Dunfermline, echoes centuries of connection and allows Deborah’s restoration to continue.
