Pushing On With Project Clout!

Pushing on with Project Clout! During a short visit in August I managed to catch up with a few folk on Tiree whose stories, experiences and imaginative skills promise to be invaluable as this research project, into local materials, skills and visions for the future, develops over the coming year. The project will connect two manufacturing sites – the Tiree Knitwear factory (1970-84) on Tiree and the Cotton Mills in Ferguslie Park in Paisley – much closer to my own home.

During this visit I had some extended conversations with a few ex-workers of Tiree’s Knitwear factory – based at Kirkapol then Crossapol between 1970 and ‘84 ish. How the factory came to be, what was made there and how. Standing to demonstrate the swinging movement of working on the knitting machines, Effie Mackinnon’s memories of the manufacturing process conjured a vivid picture. A room of some 12 workers turning out high quality knitwear for outlets like Marks and Spencer’s who branded the knitwear with their own label, while elsewhere knitwear from the factory found its way across the globe proudly emblazoned with the Tiree Knitwear label. Ex-Manager Neil Maclean was keen to impress the level of hard work involved, while Rhona Skinner’s recollection of standing at the knit machine in her 1970’s platforms – a footwear choice that apparently provoked laughter from her work mates! – makes me think that amongst the hard work there was the kind of humour that makes hard work not only tolerable but productive. Certainly, according to Neil the output from this team of women was of an impressive volume.

While some aspects the factory’s history has been recorded in the past, the stories and experiences of the women who worked there, is however, to date a missing part of the island’s story. I believe it is an important one to capture as a means of informing and shaping new and diverse approaches to the future of our natural environment and our clothing needs – not just here on Tiree but further afield.

The factory in the 70’s and 80’ as a working model of manufacturing, in a small community is one aspect of the research while for another I am keen to explore the scope of imagination across Tiree’s community for new, unexpected and unlikely materials. John Holiday’s reference to Bog Cotton during a conversation in January intrigued and led me to take a closer look at a plant I had only ever associated with Ireland.

Meeting with John, local artist and maker, Jane MacDonald and Tiree’s Ranger Hayley Douglas we set out to do a reccy of some of the Bog Cotton sites on the island. When I came to Tiree in July, these were almost snowy looking, whereas, somewhat late in the Bog Cotton season now, the ‘little brides’ in their white veils looked a bit ‘post-wedding worse-for-wear’ and a little bedraggled! We managed to collect some samples though and retiring to the comfort of the Tiree Lodge, I re-laid for the ‘gatherers’ a collection of facts and folklore around Bog Cotton. While on one hand the brittle fibres of the plant have always been considered useless in terms of its potential for manufacturing cloth, there are many records of its uses from the far north of Europe to the Americas. As feed for winter worn sheep - to revitalise them in the spring; as comfy pillow stuffing, wicks for candles: in papermaking: for night time nappies, wound dressings during the second world war and its roots as a tonic for diarrhoea. Also, alongside this, citations of it being mixed with wool to make cloth, carpets and roofing felt. This doesn’t sound that useless to me, but then there is a world of difference between usefulness on small, localised and carefully considered scales and that of mass manufacturing. All that aside, the sorting of fact from folklore around Bog Cotton is proving to be one of its most fascinating qualities.

At An Iodlhann - carefuly wrapped in tissue a beautiful Damask jacquard tablecloth is labelled as being made from Bog Cotton. Also, presented to the Orkney Museum in 2016 by the Hourston family - along with the fascinating story of their production and history - a pair of socks given to John Robert Hourston of Tankerness as a baby. There are believed to have been hand-spun and knitted by Mary Ann Cooper of Stronsay (1882) from yarn made from wild bog cotton. Tissue wrapped and apparently never worn as they were felt, by their owner, to be too precious!

According to the catalogue of The Great Exhibition of 1851 items of clothing made from bog cotton down were featured. On page 82 an entry from Inverness details: “Linsey-woolsey made of cheviot wool and bog cotton. While some citations state that its fibres can be spun if combined with other, longer ones like wool, linen or cotton’, generally it is considered to be an ‘impossible proposition as fibre for cloth. This would seem to be backed up by its folklore status as the all-but-unattainable challenge for prospective brides who are set the task of weaving shirts from Bog Cotton – if they are to ‘get a man of old’, or alternatively as the impossible antidote attached to binding a curse to some poor person.

Over the coming months as an exercise in imaginative visioning we will be exploring some of the possibilities for Tiree’s Bog Cotton in the form of prototype yarns, fabrics and garments. Ideas for these are already forthcoming and local spinner Jacqui Bennet will be experimenting with making some yarn over the coming months. We will be getting together for some on-line make sessions during September/October and invite others who might find this fun and interesting to take part. Keep an eye on Tiree Facebay for the workshop dates and get in touch! Alongside, this I’d like to continue to pull together as many recollections and stories around the Tiree Knitwear Factory with a view to creating an archive of these for future generations.

Many thanks to the people of Tiree for welcoming me to the island during this visit, but especially: Neil for explaining the set up and production of the factory, Effie for detailing and actively demonstrating the process involved in making the knitwear, John and Jane for the Bog Cotton reccy, Jacqui for her advice and perspectives as a spinner and Rhona for a last chat and cuppa just before I caught the ferry back to the mainland!