Homes, Trades and Games of Long Ago · Drawing 12 of 40
The spinning wheel turns
The 19th century
A spinning wheel twists sheep’s wool into one long thread. The foot presses the pedal, the big wheel turns, and the hands guide the wool.
Look together
What is her foot doing?
An idea to try
Place a piece of yarn beside a piece of cloth. Your child describes them, then points to the tool for each stage in the two drawings.
For the adult reading along
A little more to discover
A spinning wheel turns fibre into yarn: a foot works the treadle, the large wheel drives the spinning mechanism, and the hands draw out the wool as it twists. On a flyer wheel, the yarn passes through a small opening, follows the flyer’s hooks and winds onto a bobbin. Different fibres can be spun, including wool and flax. Québec’s cultural heritage register describes a wood-and-metal spinning wheel made in Québec after 1850. The object documents a skill, not how often every family practised it.
In the drawing the big wheel catches the eye first, but the hands guiding the wool and the foot on the treadle matter just as much. With your child, tell the thread made here apart from the cloth on the previous page: the comparison tells a chain of transformations, from sheep to clothing.
Sources and illustration notes (3)
An interpreted spinning wheel and fictional person; the drawing does not reproduce the object in the heritage record.
These links lead to other websites. Explore them with an adult. References identify the institution and the related lesson; some linked pages are in French.
- Répertoire du patrimoine culturel du Québec — Rouet, f.2000.796Rouet produit au Québec après 1850; objet de bois et de métal.
- Nicole Genêt — Rouet, Grand dictionnaire terminologiqueTransformation des fibres en fil et enroulement sur une bobine.
- Ashford — Learn to spinRéférence mécanique : pédale, liaison à la roue, courroie, orifice, épinglier et bobine; ne sert pas à dater le rouet québécois.
Source review: 2026-09-19. Illustrations simplify places and scenes; they are not historical documents.
