Questions are asked as to the production of cloths in an old-fashioned
loom from handspun yarn. The experience in our school is, that a
well-practised worker weaves on a pit-loom one yard cloth of 30 inches
width and of fairly thick texture in one hour. Cloth of greater or
smaller width varies in proportion. Our fly-shuttle pit-loom has not
exceeded this figure in handspun yarn so far. When formerly we used
mill-made yarn, it yielded about half as much cloth again as the old
pit-loom. However in weaving _dhotiyans_ and _sadis_ from handspun as
well as mill-made yarn the flyshuttle is very handy.
Then there is a question as to the necessity of beaming the yarn. We
believe, that where there is no question of room, beaming should be
dispensed with. Hand-loom weaving factories situated in thickly
populated towns where rates of house-rent are very high, have reason to
resort to beaming; but where space allows stretching of the yarn as
practised by the professional weavers, it is a time-saving method and is
artistic as well. There is an argument in favour of beaming that it
allows of the handling of warp as long as 200 or even 300 yards. But if
such length of handspun yarn can be prepared, it is equally easy, if not
easier, to stretch it in the old style.