In 1959 Wabasso Cotton bought its competition in Welland and Wood’s Manufacturing became a branch plant of Wabasso of Toronto. The entire processing of raw cotton was done at the Welland plant. Denim cloth was now manufactured in Welland where five hundred looms were dedicated to the process. Wabasso was Canada’s only supplier of denim cloth at that time. It was Welland’s largest, light industry employer, reaching a total of eight hundred workers during its best years. French–Canadians constituted the largest number of employees.
Faster, shuttleless machinery replaced looms in 1980 to increase production. This modernization did not produce forecasted results and on December 5, 1984 Wabasso announced the closure of the Welland plant. The closure was completed in May of 1985 when the last employee was laid off. Wabasso could not compete with foreign markets. In December 1985 National Textile bought out Wabasso but continued to sell products under the Wabasso name.
Over the years I have accumulated stash from various sources. In the current warp I added in two tubes of pale green of 2/16 size. How do I know it's 2/16? The manufacturer, Wabasso, says so.
Now, I don't know what the KW stands for. I wish I did. Maybe a spinner could enlighten me. But the label very clearly says "2/16". Not "16/2".
It is comparable to the Brassard brand of 2/16 cotton which, if you look at the French website, still lists their cotton in the 2/16 format although they changed the English side to 16/2 a while back.
If you compare the standard 2/8 cotton as provided by Brassard, and the standard 8/2 cotton provided by US suppliers, the yarns are very different.
So again, leaping up onto my soap box to remind people that the only thing those numbers mean is how many (approximately) yards per pound the yarn is supposed to have.
It does not speak to how the fibre was prepared or how it was spun.
The Canadian yarn is strong enough for warp. If you do a simple break test, it feels weak, but if you do a snap test, it will withstand the forces that intend to replicate the opening and closing of the sheds and the force of the beater against the fell.
When I compared the two qualities of yarn, I managed to discover that US 8/2 cotton is open end spun while the Canadian 2/8 cotton is ring spun. When I deconstructed the two yarns, the US cotton appeared to have a staple length of about 3/4" while the Canadian yarn was closer to 1". The twists per inch differed. The yarn looks different and behaves differently.
These two very different looking yarns are both natural white. (I changed the scan to black and white to show the difference more clearly.) The top one is 2/8 Canadian, the bottom 8/2 US. The top one is smoother and whiter looking probably because it has the fibres aligned and is more tightly twisted than the lower yarn which was spun from fibres that are not aligned and are less tightly twisted.
The top one is stronger than the bottom one. The top one is less absorbent than the bottom one.
Since I acquired the pale green Wabasso yarn after an older weaver had died, I have no idea how old the yarn is. (I have more of her yarn in my stash - a pale brick red.) However, it was stored well and does not appear to have deteriorated at all. Certainly the other colour has been fine. It also was Wabasso. I rather suspect that Dorothy probably bought yarn when the mill closed down, so quite possibly in the 1980s or even earlier as she had been weaving for many years before I met her around 1986 or so.
A number of our local guild members were friends, so when she died her family contacted as many weavers as they could to sell off her yarn stash.
I have fond memories of Wabasso sheets and towels. Since it was Canadian made, mom could usually buy cheaper than textiles made elsewhere.
Canada had quite a few textile mills, both spinning and weaving. They eventually mostly closed as they could not compete with mills in other countries. But for quite a few years I purchased 2/8 cotton directly from a mill in Ontario. When we contacted them, they wanted to know my specs - what size, how many twists per inch. I told them I'd send them a sample of the quality I needed and they called back when they got my sample and told me it was 2/8 cotton with x number of twists per inch. I think they even broke it down to twists per inch for the single as well as tpi for the ply.
My minimum order was something like 150 pounds of a single colour, so I would buy three 50 pound cases of white from them, then buy the colours from other suppliers - South Landing and Brassard, mostly. At the time Curl Brothers also provided 2/8 cotton. It was a higher quality and a higher price, so I only bought a few colours not available from the others.
The difference? I could (and can) easily break the 2/8 cotton from those with my hands. The Curl Brothers was more like the Swedish cotton - very strong, almost impossible to break with my hands.
When examining yarn, look beyond the numbers. The numbers only tell one small part of the story.
Faster, shuttleless machinery replaced looms in 1980 to increase production. This modernization did not produce forecasted results and on December 5, 1984 Wabasso announced the closure of the Welland plant. The closure was completed in May of 1985 when the last employee was laid off. Wabasso could not compete with foreign markets. In December 1985 National Textile bought out Wabasso but continued to sell products under the Wabasso name.
Over the years I have accumulated stash from various sources. In the current warp I added in two tubes of pale green of 2/16 size. How do I know it's 2/16? The manufacturer, Wabasso, says so.
Now, I don't know what the KW stands for. I wish I did. Maybe a spinner could enlighten me. But the label very clearly says "2/16". Not "16/2".
It is comparable to the Brassard brand of 2/16 cotton which, if you look at the French website, still lists their cotton in the 2/16 format although they changed the English side to 16/2 a while back.
If you compare the standard 2/8 cotton as provided by Brassard, and the standard 8/2 cotton provided by US suppliers, the yarns are very different.
So again, leaping up onto my soap box to remind people that the only thing those numbers mean is how many (approximately) yards per pound the yarn is supposed to have.
It does not speak to how the fibre was prepared or how it was spun.
The Canadian yarn is strong enough for warp. If you do a simple break test, it feels weak, but if you do a snap test, it will withstand the forces that intend to replicate the opening and closing of the sheds and the force of the beater against the fell.
When I compared the two qualities of yarn, I managed to discover that US 8/2 cotton is open end spun while the Canadian 2/8 cotton is ring spun. When I deconstructed the two yarns, the US cotton appeared to have a staple length of about 3/4" while the Canadian yarn was closer to 1". The twists per inch differed. The yarn looks different and behaves differently.
These two very different looking yarns are both natural white. (I changed the scan to black and white to show the difference more clearly.) The top one is 2/8 Canadian, the bottom 8/2 US. The top one is smoother and whiter looking probably because it has the fibres aligned and is more tightly twisted than the lower yarn which was spun from fibres that are not aligned and are less tightly twisted.
The top one is stronger than the bottom one. The top one is less absorbent than the bottom one.
Since I acquired the pale green Wabasso yarn after an older weaver had died, I have no idea how old the yarn is. (I have more of her yarn in my stash - a pale brick red.) However, it was stored well and does not appear to have deteriorated at all. Certainly the other colour has been fine. It also was Wabasso. I rather suspect that Dorothy probably bought yarn when the mill closed down, so quite possibly in the 1980s or even earlier as she had been weaving for many years before I met her around 1986 or so.
A number of our local guild members were friends, so when she died her family contacted as many weavers as they could to sell off her yarn stash.
I have fond memories of Wabasso sheets and towels. Since it was Canadian made, mom could usually buy cheaper than textiles made elsewhere.
Canada had quite a few textile mills, both spinning and weaving. They eventually mostly closed as they could not compete with mills in other countries. But for quite a few years I purchased 2/8 cotton directly from a mill in Ontario. When we contacted them, they wanted to know my specs - what size, how many twists per inch. I told them I'd send them a sample of the quality I needed and they called back when they got my sample and told me it was 2/8 cotton with x number of twists per inch. I think they even broke it down to twists per inch for the single as well as tpi for the ply.
My minimum order was something like 150 pounds of a single colour, so I would buy three 50 pound cases of white from them, then buy the colours from other suppliers - South Landing and Brassard, mostly. At the time Curl Brothers also provided 2/8 cotton. It was a higher quality and a higher price, so I only bought a few colours not available from the others.
The difference? I could (and can) easily break the 2/8 cotton from those with my hands. The Curl Brothers was more like the Swedish cotton - very strong, almost impossible to break with my hands.
When examining yarn, look beyond the numbers. The numbers only tell one small part of the story.
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4 comments:
I am hoping that you will be able to help me. I recently acquired a lot of vintage bed sheets in original packaging at an auction. I am trying to determine what I have without actually opening them. There or a large number of wabasso cotton sheets, flat not fitted, in a variety of different packages. All were made for the Canadian market. I believe in the 1950s. Sizes are all labeled 81 in by 100 in. Some are labeled dependable sheets, others Dreamland, and others family sheets.
I would greatly appreciate any assistance that you can offer!
Thank you!
Sorry, I don’t know anything helpful. Maybe contact the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto?
Good Afternoon- I was doing a little research on my old companies name.
Wabasso. I worked for them in the early 70's before taking a position with their # 1 competitor Dominion Textile. The flat sheets you have are definitely two brands that Wabasso manufactured. Dependable was primarily manufactured for the hospitality industry while Dreamland was directed to the retail market. Wabasso had a very strong position with T.Eaton Co. The size was for a queen size bed. Not a fitted sheet. They were probably manufactured in the 60's at the mill in Trois Riveres Quebec. Hope this helps.
If you have more information about the spinning aspect of Wabasso, I'd love to hear more. Or read the results of your research when you get to that stage?
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