“In the 16-18th centuries, Norfolk’s female spinners would take in the wool and keep some of it for themselves that they span and sold privately or used it for their own family’s clothing. The spinners gave short measure by reducing the number of threads in the spun yarn and/or reducing the circumference of their spinning wheel. This was called short reeling, or false or short yarn. It was seen by the women as a perquisite (a perk) to make up for extremely low pay received for working long, exhausting hours.”
Short yarn
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