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These links demonstrate a range of tools used to wind thread or yarn once it has been spun, but before it is used for weaving or sewing.
I have used modern names for these tools below, so that it will be easier for textile workers to draw parallels to their contemporary form and function.
Elsewhere on this site, there is a page on 18th century tools for winding thread or yarn.
NIDDY-NODDY – a tool that makes skeins from yarn. Modern niddy-noddies consist of a central bar with crossbars at each end, offset from each other by 90°; note that several of the examples below show the two crossbars parallel to each other.
- Fols. 44r and 165v, the Maastricht Hours (Brit. Lib. Stowe 17), 1st quarter of the 14th century
- Mural cycle showing the processing of silk and flax at the Kanonikerhaus in Constance, Germany, c. 1320: a woman winds (linen?) thread
- An ape holds a spindle and winder, psalter (Douce 6, fol. 48r), c. 1320-1330
- An ape winds wool, Voeux du paon (PML G.24, fol. 15r), c. 1350
- A woman winds thread from a spindle, the Hours of Charlotte of Savoy (PML M.1004, fol. 96r), c. 1420-1425
- Base-de-page, The Hours of Catherine of Cleves (PML M.917, fol. 109), c. 1440
- Adam and Eve, a book of hours (Douce 248, fol. 207r), middle of the 15th century
- Veturia, De mulieribus claris (BNF Fr. 599, fol. 48v), 15th-16th century
- Old woman spinning (the niddy-noddy is next to her on the bench), 16th century
- Standing woman with winding tools by Andrea del Sarto
- Portrait of a lady spinning by Maerten van Heemskerck, c. 1531
- Peasants by the Hearth by Pieter Aertsen, 1560s
- Man and Woman by the Spinning Wheel by Pieter Pietersz, c. 1560-1570
- A visit to the wet nurse by Marten van Cleve
- An old man by Lucas Kilian
REEL – These sometimes appear as spoked wheels, and in some cases are mislabeled as spinning wheels.
- Depiction of a weavers’ workshop, 14th century
- An ape winds thread, the Maastricht Hours (Brit. Lib. Stowe 17, fol. 91v), 1st quarter of the 14th century
- Mural cycle showing the processing of silk and flax at the Kanonikerhaus in Constance, Germany, c. 1320: women winding (silk?) thread, a woman transfers thread from a drop-spindle to a thread-winder
- A lady winding wool, psalter (Douce 6, fol. 73r), c. 1320-1330
- Signs of the Zodiac: Scorpio, Liber Physiognomiae (Biblioteca Estense Alpha. W.8.20;Lat. 697), c. 1401-1450
- The Virgin at the Spinning-Wheel (see details here and here), 1420-1430
- Mary weaving, a book of hours (PML M.453, fol. 24r), c. 1420-1435
- Border, The Hours of Margaret of Orleans (BNF Latin 1156 B, fol. 89), c. 1426
- The story of Bernabò of Genoa in the Decameron (BNF Arsenal 5070, fol. 84r), 1432
- The Holy Family, c. 1450
- Werenlein Reinmon, Mendel Hausbuch (Amb. 317.2, fol. 78v), 1457
- The female twin winding wool, The City of God (MMW 10 A 11, fol. 235r), c. 1475-1480
- February, the Hours of Charles d’Angoulême (BNF Latin 1173, fol. 1v), c. 1475-1500
- A house where husband and wife agree, Le roman de la rose (Douce 195, fol. 67v), end of the 15th century
- Epicharis, De mulieribus claris (BNF Fr. 599, fol. 79v), 15th-16th century
- Tapestry: The labors of wool, c. 1500
- Drawing of a tapestry with ladies in an enclosed garden (Gough Drawings Gaignières 16, fol. 58)
- Preparing wicks for candle-making, a book of hours (Douce 276, fol. 85r), beginning of the 16th century
- Detail from Mary at the loom from a fresco at the Church of St. Primus and Felicianus, Slovenia, 1504
- L'eta de l'huomo specchio dell vita humana by Giovanni Battista de' Cavalieri
- Spinning and weaving by Isaac Claesz. van Swanenburg, c. 1594-1596
- Old Man Spinning His Reel by Pieter Pietersz.
- Yarn-winders from a dollhouse, southern Germany, 17th-18th century
BOBBIN-WINDER – A small hand-powered machine that winds thread onto a bobbin, spindle, or clewe. These machines appear in weaving contexts, though similar bobbins appear in sewing & embroidering contexts as well.
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