DALTON — Dalton is not like other Georgia towns, Patty Spanjer said. The industry here in the “Carpet Capital of the World” was started by a woman, something that was unheard of in the late 1800s. As she spoke, Spanjer forced a thick needle through a patch of cloth. She wiggled the needle back and forth to get the heavy yarn to follow through.
“I don’t have the strength for it anymore, and if I had a bigger needle, I would be fine,” Spanjer said.
Spanjer was learning the craft of candlewick tufting at a workshop last weekend at the Creative Arts Guild in Dalton. Participants learned how to create their own tufted bedspreads by practicing on a small square cloth with a printed design.
Tina Scibilia sat next to Spanjer, stitching her own piece of cloth. She commented on her incredulity that a young girl started the carpet industry in the late 1800s with this same technique.
Lee Ann Cline led the workshop, part of a larger series of lectures tracing the history of textile arts in the region. She had only tried candlewick tufting a few times before the workshop, but she has always been inspired by the craft, especially after discovering an antique bedspread a caretaker for her grandparents left behind. Cline estimated the bedspread was easily 100 years old.