Oooh! Lookie!

Went to the Museum of American History today. My father-in-law found information on a textile exhibit, including quilts, and he wanted to show me. Sadly, most of the exhibit was under renovation, but you can see a couple of the looms that were still in the exhibit hall.

The jaquard loom used punch cards, one of the first examples of "computer" technology. It was amazing, and the fact that technology was used to make decorative fabrics says a lot about the society that developed the tech.
The pale brown material that looks rather like rattan, is the punch card set. They were used to manipulate the design in the material.

This is a closer look at the punch cards. The holes determined what warp and weft threads were up or down, and the final design.