The fabric of our story, a promotional film

This video clip is an excerpt from the promotional movie The Fabric of Our Story, shot mostly at Bruck Mills in Cowansville. The sound and colour movie, a first in 1948, accurately documents the fabric-making process. It shows the steps from spinning raw materials to finished product, including delivery by Bruck’s red trucks that crisscross the streets of Montréal displaying the iconic brand.

Transcript

(Narrator – voice-over)

Wool and cotton are still spun according to the old spinning wheel principle, but rayon is the result of a chemical process by which wood pulp or cotton fibres are transformed into a single-stranded yarn.

(Filmed sequence of a seated worker spinning wool on a spinning wheel followed by a close-up of the yarn spindle and showing various stages of the rayon winding mechanism in a factory)

Also in Cowansville, new dyes are constantly being created and new processes are being perfected to ensure that Bruck fabrics are of the highest quality that modern textile science can provide.

(Filmed sequence of a bird’s eye view of the Bruck factory followed by a sequence showing the application of dye to sections of fabric as well as the process of flower patterns printing on the fabric)

Before leaving the mill, the fabric undergoes many finishing processes.

(Filmed sequence showing three workers checking fabric and a chemist in a white coat examining the quality of a piece under a microscope)

The threads that run along the length of a fabric constitute the warp that is mounted according to the type of fabric to be made.

(Filmed sequence showing fabric being wound onto a roll and a weaving worker in front of a series of thread spools)

The threads that run from one edge of the fabric to the other constitute the weft.

(Filmed sequence of a worker at the weaving mill with a close-up of the weaving machine and the spools of yarn)

During the quilling process, the weft threads are wound onto the bobbins inserted in the shuttle.

(Filmed sequence of the threads installed on the weaving machine before the quilling stage which consists in winding the thread intended to form the weft.)

The shuttle containing the bobbin and weft yarn is thrown from one side of the loom to the other. A stroke equal to the width of the warp is called a pick and as soon as a pick is completed the blades are switched. The top threads become the bottom and vice versa.

(Filmed sequence of an operator at quilling and showing the yarn threads which are wound on the bobbins that are then introduced via a shuttle which runs from one edge of the fabric to the other on the loom thus forming a pattern as the yarn threads come and go.)

The looms are equipped with switches. As soon as a warp thread is broken, one of these copper threads falls off and an electrical contact instantly immobilizes the loom.

(Filmed sequence showing the mechanics inside the loom)

As the fabric is made, it is wound on an unloader that carries a piece of about 120 yards.

(Filmed sequence showing the fabric being wound on the unloader under the supervision of a worker)

Bruck fabrics are delivered from Cowansville to Canada and worldwide. Their trademark is an emblem of elegance, distinction, and good taste.

(Filmed sequence of a red delivery truck with the Bruck logo driving through a busy downtown area. Another shot showing silky dresses delicately placed in a suitcase and bearing a label revealing the brand “Bruck Fabric”)