Lisbeth Jacobsen Production worker, inspection and repair Gudbrandsdalens Uldvarefabrik September 2013

I work in the inspection and repair department, where we go through all the fabrics that are woven in the mill. We receive the fabrics when they are finished in the weaving department. Many fabrics we control only on the right side, but some we control first on the wrong side and then on the right side afterwards. This is a job for you if you love needlework and sewing. There is a lot of mending, so you must have good eyesight. I have been in this department since 2006, but I have worked for the company for thirty-four years. For twenty-six years I worked in the outlet up in the main street. Today the outlet is separate from GU. I like the working hours here better; you have Easter and Christmas off, and four weeks off during the summer. We don't have to work night shifts and we have Saturdays off too. Here we work only one shift, from seven in the morning to three in the afternoon.

I'm originally a hairdresser, but then I got married and had two girls. I chose to stay at home until they started school. Then I started working in the outlet. I like to work with fabrics, and I've always thought it was okay to sew I embroider and assemble national costumes too. I have made them for my daughters and my grandchildren.

Here in the department there is a lot of work with each fabric. We can repair a lot. But what we can't do anything about we mark as a mistake. On some colours it's easy to notice the knots and mistakes. Other colours are difficult. On greyscale you must use your hands as well as your eyes; you must work on the right side and feel the knots. The pieces are around fifty metres long. A Halling without many mistakes we finish in about three-quarters of an hour, when we do both sides. We manage more or less three to four hundred metres per person daily, depending on the quality of the fabric. It is an important job and everyone plays a part to keep the production running.

We receive feedback if we have done something wrong. It's the same in all departments. If we receive a piece with too many errors from the weaving department then we give notice. Then Ann Britt goes up and informs the weavers that they must check. It might be broken threads or wrinkles in the fabric, or it may be granny knots. We do not like them. It's also about how the yarn is produced. Granny knots are so hard that you don't even have to try to untie them. Then you have to pull out some thread and use a new thread to mend it. When the fabric gets washed you don't notice the mending, but it takes a long time to do.

We chatter and talk. When we are finished with a piece we help each other to fold the fabrics, then we talk a bit. It is quiet here. The other areas in the factory are very noisy, you have to shout and scream, and then you don't bother saying anything at all. But we take breaks together, everyone in the department. The staffs in all departments eat together at the same time all over the house.

It is quite hard on the neck and shoulders. The average age here in the department is about fifty. We used to stretch and bend every once in a while, but it never really became a routine. We're told now and then to stretch when we sit at the table. It is important because it gets pretty intense when you sit in the same position all the time. A person from occupational health came once to look at our working positions. She had some suggestions but after a while we went back to how we normally do it.

All other departments are constantly renewing their technology. That is important, I guess, in the weaving department, that they have the latest technology, but here there is not so much to be done. One cannot get it more modern than it already is. After the fabric is finished from our hands it is washed and maybe dyed, and then up to the dry finishing treatment department for a final control. There are two people that do the last control. And if something is wrong at that point, well, then Frode or Ragnvald is contacted. I guess they have the last word.