Another side effect of high textile quality in the past that might be of interest to writers and designers is that cloth generally got.reused and repurposed a lot. A textile would pass through several different garments and owners, over decades, even generations. And clothes were constructed for this kind of reuse. So they were designed so you could add a panel or pull a panel out, take the sleeves off and swap them for other sleeves, shorten or lengthen, narrow or widen. And when something had been repurposed six ways from Sunday for one owner and was starting to fade a little it got passed to the children or the servants or a poor relation to go through the same process all over again.
People would even pawn their best clothes to raise money for an unexpected expense.
The Oseberg queen (circa 850 CE) was buried with a lozenge twill wool textile woven with a thread count in excess of 120 threads per inch in the warp. So much for Vikings in burlap.
Those Classical Greek garments draped that way because they were made of very fine tabby woven wool, the kind of stuff you’d pay $50/yard for nowadays if you could find it among the Italian imports. Linen was used later but didn’t drape the same way. (Pharaonic Egyptian linen garments relied on linen’s stiffness and ability to hold a pleat, not on its drapiness which it doesn’t have innately.)
Hallstatt tablet woven bands 2500 years ago were worked in two-ply wool yarn the same thickness as modern machine sewing thread, i.e., 0.2mm in diameter.
Never underestimate the extraordinary history of textiles and the unparalleled value they held in premodern cultures.
Another thing that often irritates me in works of fantasy is that they will have people in textiles that can’t be happening In the economy or agriculture that they are depicting. Like a lot of people wearing wool but there don’t appear to be any sheep or shepherds or people spinning and the climate isn’t suitable for sheep so where is all this wool coming from? If it’s being imported where is it being imported from and where are all the ships to carry it? It’s like cloth just appears. Is there a cloth fairy?
Food and textiles, often being “women’s work”, tend to be undervalued given their central importance to culture. Which is why I brought them front and centre in Mister Bucket for Assembly.
There is an Elizabethan murder mystery by PF Chisholm where a woman asks the constable if the accused actually did stab the victim in his bed how did she manage to wash the sheets without anybody noticing? Because she would’ve had to fetch water and get out the tubs and soak the sheets, boil up the washing soda, hang them out to dry and all of this somehow without either her servants or the women in the houses around hers noticing what she was doing. And if she didn’t do that then there would be a set of sheets missing. Except there aren’t any sheets missing.
Also yells about textile history!!! 🙂
And OMG so right about garbage textile quality.
Another side effect of high textile quality in the past that might be of interest to writers and designers is that cloth generally got.reused and repurposed a lot. A textile would pass through several different garments and owners, over decades, even generations. And clothes were constructed for this kind of reuse. So they were designed so you could add a panel or pull a panel out, take the sleeves off and swap them for other sleeves, shorten or lengthen, narrow or widen. And when something had been repurposed six ways from Sunday for one owner and was starting to fade a little it got passed to the children or the servants or a poor relation to go through the same process all over again.
People would even pawn their best clothes to raise money for an unexpected expense.
Premodern textiles are my specialty.
The Oseberg queen (circa 850 CE) was buried with a lozenge twill wool textile woven with a thread count in excess of 120 threads per inch in the warp. So much for Vikings in burlap.
Those Classical Greek garments draped that way because they were made of very fine tabby woven wool, the kind of stuff you’d pay $50/yard for nowadays if you could find it among the Italian imports. Linen was used later but didn’t drape the same way. (Pharaonic Egyptian linen garments relied on linen’s stiffness and ability to hold a pleat, not on its drapiness which it doesn’t have innately.)
Hallstatt tablet woven bands 2500 years ago were worked in two-ply wool yarn the same thickness as modern machine sewing thread, i.e., 0.2mm in diameter.
Never underestimate the extraordinary history of textiles and the unparalleled value they held in premodern cultures.
Great point about linen drape (or lack of).
Another thing that often irritates me in works of fantasy is that they will have people in textiles that can’t be happening In the economy or agriculture that they are depicting. Like a lot of people wearing wool but there don’t appear to be any sheep or shepherds or people spinning and the climate isn’t suitable for sheep so where is all this wool coming from? If it’s being imported where is it being imported from and where are all the ships to carry it? It’s like cloth just appears. Is there a cloth fairy?
Yes, and She visits most fantasy and SF movies as well as books. 🙁
There may also be a food fairy. I don’t know where else the bread is coming from.
Food and textiles, often being “women’s work”, tend to be undervalued given their central importance to culture. Which is why I brought them front and centre in Mister Bucket for Assembly.
There is an Elizabethan murder mystery by PF Chisholm where a woman asks the constable if the accused actually did stab the victim in his bed how did she manage to wash the sheets without anybody noticing? Because she would’ve had to fetch water and get out the tubs and soak the sheets, boil up the washing soda, hang them out to dry and all of this somehow without either her servants or the women in the houses around hers noticing what she was doing. And if she didn’t do that then there would be a set of sheets missing. Except there aren’t any sheets missing.