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Fibers used:
Wool -- Most early Scottish cloth is
worsted wool, i.e., when the wool is spun, the fibers are
combed instead of carded, so that the fibers lie smoothly
against each other. You can see the difference between
worsted wools and carded wools when you look at a kilt or
a wool business suit, in which the fabric is
smooth-textured and not fuzzy, and a woven blanket, in
which the fabric is fluffy and soft to the touch [Henshall, p. 1].
Woolen cloths woven from carded fibers were often
felted and shrunk, which makes the cloth more water-resistant.
Types of sheep -- prehistoric sheep might
have looked like Soay, Jacob, Orkney, Shetland, or
Icelandic Sheep, or other 'primitive' types of sheep,
depending the time period being discussed. Soay sheep are
representative of the type of sheep that were in the
British Isles before the Roman period; Jacobs, Shetland,
Orkney, or Icelandic sheep are probably closer to the
sheep raised in later periods. A web site with
information about many sheep breeds is: http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/sheep/.
Silk -- In the Iron Age, silk
textiles made their way from Asia to Europe as prestige
gifts; later silk was brought to Europe along trade
routes. Old silk clothing was unravelled so that the
thread could be re-used, either for embroidery or woven
with linen or other plant fibers into new cloth.
Linen & other plant fibers -- Linen
was worn extensively, but it doesn't survive the
centuries very well, so there is less evidence for linen
garments from the Iron Age than there is for woolen
garments. Linen and silks are sometimes found, but linen
is much more likely to decay, so often only the woolen
textiles remain, and the linen or hempen materials have
completely disappeared. Silks were sometimes woven with
linen, but when found, the linen base fabric has
disappeared. Hemp was raised for fiber throughout
ancient Europe, and was used for ropes and fabric.
Because it is a plant fiber, though, it is hard to
distinguish from linen. Nettles were also used for
fabric. The stalks were 'retted' in a pool or stream like
linen, then hackled and spun like linen.
Leather and Fur -- Leather and fur
were used extensively for capes and jackets, and fur was
used as edging for various garments. The furs used
included badger, fox, seal, and otter. (Joyce, Vol. 2, p.
190) Irish leatherwork, including stamped designs, was
fairly refined, as seen from the covers of ancient
manuscripts. In addition to clothing and shoes, leather
was used by British Celts for sails, and Irish Celts used
leather hides for the hulls of boats (curraghs). Leather
bags were also used to contain liquids such as milk and
ale. Cuchulainn wears a jacket of hard leather in battle.
This might be made using the technique called cuir
boulli, which involves boiling the leather in wax and
letting it dry and harden in the desired shape. This
polymerizes the leather and makes it very hard.
For information on shoes, see Marc Carlson's site Footwear
of the Middle Ages, and Molly Ni Dana's Irish
and Scottish Shoes Page.
Old Irish terms related to leatherworking:
- lethar -- leather
- su/daire -- tanner
- coirtech -- oak bark used in tanning
- codal -- a hide
- bolg -- a bag
- lesan -- a bag used to hold ale
- pait -- a leather bottle, or a pot of any kind
- pattaire or su/daire -- a maker of paits
- crioll -- a leather travelling-bag
- criollaidhe -- maker of leather bags
- crioll -- a leather bag stitched with thongs
- cuaran -- untanned leather shoe
- cuara/naighe -- maker of cuarans
- greusaidhe or su/taire -- shoemaker
- cairemain -- a shoemaker or a maker of leather
bottles
Colors:
See Dyes for information on the
plant materials available for dyeing fibers.
Spinning & Weaving Techniques:
Spinning: Wool was shorn from the
sheep, sorted, scoured, combed or carded, and then spun.
The spinning wheel was not introduced until the 15th or
16th century, so earlier spinning would have been done
using a drop spindle (flax spindles were called fertas
and wool spindles sni/maire) and distaff (also
known as a 'rock', or in Irish, cuige/al). A
good book on the subject is The Essentials of
Handspinning, available from Halcyon Yarns. The most
commonly used spinning wheel in the Highlands until the early to
mid-18th century was the 'Muckle Wheel' or 'Walking Wheel', which is
the big one without a flyer head. After that, the Saxony-type
wheel with the flyer head (and variations such as the Castle Wheel)
became universal, with the Muckle Wheel used for plying and winding
bobbins, and occasionally for spinning wool.
Sprang: See Anglo-Saxon and
Viking Crafts - Sprang for information on Sprang.
This is essentially a netting technique and was used to
make caps, bags, and other items that might in later
periods have been loosely knitted.
Nalbinding: See Anglo-Saxon and
Viking Crafts - Nalebinding for information on
nalbinding techniques. Nalbinding is a technique of
looping thread with a needle so as to make stretchy items
like mittens, socks or other items which might later have
been knitted or crocheted. Nalbinding is a widespread
technique that has been found from Scandinavia to Egypt.
The general effect of the more simple types of nalbinding
looks somewhat like tight single crochet stitch; there
are more complex types of nalbinding as well..
Knitting: the earliest piece of
knitted fabric found from Medieval Scotland dates to the
early 16th century. It seems to have been most used to
knit caps and flat bonnets, which were then felted to
produce waterproof headwear. The cap was felted, then the
outer surface was shaved to present a smooth surface to
the rain [Henshall, p. 2].
Weaving: Most weaving was done on the
warp-weighted loom, which was
used from ancient times up to early modern times
throughout Europe and Eurasia. The warp-weighted loom was
used to weave everything from simple tabby and twills to
complex tapestries, and from narrow fabrics to fabrics as
wide as 60 inches or more (the weaver would walk back and
forth while weaving, or two or three women would weave
side by side and pass the shuttles back and forth between
themselves) [Barber, Ancient Textiles, p. 105, 178].
There is some question as to what kind of loom was used
in Ireland, as no loom weights have been found there; I
think it's likely that the warp-weighted loom was used in
Ireland, though, since there I haven't heard of evidence
of an alternative form of loom, and that the borders of
pieces of fabric found in Ireland seem consistent with
the characteristics of fabric produced on warp-weighted
looms.
The regular treadle loom spread throughout Europe starting in the
early middle ages (1100 onward), and ultimately became the basis of
large woolen cloth industries in England, Scotland, and the Low
Countries. Ireland (and until the mid 1700s, Scotland) were more
known for linen production.
Tape Looms (aka rigid heddle looms) are small
looms used for weaving ribbons, garters or other narrow
bands.
Card Weaving: Card weaving (or tablet
weaving) was used to start the heading borders for
weaving on warp-weighted looms, and to make belts, trim
and fringe for use separately. Quite complex patterns can
be made using card-weaving, and many ornate and
complicated examples of card weaving have been found. To
make a heading border, oneweaves a card-woven band, but
lengthens the weft on one side so as to make the warp for
the eventual fabric. This technique is fully detailed in
Marta Hoffman's The Warp-Weighted Loom and E.W.J.
Barber's Prehistoric Textiles. An excellent source
of further information on the history and techniques of
card weaving is The Techniques of Tablet Weaving by Peter
Collingwood.
Related Links:
Anglo-Saxon and
Viking Crafts - Braid-Weaving
Phiala's String Page
Ravensgard Costuming and Textiles Page -- has a description and pictures of warp-weighted looms
Tablet Weaving Archive
Old Irish Gaelic Spinning/Weaving terms: (/
denotes accent, or 'fada', over preceding letter,
lengthening the vowel)
- demess - shears
- lomrad - shearing
- belad - greasing the wool
- cumusc - teasing/mixing the wool
- ci/rad - combing
- ci/r or ci/or-- wool comb
- pes-bolg -- foot-bag, in which carded wool is
stored
- loes -- locks or rolls of wool produced after
carding
- cuige/al -- distaff
- fertas -- spindle for flax
- sni/maire -- spindle for wool
- sni/m -- to spin (mod. Ir. sni/omh)
- abras -- yarn
- certle -- ball of yarn
- garmain -- weaving beam (the larger of two;
referred to as having a 'nin' - mouth or fork at
its head; I suspect it is the top beam or one of
the side supporting beams on a warp-weighted
loom; the former is more likely, since they're
referred to in the singular)
- lu-garmain -- smaller weaving beam (possibly the
rod that separates the shed on a warp-weighted
loom)
- claidim -- weaving sword
- slata figi -- weaving rods, used to lift the shed
- dluth -- warp
- innech -- weft
- feith-ge/ir -- sleeking-stick to put a smooth
face on the weaving
- corrthar -- fringe or border, sometimes woven
into fabric, other times woven separately and
sewn on
- ci/ormhaire or u/caire-- fuller
- li/n -- flax
- smachti/n -- flax mallet
- flescad or ailgubad-- scutching (the process
whereby the flax is beaten to remove thewoody
outer part of the flax stem)
- flesc, flesc-li/n-- scutching stick
- tuar -- bleaching green
Scottish Gaelic Spinning/Weaving Terms:
- beart deilbh -- warping board
- crios iarna - niddy noddy, used for skeining yarn
- drogad -- cloth made of dark blue linen warp,
striped woolen weft, used by women in the
Scottish Highlands for their petticoats until
modern times
- luadhadh -- the waulking process
- rolag (pl. rolagan) -- the rolls of wool taken
off the wool cards
Sewing:
Thread for sewing tended to be of wool, or, in the
Bronze Age, gut or sinew. Thread was kept in clews (small
rolls). Needles were made of bronze in the bronze age,
but steel needles were used when that technology became
available. Needles were very valuable; varying in value
from a yearling calf for a common needle to an ounce of
silver for an embroidery needle. Workmanship was very
fine. Embroidery was common; embroiderers used leather
patterns in which the design was drawn and stamped
(perhaps a template?) (Joyce, Vol. 2, p. 364). Well-born
ladies were practised spinning, weaving and embroidery as
an accomplishment and pastime.
Irish Gaelic Sewing Terms:
- sna/that -- needle
- sna/th -- thread
- cro -- eye, the eye of the needle
- e/dach -- garment, dress
- e/tidach -- dressmaker
- cusal -- wooden sewing box
- iadach, tiag, ci/orbholg -- workbag (ci/orbholg
-- comb-bag)
- druinech -- embroiderer
- More Fiber Arts Resources
- Dharma Trading for Tie-dye, Batik, Dye, Fabric Paint, and Fiber Arts Supplies
- EARTH GUILD: home page
- G&S Dye: Natural Fabrics and Textile Design Supplies
- Halcyon Yarn Home Page
- Handweavers Guild of America, Inc.
- Natural Dyes Mailing List
- The Woad Page
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