Yesterday I laid out my general strategy for convincing the world’s citizens to try making their clothes from scratch. Well, okay, for not looking at me funny while I do it.
The five demo subjects are:
- Source fiber
- Prepare fiber for spinning
- Add color
- Spin fiber
- Ply or weave fiber
I’ve decided I’m not really interested in tacking on actual clothesmaking to this list. Why? It doesn’t fall down to the bottom of the needs pyramid very well. If you become an expert on tailoring, you’ll be copying fine paintings in no time – and although I am taking on Mary of Hapsburg, I just want that dress for dancing in. I’m really more interested in work dresses. In time, particularly after I get some basic skills under my belt, I may follow Drea Leed around and continue investigating illustrations of peasant wear, tailoring-wise. But basic skills first.
Here’s my schedule of attack, subject to revision without notice.
Fiber source – Local animal (alpaca/Gulf Coast sheep) vs local plant (flax/pina/cotton)
Season 1 – Make contact with sources; start cultivation of flax/pina/cotton; illustrate
sources.
Season 2 – Continue to purchase local alpaca; add GC sheep.Fiber preparation – Carding / retting
Season 1 – Acquire working carding paddles and learn to card wool. Try harvesting fiber from pina. Illustrate retting. Look for flax prep tools.
Season 2 – Learn to card wool better from Spin-In Magazine. Try retting 2007 flax crop.Color addition – What plants make what dyes, where do we get them?
Season 1 – Get dye books, acquire a few dye materials. Try dying fiber. Cultivate likely dye plants in garden.
Season 2 – Try dying with own grown plants. Continue growing plants.Spinning – Drop spindle / spindle wheel / flyer-treadle wheel
Season 1 – Learn to spin alpaca, flax, and cotton. Get distaff made. Start teaching drop spindling classes. Create visuals of each activity for tent illustrations.
Season 2 – Make spindle wheel.Cloth creation – Tablet weaving / rigid heddle loom / harness loom
Season 1 – Learn basics of tablet weaving. Start work on linsey-woolsey gown.
Illustrate harness loom.
Season 2 – Move on to calligraphy charts on tablet weaving. Continue work on
linsey-woolsey gown. Learn to weave other types of fabric on heddle loom?
I’m thinking that these ‘seasons’ are actually years. So I should have my demo the way I want it, truly, by the end of 2008. But we’ll see how much garb creation/music/dancing/fencing/gardening gets in the way.
So far my ultimate fiber craziness is a home-grown cotton shirt. Although I cheated–the warp was commercial yarn, but I grew and spun the weft myself.
I also have a full-length cape that is completely handspun. The current insane project is spinning and weaving a lightweight wool/silk fabric for a winter jacket.
And back to your thoughts on local dye plants–remember that indigo grows very well in the south. I just let mine reseed itself every year–when they get around to sprouting I’ll see if I can pot up a couple for you. Indigo dyeing is *so* fascinating.
As for your demo–people *need* to see that sort of thing. I have the very devil of a time explaining to people that you can make cloth from scratch. I’ve even done demos with a weaving friend–I have a pile of wool on one side which I spin, then hand to her and she weaves it right there on the spot, and *still* people will think that at some point . . “don’t you have to send it somewhere to have it made into cloth?”