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linsey-woolsey shirt-in-progress

7/1/2019

 
Picture
Truth to tell,
I had hoped to have
a finished shirt today.

Alas, I should have known better.
The path from fiber forward

(or any path I follow for that matter),
rarely runs straight
and is almost never speedy--
which of course is often the point.
Picture
Indeed, learning how to spin flax
with some degree of comfort
seemed more than enough
when this all began,
and it wasn't until this past April
that I began to get serious about linsey woolsey,
so why should the sewing part go quickly?
Picture
But wait -- no! 
I take that back.
I just typed "linsey-woolsey"
into the search box at the top of the blog page
and found that I wove some 
back when I was first learning
to use a backstrap loom--
cloth I later used
in an entirely different
​
sort of experiment
in November 2016.
(that blog post written in hope, before the results were in).
Picture
linsey-woolsey: spindle spun linen warp; spindle spun wool and linen weft (linen only in the tapestry swirl)
Except, was that experiment entirely different? 
Wasn't that attempt to combine
​ backstrap-woven linen/wool cloth
with some kind of imagery 
part of the same endless quest 
as the coptic-inspired tabby/tapestry
​
that keeps showing up in this project?
Picture
Well yes, I think it is--
even if I'm unlikely
​to throw an actual painting
(whatever the ground material)
into a tub of water and swish it around
​to soften it up before cutting,
as I have these swaths of linen and wool.
Picture
But I suppose one can be obsessed
with the juxtaposition of cloth and image
for decades and decades
and still ask a lot of different questions.

Right now, for instance
I want to know
​how  ​the combination
of linen and wool,
feels against my skin.
Picture
Historically, at least in the United States,
Linsey-woolsey has a bad reputation
and is often described 
as rough inferior cloth--
the combination of linen and wool
 highlighting  the worst
both of the materials,
and of human power relationships.*

* Plantation Slave Weavers Remember: An Oral History by Mary Madison
is heartbreaking, humbling and un-put-downable  (if that is a word)--
 essential reading for me as a white woman, a human being and a weaver.
The end of the book includes valuable background
on the textiles that are spoken of in the text,
as well as extracts from
The Politics Of Textiles Used in African American Slave Clothing,
a paper by Eulanda A. Sanders given at a Textile Society of America Symposium.
Picture
Linsey-Woolsey was also woven
by early American Colonists
and used in myriad textiles,
from clothing to coverlets
as a way to stretch
scarce and precious wool--
though usually not as a first choice.
Picture
In addition, I've also recently learned that
the combination of wool and linen is Shatnez:
 prohibited by Jewish law from being worn.
Picture
Yet fragments Coptic cloth of linen and wool
unearthed by archaeologist Albert Gayet 
and exhibited at the Exposition Universelle de Paris 1900
may well have inspired
the wild and colorful paintings
of  Henri Matisse and his fellow Fauves
at the turn of the last century.
Picture
It's intense, actually --
all this history and judgement,
all this power and hardship
all this misery and mystery
​and pictorial delight
associated with 
this specific combination of materials
to which I am connected,
consciously and unconsciously,
willingly and abashedly, 
in ways both historic
and of the moment.
​
It's also fascinating. ​

And with all that I learn
and hope to keep learning,
with all the things I want to change
about the world we live in,
and all the ways I want to make all lives better
I am still 
a weaver devoted to wool,
and a spinner in love with linen,
 coming to this cloth
with spindle and shuttle

pins, needles, thread,
and curiosity. 

So here's what I know so far:
Picture
1. My chest is not quite as flat as I thought it was
Picture
2. Building with rectangles,
and basting before sewing
is a pretty great idea
when designing as you go--
or rather re-designing
for the third
(or maybe fourth)
time.
Picture
3. The combination of a fine wool warp 
(targhee/debouillet)
and singles linen weft
(spindle spun and well scoured),
​feels wonderful in my hands,
airy yet robust,
warm and cool and silky all at once,
and I very much look forward
to my future physical connection
with the weavers and wearers of this cloth
willing, and unwilling,
over the millennia. 

Back eventually,
​ with a shirt!
MARGARET ANDREWS
7/2/2019 01:01:46 pm

Hi, I really like all of the history and links in this post. Makes for very enjoyable reading. Your linsey-woolsey shirt is most interesting and I can hardly wait for the reveal. So much fun!

Mary
7/2/2019 01:26:15 pm

Thanks for posting links to the book and article..fascinating stuff. Makes me want to spin all of the flax I have!

Fran Dale
7/2/2019 01:57:46 pm

Well you wander around and accomplish lots.
I wonder around and get nothing much done.
That’s the rub

Maryann
7/3/2019 01:42:59 pm

Wow! .. hit That nail right on the head! at least I have company!! :oD

Velma Bolyard
7/2/2019 02:06:52 pm

Though not at all the same, I was chatting today about the word textile, how I had to learn it (along with weaving vocab when I was 17) and now it's a word it is richly layered with meaning and nuance for me. Learning about mixing animal, vegetable, mineral and all of that meaning and why it could be seen as wrong...anyway, as usual, I'm thinking after reading and enjoying your post. And thinking about making.

Annie Mayo
7/2/2019 02:15:34 pm

Well I've recently finished my Sarah-Dippity skirt inspired by your blog and pattern. And I've been thinking about Linsey-woolsey since you started writing about it, so I guess I'll soon be inspired to actually do something! So thank you Sarah for the inspiration it's really welcome in my life. By the way, I love my new skirt!

Sarah
7/5/2019 09:22:27 am

Wahoo! So happy you've got a Sarah-Dippity complete. Super impressed. I'm thinking a linsey-woolsey one might be in my future. The combo for the woven cloth, and then wool only wedges (for easier knitting). Possibilities abound...

Morgan
7/2/2019 04:08:03 pm

Beautiful and inspiring as always. Thanks for this.

Jennifer Leigh link
7/2/2019 06:31:36 pm

One of my rabbis was convinced that the general prohibition against shatnez was because it was reserved for particular holy vestments. Here is a lecture on the topic: https://www.etzion.org.il/en/lecture-104-allowance-shaatnez-priestly-garments-and-tzitzit

Barbara Rickman
7/3/2019 05:35:48 am

Jennifer
I am reading thie article you posted in your note to Sarah and it is fastenating to me as a Traditional Catholic. What awesome philosopy. I have some bath soap to make so I will read the rest in a bit, but the reasoning behind why wool and linen may not be worn by the ordinary Jewish person is very enlightening. I am also a black woman who's maternal great, great, great, grandfather was a run away slave in Tennessee who became a wealthy boxer and a Christian pastor in his lifetime. I am sure he wore wool and linen as a slave. What a history each of us has. I want to learn to weave linen so that a traditional altar linen may be made in thanksgiving for all that Our Lord God has given me in my lifetime. I am blessed beyond words and I want to say a tangible Thank You to Him who made all we see and do not see.

bjr

Sarah
7/5/2019 09:13:14 am

-- What astonishing history is connected with each of us -- is that not the truth? Thank you Jennifer and Barbara for these two amazing pieces of it right here, sparked by the interlacement of fibers. I so appreciate the link and comments and connection. So so very much to learn-- and what joy in the process of opening up my mind.

Jennifer Leigh link
7/5/2019 10:16:46 am

I was reading last night about the sacredness of cloth to the Inca, and how they developed methods of weaving that allowed them to weave to the end of the warp so the finished cloth would have continuous threads in both warp and weft, because cutting or breaking the threads was seen as damaging the sacred nature of the textile.

Cultures all over the world saw textiles as both everyday objects and sacred things. I like to think the fiber arts world is regaining some of that sense of making and living with textiles that are imbued with sacred meaning.

Barbara Rickman
7/3/2019 05:00:23 am

Did you find out which method of spinning flax gave you better results? I had not thought about standing at a distaff and spinning flax that way. I made a standing distaff for my wheel. I have to rry spinning with a hand spindle. I have several. Time to get them put back into use. Am also going to try something I saw in SPIN OFF magazine that had to do with making some flax liquid by boiling flax seed and water and using that as you spin. Also saw a tip about re-skeining linen after boiling and pressing with your fingers or a sponge to help the hairy bits to lay down flat and not stick out of the single. Will have to try again, and again, and again.....

Sarah
7/5/2019 09:18:01 am

The flax liquid seems like a really good idea as hairiness is definitely a thing with all my flax. I had some luck taming it (at least on one sample) by sizing the finished yarn with a simple flour and water paste, but imagine the flax liquid would be better. More to try.
As for spinning -- I like the sound of your standing distaff and wheel, though as is only use spindles these days, the experiments are all between them. Best results so far = standing distaff and slow cross arm spindle, but what I actually use is a light hand-held distaff with that same spindle, mostly because I like to meander around while I'm spinning and the standing distaff keeps me in one place!

Teri Pittman link
7/3/2019 09:19:06 am

I've bought flax and the Ply magazine on spinning flax. I have two distaffs that I bought from the Balkans on Ebay. They are supposed to be for spindle use, but fit fine in my spinning wheel. This seems to be the somewhat coarser stuff (not tow) so should be a good place to start. And at some point this month, I will probably set up a backstrap loom to try this all out. It sounds like a fun project.

Spinning Mollusc
7/3/2019 11:07:55 am

Lying on my bed. Home early from work. Unable to spin or weave because RA is claiming my energy today, your blog post gives me great joy and takes me out of myself. Jennifer, I will read the article you posted too but for now I will gather my energy to go downstairs. Thank you.

Jennifer Leigh link
7/3/2019 11:18:55 am

@Spinning Mollusc-

Take care of yourself. :-) The words will be there when you are ready for them. <3

Sarah
7/5/2019 09:21:08 am

So sorry about the RA -- a thing in my family too and NOT FUN. Also so happy that the blog can help distract. I often get enormous pleasure from simply thinking about things I might make -- keeps me from starting too many projects as I can think my way through ideas and set them aside without ever actually touching anything! Leaves more energy for the ones I really "have" to make. If you know what I mean.

F Close-Hainsworth
7/5/2019 01:40:44 pm

I was under the impression that 'traditional' linsey woolsey had linen as the warp, (presumably because it was easier to spin it strong and fine and then any old wool could be spun fast and loose as the weft). Any reason why you did it the other way round?

Sarah
7/6/2019 08:34:34 am

That is my understanding too -- linen warp/wool weft--for the reasons you mention and also sometimes, at least in the case of overshot coverlets, you'd want the fluffy wool for pattern. I tried it both ways and hope to talk about that a little bit in the next post (if I don't get distracted that is...)

Barbara Rickman
7/6/2019 08:53:52 am

Maybe your experiment will answer the question of why this particular fabric was termed as scratchy (hairy linen and low quality wool maybe). Just a thought. This has been the most interesting learning experience I have had in a very long time.

Brenda link
7/6/2019 08:59:33 am

I just discovered your blog and am delighted to read about your linsey-woolsey experience. I am planning to weave some this fall, as soon as I have enough linen spun, and am looking forward to seeing what works for you. I am especially curious as to how it feels against the skin. I love linen and wool in equal amounts, I think, so it seems only right to combine them. Also, thanks for the recommendation of "Plantation Slave Weavers." It looks like a must-read.

Mhl
7/7/2019 09:15:48 am

I need to read more of your posts as this one inspired me to take a class in learning how to make a pattern.

Ineke
7/12/2019 05:51:51 am

I really like the shirt. And the use of yarn the Story etc. Just wondered. Did you wash the cloth before sowing a beautiful garment?

I really love Reading your blog.

Sarah
7/13/2019 10:39:20 am

Yes! Definitely washed the cloth -- by hand, with vigor. I wanted to fluff/full the wool as much as I could without actually felting it. Washing eels like a really important step to me for all my textiles, tapestries included!


Comments are closed.
    Picture

    ​Sarah C Swett 
    tells stories
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    ​ and about

     hand spun yarn. 


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