Studio Jacket (detail); blue and white scrap from a split skirt I made (and wore to shreds) about 20 years ago
Last night, as the snow fell, I did a little mending.
This morning (after shoveling and before remembering that it is tuesday which means blog day),
I wove a few feet of hand spun plain weave fabric as the snow continued to fall.
I wove a few feet of hand spun plain weave fabric as the snow continued to fall.
Woven into the Earth: Textiles from Norse Greenland by Else Østergaård; Aarhus University Press, Denmark
600 years ago (ish) in Greenland,
someone spun, wove, sewed and mended
every garment.
someone spun, wove, sewed and mended
every garment.
My patches are haphazard, half-assed and untidy,
the stitching just barely functional.
the stitching just barely functional.
Many of the scraps are from unmendable favorite garments
and of dubious durability,
But I use them anyway.
And they wear out again,
and of dubious durability,
But I use them anyway.
And they wear out again,
I'm lucky in this.
Woven into the Earth: Textiles from Norse Greenland by Else Østergaård; Aarhus University Press, Denmark
In Norse Greenland in the 1300s, I'd have had to take much more care.
Indeed, I'd have been trained to take much more care.
Indeed, I'd have been trained to take much more care.
Sized skeins drying (white = gelatin size, brown = xanthan gum size)
I've been hand spinning most of my yarn for 35+ years,
knitting my clothes for longer than that,
weaving for nearly 30
and like to believe I'm better at all of these things than I am at mending.
Some of my garments survive because even half-assed attention is better than none,
but even with tools like this:
knitting my clothes for longer than that,
weaving for nearly 30
and like to believe I'm better at all of these things than I am at mending.
Some of my garments survive because even half-assed attention is better than none,
but even with tools like this:
Hepty Spindle by Henry C Edwards; Fleece: Cormo/Rambouillet X
not to mention this:
Lendrum Saxony wheel; super high speed flyer (70/1 ratio); polypay fiber
I've yet to spin, weave and sew (much less get to mend), even a single dress.
Woven into the Earth: Textiles from Norse Greenland by Else Østergaård; Aarhus University Press, Denmark
Nor, for all the care and effort I put into my materials,
sized singles
would such a garment be likely to survive for centuries
buried in the permafrost.
buried in the permafrost.
Woven into the Earth: Textiles from Norse Greenland by Else Østergaård; Aarhus University Press, Denmark
There is just so much to learn.
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Woven into the Earth: Textiles from Norse Greenland by Else Østergaård; Aarhus University Press, Denmark
