Yesterday, the yarn arrived, so things are about to get a lot less theoretical. I suppose I should mention what I ordered, hm?
After some reading, I ended up going with a mini-cone each natural and a grey in both Jaggerspun 2/20 and Halcyon's worsted warp. Now that they've arrived I'm happy to say that I'm pleased with the results. The 2/20 is a more woolen style yarn, and it's a reasonable weight for period fabrics, if (as I understand other people's summaries of their research, since I haven't gotten to this level of detail yet) a little bit on the coarser side. So that's good practice for working with that weight of yarn before we get to handspun singles, which will be a whole other level of adventure. And the worsted, while heavier, makes me happy that I can experiment with worsted yarns, again, before we move on to the precious handspun. Plus, heavier yarn is also more forgiving.
After doing some math, I think I'm going to end up with a 4 yard warp of the 2/20. I didn't do the worsted calculations until after I'd ordered the mini-cones, so I was a little startled by how much heavier this warp is than the Jaggerspun and how much difference that makes in the calculations but at 10 ends per inch (EPI), but I can still get 12 5 inch square blocks to work with.
For the record, while I can do the math by hand, I really like the Weavolution Weaving Calculator for being able to fiddle with the numbers.
Other useful tools I've found after much time in the wilderness are reed substitution charts, because it turns out that 1) there are better methods than eyeballing to figure out sett (density of the warp in the reed) and the fact that I only have 15 dent per inch (DPI) reeds, does not actually limit me only to multiples of 15 for the sett. I mention this mostly because I only figured it out after an embarassingly long time of not really getting what all those numbers in the yarn descriptions meant.
So tonight, I think I start winding warp chains and working on the pre-treatment. I'm currently pondering adding oil, because in period they used a lot of oil per pound of fiber, and sizing. I'm leaning toward sizing with gelatin, because while using starch as sizing is period, reports are that it's also very dusty, and my house does not need more dust, so I'm willing to compromise on that specific detail, especially during test runs of the test run.
More to come...
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Return of the prodigal
I'd like to offer the traditional blog greeting these days, which is something along the lines of "Sorry I haven't updated in so long..." but in my case, this blog started off as a way to share updates about a group project, and since that project wrapped up I haven't had a lot of stuff to share, so I'm only mildly repentant.
However, I'm about to start a new project, so I decided to come back here to track progress and share what I learn as we go.
I want to make proper English broadcloth. I've wanted to make a reproduction textile for ages, but haven't had the momentum. However, my best friend recently pitched the same idea and it's a lot more fun as a collaboration than solo, so I have leapt on the concept with rather embarassing levels of enthusiasm. But also, she's a better spinner than I am, and I'm more of a weaver, so combining forces is perfect, because left to my own devices, I mostly look at the spinning specifications and get overwhelmed, but the weaving looks interesting and people seem to neglect the fulling, brushing and shearing pretty universally, so that's my area. Yay, division of labor. So while she's plotting the spinning I'm going to work up some weaving samples on my own to get the processing party started.
I started researching, and promptly discovered I'd been harboring some major confusion about terminology. The super high-grade woolen fabrics that get talked about? Aren't worsteds, they're woolens.
Which probably makes zero sense if you aren't aware of the woolen/worsted distinction. It's complicated, but the short version is that there are sort of two paths for handling wool, woolen and worsted. The results of the worsted path is a fine, hard and shiny yarn with very little loft or bounce. Woolen processing results in yarn that is airier, looser and bouncier. They both have their benefits and drawbacks.
I'm pretty sure that the reason for my confusion is that modernly, worsteds are generally considered higher grade because they're the sort of thing that high-end suits are made out of, and they're also rarer, so having them is a bigger deal.
But in the medieval context, that's reversed. Worsted spinning was very common because drop spinning produced it easily*, and fabric made with woolen spun yarn was more sumptuous because of several levels of additional processing that weren't necessary when working with worsteds, because the fabric was essentially almost ready as soon as it was washed. And it was reading that that made the pullchain on the lightbulb click...
*This is where I am not going into a whole digression into spinning techniques. Yet.
See, when you read about medieval woolens, what you're reading about is a fabric that was made with woolen style yarn that was then felted until it reduced size by over 50%, stretched back out on hooks (this is where the "on tenterhooks" expression comes from, I suspect) to maybe 75% of original size and make it smooth and not rippled, then brushed with teasles to bring up the nap, sheared to cut off the extra fuzziness, and then napped and sheared again and eventually dyed. All that extra work means that you've got a super smooth and shiny fabric that's practically waterproof. It's also, by the way, the fabric that the word "scarlet" comes from, because as a major luxury good, it got dyed with the finest dyes, which was so often the kermes red that the word for the fabric gradually morphed into the word for the color. This was a big deal luxury good.
The project I have in mind is to weave a series of samples in worsted and woolen yarns and 3 different weaves, and then subject them to all the other processing. I'll leave one with normal wet finishing, full another, full and brush a third and full, brush and shear a fourth, so that I can illustrate what each step looks like along the way. I think it'll be a really cool project. I also have been realizing that while I'm only talking about 5" square samples, that means I'm still talking about around 5 yards of weaving to cover all the variations, unless I decide maybe I don't need to do all of them. Like, after doing that reading, it sounds like doing the full treatment on a worsted/worsted sample isn't necessary, but since worsted warp/woolen weft was very common that that's one I should focus on, and I suspect that the heavily felted nature of the end fabric means it's not worth bothering with anything fancier than tabby or a very basic twill. But the point of the exercise is to experiment and see which processes produce what effects.
I don't have a lot of the processing equipment, so I'm expecting to improvise a good deal. Sadly, I don't have several strapping journeyman fullers to foot-full all that fabric for days on end, so my washing machine is likely to get pressed into service. I don't have tenterhooks, but I bet I can rig up something akin to an embroidery frame to hold it taut to dry. I don't have a frame to hold teasles, or enough teasles to do the job, but I do have hand carders (which were explictly forbidden from being used for that purpose for fear that the metal teeth would damage the fabric, but I'll risk it). Shearing, at least, should be straightforward.
I have plans! Many, many plans! Now I just have to wait for the yarns to arrive...
However, I'm about to start a new project, so I decided to come back here to track progress and share what I learn as we go.
I want to make proper English broadcloth. I've wanted to make a reproduction textile for ages, but haven't had the momentum. However, my best friend recently pitched the same idea and it's a lot more fun as a collaboration than solo, so I have leapt on the concept with rather embarassing levels of enthusiasm. But also, she's a better spinner than I am, and I'm more of a weaver, so combining forces is perfect, because left to my own devices, I mostly look at the spinning specifications and get overwhelmed, but the weaving looks interesting and people seem to neglect the fulling, brushing and shearing pretty universally, so that's my area. Yay, division of labor. So while she's plotting the spinning I'm going to work up some weaving samples on my own to get the processing party started.
I started researching, and promptly discovered I'd been harboring some major confusion about terminology. The super high-grade woolen fabrics that get talked about? Aren't worsteds, they're woolens.
Which probably makes zero sense if you aren't aware of the woolen/worsted distinction. It's complicated, but the short version is that there are sort of two paths for handling wool, woolen and worsted. The results of the worsted path is a fine, hard and shiny yarn with very little loft or bounce. Woolen processing results in yarn that is airier, looser and bouncier. They both have their benefits and drawbacks.
I'm pretty sure that the reason for my confusion is that modernly, worsteds are generally considered higher grade because they're the sort of thing that high-end suits are made out of, and they're also rarer, so having them is a bigger deal.
But in the medieval context, that's reversed. Worsted spinning was very common because drop spinning produced it easily*, and fabric made with woolen spun yarn was more sumptuous because of several levels of additional processing that weren't necessary when working with worsteds, because the fabric was essentially almost ready as soon as it was washed. And it was reading that that made the pullchain on the lightbulb click...
*This is where I am not going into a whole digression into spinning techniques. Yet.
See, when you read about medieval woolens, what you're reading about is a fabric that was made with woolen style yarn that was then felted until it reduced size by over 50%, stretched back out on hooks (this is where the "on tenterhooks" expression comes from, I suspect) to maybe 75% of original size and make it smooth and not rippled, then brushed with teasles to bring up the nap, sheared to cut off the extra fuzziness, and then napped and sheared again and eventually dyed. All that extra work means that you've got a super smooth and shiny fabric that's practically waterproof. It's also, by the way, the fabric that the word "scarlet" comes from, because as a major luxury good, it got dyed with the finest dyes, which was so often the kermes red that the word for the fabric gradually morphed into the word for the color. This was a big deal luxury good.
The project I have in mind is to weave a series of samples in worsted and woolen yarns and 3 different weaves, and then subject them to all the other processing. I'll leave one with normal wet finishing, full another, full and brush a third and full, brush and shear a fourth, so that I can illustrate what each step looks like along the way. I think it'll be a really cool project. I also have been realizing that while I'm only talking about 5" square samples, that means I'm still talking about around 5 yards of weaving to cover all the variations, unless I decide maybe I don't need to do all of them. Like, after doing that reading, it sounds like doing the full treatment on a worsted/worsted sample isn't necessary, but since worsted warp/woolen weft was very common that that's one I should focus on, and I suspect that the heavily felted nature of the end fabric means it's not worth bothering with anything fancier than tabby or a very basic twill. But the point of the exercise is to experiment and see which processes produce what effects.
I don't have a lot of the processing equipment, so I'm expecting to improvise a good deal. Sadly, I don't have several strapping journeyman fullers to foot-full all that fabric for days on end, so my washing machine is likely to get pressed into service. I don't have tenterhooks, but I bet I can rig up something akin to an embroidery frame to hold it taut to dry. I don't have a frame to hold teasles, or enough teasles to do the job, but I do have hand carders (which were explictly forbidden from being used for that purpose for fear that the metal teeth would damage the fabric, but I'll risk it). Shearing, at least, should be straightforward.
I have plans! Many, many plans! Now I just have to wait for the yarns to arrive...
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