Textiles for the SCA (2024)

Textiles for the SCA

A Primer for the FiberNovice

1. Fibers –
1. The Big Three – most commonly used in period
1. Wool– animal fiber from a sheep. Takes dyewell and can processed into a huge range of fabrics in a huge range of colors.
2. Linen– a baste fiber, made from the stem of a plant.Processing takes many steps before the fibers can be spun into threadsthen woven into a wide range of types of cloths. The cloth can be fine and sheer or a heavysail canvas. Linen is very difficult todye and colors tends to fade
3. Silk– Protein fiber produced by silkworms.Fibers are very fine but very strong.People in period were silk snobs, period silks were smooth and fine, NOTslubby and coarse like most modern silks.
2. Cotton
1. Can be documented for certain periods BUT generallynot for modern uses (i.e. ok for padding but not for socks)
2. Would have been quite expensive and unusualanyway
3. Comes from a sub-tropical plant, another of thebaste fibers
3. Synthetics
1. Acetate, Acrylic, Nylon, Polyester – To beavoided. You are basically wearing aplastic bottle in one form or another
2. Rayon – a man-man cellulose fiber, commonlyblended with linen. Rayon linen blendswill not be as sturdy as 100% linen and will not be as cool, but if it’s cheapand you are not worried about overheating it might be ok in a pinch
2. Fabrics
1. Wool
1. Gabardine– a tightly woven twill made from worsted wool.Term was used in period to mean “dress”.These wools are good as a general purpose cloth and come in a wide rangeof weights, most often suit weight making them a good option for gowns,doublets, and most anything else. Theywill not usually shrunk or change surface texture in the wash due to thetightness of the weave.
2. Worsted- Archaically also known asstuff, is lightweight and has a coarse texture. Theweaveis usuallytwillorplain. The wool is tightly spun andstraightened, making the threads more dense and compact. These come in a huge range of weights andtextures.
3. Woolen -subjected to fabricfinishingtechniques designed to add a directional pile - in that the end consumercan 'stroke' the garment in a single direction (shoulder to cuff etc.), such asa casual jacket. This feels like the fibers are directionally arranged. Fulled fabrics are a good example of woolens.
4. Flannel– very soft fabric that has been brushed on one or both sides to create anap. Finding wool flannel is a littletricky nowadays but not impossible. It’svery good for hats, hoods, and light outwear and was used widely for warmpetticoats up until such things went out of general use.
5. Tropical– The Holy Grail of wool. Verylightweight, usually worsted wool that you can wear at Pennsic. It hardly looks or feels like wool atall. Sometimes it’s even sheer. Typically tropical wools are a plainweave. They breathe well, drape nicely,and make fantastic, long wearing tunics and gowns.
2. Cottons
1. Batiste– sheer, finely woven cotton. Sometimesyou will see a cotton poly blend. The100% cotton is ok for veils in a pinch but it will not drape quite right
2. Calico– Basic printed cotton that you see at your local fabric shop. No period use for this.
3. BroadCloth – basic dense weave cotton.Usually it’s going to a blend so be careful which bolt you pick up andread the labels. Ok for linings and suchif it’s not polyester.
4. Denim– What your jeans are made out of! Aheavy, twill weave cotton. Twill isperiod so you could easily a denim for something that needs to be nice andsturdy, just be careful it does not end up looking like jeans
5. Twill– this is really descriptive of the weave, not the fabric. Be careful what it’s made out of. Cottons will be better than polyester or ablend
6. Duck– a plain weave, heavy cotton canvas.Great for bags, tents, and other things that need to be sturdy andsomewhat water repellent.
3. Linen
1. A generalnote – linen comes in a lot of weights and colors. To create an authentic look for yourself, tryto stay away from very dark or very electric colors. Layer different weights in your outfit, andtry to avoid using really lightweight linens for outer layers (unless doingRoman)
2. Handkerchief– fine linen, usually slightly sheer.Sometimes this will be listed as 3.5 oz.Great for underthings and veils and fine embroidery. Make sure you look for linen with strongfibers and fairly even threads (not too many slubs)
4. Silks
1. Dupioni- silk fabric that has natural slubs along the weave. These slubs are part ofthe characteristic of the silk fibers from cocoons of where two silk worms havespun one cocoon together. Too slubby for period clothing, try to find ashantung instead.
2. Noil/RawSilk - Silk noil is a silk fabric that is woven from the scraps from thesilk weaving process. It is a very course fabric and would be consideredextremely inferior in the Medieval era and does not resemble any period fabricI have seen.
3. Tafetta– a very tightly woven, crisp fabric, often shot, that is woven with one colorthreads for the warp and contrasting color threads for the weft giving thefabric an iridescent quality. This wasoften used in period (especially later period) and can be found in the draperydepartments of better fabric stores.
4. Shantung- It has bumps in it called slubs. These imperfectionsare part of thefabric and are not flaws.Dupioni is ashantung fabric, but not allshantungs are dupioni, get it? Shantung is a bit smoother than dupionibut still a bit too course to be a spot on authentic period fabric. It is agood fabric to use none the less as it is generally easier to find than taffetaand less expensive.
5. Haboti– Also called china silk. This is veryfinely woven silk. It comes in a variety of weights. It does not have anyplanned imperfections like slubs. It is a great veil fabric. It comes indifferent weighs measured in mm, that is mummy not millimeters. The higher themmnumber the heavier the fabric. 8 mm you can see through, but is nottransparent. Thumbs up for china silk. Don't use it as the fashion layerthough, it is just not sturdy enough, linings are good and veils too
3. Weave Structures
1. PlainWeave – the basic over-under structure



2. Twill– weft passes over and under several threads to create a diagonal pattern, inthe example below (a 2 by 2 twill) the west passes under two warps then overtwo warps

   

3. Herringbone– a variation on the twill pattern that creates a herringbone pattern. This was very commonly used in early period.

   

4. Where to Shop
1. http://www.fabric.com/
2. http://www.graylinelinen.com/
3. http://www.fashionfabricsclub.com
4. http://www.renaissancefabrics.net/
5. http://www.burnleyandtrowbridge.com/