[Ansteorra] period cotton

[Stefan li Rous]

On Sep 20, 2006, at 1:35 PM, Marc Carlson wrote:
> lizdenpeters at juno.com wrote
>> things.  I wear cotton garb (I have been told many times that  
>> cotton is not a
>> period material.) and will continue to do so
> .
> Whoever told you that either was mistake, or was misheard.  Cotton  
> is totally period.  It was extremely rare and pretty pricey in  
> Europe for most of the period (and actually stayed that way until  
> the Industrial Revolution).  The term “fustion”, in English,  
> referring to a cotton/flax (i.e. linen) blend, dates well into the  
> 12th century.  The linen, it is my opinion, was used to stretch the  
> amount of cotton.  Raw, unspun cotton was also shipped into Europe  
> in increasing amounts, and even grown in southern Europe by the  
> 14th century.  So, uncommon and rare? - yes.  Expensive? - yes.   
> Not Period? - no.

I can second most of what Diarmaid says here. See these files in the  
TEXTILE-ARTS section of the Florilegium:
cotton-art        (14K)  4/19/95    Article on cotton in the Middle  
Ages.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/TEXTILES/cotton-art.html
cotton-msg        (10K) 10/22/99    Period cotton use.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/TEXTILES/cotton-msg.html

I was going to say I'd only heard of cotton being imported to Europe,  
not grown here and ask for more details. However, in checking the  
cotton-msg file above, the answer is likely in the book mentioned in  
the first message:

See: Mazzaoui, Maureen Fennell, _The Italian Cotton Industry in the  
Later
Middle Ages:1100-1600._

> I should mention that cotton has one spectacular side benefit –  
> things you make in it don’t last as long as things made from wool  
> and cotton, so your embarrassing earlier projects rarely hang  
> around for a long time.

err, I think you mean "wool and linen". Linen and hemp do last much  
better than cotton. In fact, canvas originally meant hemp. (cannabis/ 
canvas) There are files in the Florilegium on hemp, as well. I really  
wanted to make my pavilion out of hemp cloth because of its  
durability. Unfortunately, in part because of various policies in  
Washington, D.C. hemp costs about $15/yard here compared to $5 for  
cotton canvas, so a pavilion made out of hemp was out of my price range.

> “Wool is hot in the summer”
>
> Guess what?  So is cotton.  So is standing around naked.  Summer in  
> Ansteorra is Hot.  Always has been, probably always will be.  And  
> yes, I wear layers of wool and linen in the summer.

How can you manage to do this? Or does a layer of linen under the  
wool actually make it cooler than using the wool alone? Even though  
linen was seldom used for outer wear in period, in part because it  
doesn't dye well, I've been using a single layer of modern,  
petrochemical dyed linen for my summer tunics because it is a bit  
cooler than cotton broadcloth. I'd like to find linen that was as  
thin as the broadcloth though with the thinness of the broadcloth and  
the open weave and breathability of the linen.

But maybe you have a secret with wool, that I've been unaware of?

> Marc/Diarmaid

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****