[Ansteorra] period cotton

[Marc Carlson]

>Stefan li Rous StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
>>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...

You are correct -I mistyped.  (Being sarcastic workes SO much better if you 
proofread...)

>>“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.

The layering does help.  So does having air movement  In general, the wool 
serves as an insulator both directions, the linen pulls the moisture away 
from the body, and the breeze goes through the wool, evaporates the water 
from the linen and cools the inside of the garment (as oppose dto cotton, 
which doesn't evaporate water as well, so when it soaks up the moisture, it 
just stays wet).  Admittedly, I prefer to use summer wieght wools in the 
summer, but currently all my woolens are multi-season.

Granted, since I knew the most recent circle meeting was goinmg to likely be 
in a place with minimal air movement, I wore lower class linen jerkin 
instead of the woolen doublet.

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

Just wearing it correctly, and not forgetting that everyone's hot.  At 
worst, I'm only a little hotter than some, and (temperature-wise) cooler 
than most.

Marc/Diarmaid