[HNW] cotton in SCA period

[Jenn Ridley]

On Tue, 17 Jan 2006 21:01:29 -0600, "Susan B. Farmer" wrote:
>Quoting Allison263 at aol.com:
>*snippage*
>
>> Cotton was utilized by the upper classes, mainly as accessories such as
>> coifs, veils, wimples, gloves, purses, and household furnishings such 
>> as pillows, coverlets, tablecloths, napkins, towels, sheets, mattresses, etc. 
>> Mazzaoui also says, several times throughout her book, that cotton threads 
>> were common in embroidery and cotton fabrics a common embroidery ground. I 
>> have no reason to dispute her findings, other than the fact that so few 
>> extant pieces have survived. But there are many fragments, particularly in
>> the Middle East, that makes me think she's probably right. And she cites 
>> numerous period inventory lists and wills that describe such items, which 
>> further strengthens the case. Unfortunately, almost all of her sources are 
>> the original extant Italian documents,  so I'll either have to learn medieval
>> Italian or take her word for it. :)


>
>Are you saying that Cotton Floss is actually "period?"  that's just
>*wild*
>
>cotton floss, I can afford .....  :-S

If you can afford cotton floss, then you can probably afford silk.
Eterna Silk (nayy) is less than $1 US per 5m skein.
<http://www.eternasilk.com/where2buy.htm>  I like the stranded silk,
although it's a little harder to work with than cotton floss -- it's
more like filament silk than floss.   
--
Anastasia Emilianova
Jenn Ridley :  jridley at chartermi.net