[HNW] Re: cotton fleece

[Chris Laning]

At 2:52 PM -0500 1/12/06, Radei Drchevich wrote:
>Today cotton is grown as far north os the mountians of Erarat.  and 
>as I am talking about Russia, it is much closer to the source.
>
>Yes, Egyptian cotton is among the best in the world.  but also grows 
>in persia, jordon, and parts of the Indus River valley.
>
>MY question was the Fleece part, more than the cotton part.

So to answer the original question.... <grin>

Yes, there were fleecy things before 1600, but for the most part I 
don't think they were cotton.

I'd say the best-known type of furry lining for something like a 
cloak would be, well, fur. Medieval Europeans who could afford it 
used lots of fur for linings, especially since they didn't keep their 
houses very warm by modern standards. Everything from very short, 
velvet-like fur to various types of long shaggy fur seems to make an 
appearance in some type of garment or other. Lining things with lamb 
or sheep skins was also well known -- i.e. real "fleece."

Next best would be some sort of "imitation" fur made from some other 
material. It's certainly possible to weave fluffy bits into wool 
cloth to make a plush fabric. I'd guess that would be the most 
likely. We even have examples of a couple of very elegant, 
later-period garments lined with rather long, shaggy silk plush, 
which must have felt wonderful but was probably staggeringly 
expensive. They didn't stick to "natural" colors either -- I think 
one of the surviving examples is gray, but the other one is pink or 
green or some other decidedly NOT natural color!

I'd guess that the best imitation of such a period "fake fur" would 
be something that is either wool or else looks like wool. The problem 
with a lot of modern "fake fur" is that it's too shiny looking. I'd 
think a period "fake fur" also would look less like modern polyester 
"fleece" and more like curly sheepskin or something else where you 
can see what looks like "locks" of curly hair.

hope this helps --
-- 
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O    Chris Laning <claning at igc.org> - Davis, California
+     http://paternoster-row.org - http://paternosters.blogspot.com
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