From: Karen R Bergquist <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> I recently bought a big chunk of leather in a sort of silvery taupe shade. While the smooth side is nice, the color takes on a truly gorgeous quality on the suede side. Was the suede/flesh side of leather used in 16th century England, or was the smoother hair side preferred? We are talking about using it for clothing, of course. I was thinking of a nice doublet for a new hunting gown.......
Since I'm not sure that the color you describe was even possible for leather in that period, I'm not sure it matters much :)
However, with the limited evidence available, I believe that the grain side was preferred at that point. Even on garments that were buffed for oil curing, the grain side was generally used on the outside (BTW, the frizzed/buffed up grain is how real suede was made, not the split junk leather that is often sold as "suede" today, so the flesh side isn't really the suede side. I know, no one actually teaches this stuff... )
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