For what it's worth, I recently did a thread count comparison between the
counts given in "Medieval Textiles" and "Woven into the Earth," and some
common types of modern wool (including gabardine). To my surprise, even the
normal-to-coarse modern wools that should have been comparable based on text
descriptions were FAR finer (like 2-3 times the thread count) than even the
extant textiles that were described as being extremely fine. If anyone is
interested in more detail, I'll look around for the notebook that has my
preliminary notes and post 'em here.
Long story short, though, go for the coarser woolens if you want a really
authentic-looking fabric, at least for pre ~1475, and for early period &
vikingish stuff, try to find a coarse worsted. (Woolens didn't get hip until
what, around 12thC-13thC? sorry, posting without my references.)
-E House
(Loves the fine worsteds far too much to give them up. Besides, I haven't
gotten thread counts for the early 16thC yet. Maybe things were different
then! Anyone have any references?)
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