On Apr 23, 2007, at 11:27 AM, Rebecca Schmitt wrote:
OK, here's the question:
I work at a Renn Faire, and would like to be able to do some
handsewing,
most likely linen shirts for my child. I don't want to have my plastic
spools of thread flashing about! How did Elizabethans work with
thread? Was
it wound on spools (wooden, I assume)? Was it somehow put into
hanks (like
modern-day floss)? How can I make my thread look "right"?
The best 16th-century images I've been able to find seem to have
thread/yarn either (1) wound into little balls, kept in a box, or (2)
wound around something small, rectangular and flat (no indication of
what it is, since the images are little details in the corners of
paintings...)
I would guess that sewing thread might have been sold in hanks, but I
really don't know. I am fairly sure that silk embroidery thread was,
and flat "thread winders" have been suggested as a plausible way to
wind off part of a hank of silk so you could cut lengths to work with.
You might find these articles helpful -- though I'll warn you, while
you see a lot of the needlebooks shown here (on the "project" page in
this issue) at Renaissance Faires, the documentation for them is not
terribly good. They show up in re-drawings by Herbert Norris, who
often (but not always) had good sources for what he showed, but never
tells you where he found things :(
http://www.bayrose.org/wkneedle/filum/Filum_28_workbox.pdf
____________________________________________________________
O Chris Laning <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> - Davis, California
+ http://paternoster-row.org - http://paternosters.blogspot.com
____________________________________________________________
a.k.a.
____________________________________________________________
O Christian Ashley, gentlewoman to Lady Stafford
+ Chris Laning <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Guild of St. George, Northern California
http://paternosters.blogspot.com - http://paternoster-row.org
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