Textiles & Textile Arts

Brief descriptions of several natural fibers for handspinning and weaving.

A Swiss museum with works of pictorial and applied arts from ancient times to the 18th century; a library emphasizing applied arts, textile art and conservation; and a research institute which produces conferences and publications.

This is a partial list of books I have found helpful in my research of weaving, spinning and dyeing. This list is not comprehensive and reflects my focus: weaving, spinning, and natural dyeing.

The book these recipes were transcribed from is in the National Art Library in England. The volume is cobbled together from various chapters/volumes of the 16th c. bestselling work, the Secretes of Alexis of Piedmont. Originally published by Ruscelli in Italian, it was quickly translated into French, German and English. A number of different books and chapters on a number of different topics were printed. This document is a transcription of all of the recipes related to cleaning of fabric & textiles and dyeing of fabric, leather & other materials.

Archives of several back issues of this newsletter.

This comprehens ive report represents a landmark in the publicatio n of medieval finds from excavation s in York. It encompasse s very large assemblage s of medieval artefacts of a wide variety of materials, including iron, non-ferrou s metal, stone, jet, amber, fired clay, glass and textile. These were recovered from four major sites in York.

The East Kingdom of the SCA has a nascent fiber arts guild. Topics covered are varied and diverse. We are spinners, knitters, weavers, naalbinders, dyers, felters and others and we're interested in flax, wool, cotton, silk, hemp and nettle. And if you're carving spindles and you want to talk to people who would use them, you're welcome too!

Includes patterns and techniques for tablet-weaving, embroidery, handstitching, nalbinding, handspinning, and more.

Middle Kingdom Textile Artisan Guild for various fiber artisans: baskets, embroidery , knitting, sprang, spinning, weaving, dyeing. Papers and projects.

Everything you need to lace, netting and embroidery with tools and fine threads of wool, silk, linen and cotton in very thin and hard to find sizes.

The Medieval Textiles Study Group, part of the Complex Weavers' Guild, examines the textiles and some clothing of the world during the time period of 500-1500 AD. It is not limited to Europe and can include the indigenous weaving of other continents and islands although it mostly deals with European Medieval.

An ongoing site with articles and links on Fiber Arts as they apply to the Middle Ages and the SCA.

Nalbinding, sprang, Tablet weaving, braiding

Soper Lane is a group of women who have studied the working lives of 15th century silkwomen. Their website has examples of their work in textiles and ''narrow wares.''

Most of the focus of Soper Lane is 15th century narrow wares, but they may be able to help with other textile-related questions.

Links to several related articles.

Medieval cloth. Silks, wool, cotton, linen.

From the thesis database British Library EThOS, which is free to register for. This is a 5-volume PhD thesis, starting with evidence of different fibres used in textiles, to how they were prepared, woven, dyed, and used (volume 1) up until the Viking Age, and a catalogue of textile equipment (volumes 2, 3, 4 and 5).

The Medieval Dress and Textile Society was founded in 1991 to bring together those with a serious interest in the subject. Historians of dress and textiles already have their own channels of communication through a number of specific groups but their studies now range widely in many fields: art and economic history, metropolitan and industrial studies, politics, archaeology, medieval literature, arms and armour, or women's history, for instance. At the same time a far greater interest in many aspects of the subject - style and status, sumptuary legislation, patronage, industrial practices, domestic furnishings - is being demonstrated by historians, and conservators.

Fiber arts mailing list based in Stowe-on-the-Wowld.

This is a discussion group for the Worshipful Company of Narrowworkers in the SCA. We cover a range of narrow textile arts, including tablet weaving, fingerloop braiding, netting, knotting, kumihimo, and much more.

Illustrations from a book of textiles from Gdansk from the 10th-13th centuries.

Info about the guild, photos of projects, calendar of meetings and other events, meeting minutes, links to textile art resources.