(no subject)

[stellar_muddle]

From http://sca.uwaterloo.ca/~fashion/archives/hcos95/n244.cl which is an entire digest so the relevant bits are being repeated here.
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jennyb@pdd.3com.com[100,9]CSuX:finishing saxon seams
Subject: Re: finishing saxon seams
From: jennyb@pdd.3com.com
Date: Mon, 27 Feb 95 17:21:08 GMT
O.K. apologies to all for the amount of time I've taken to reply, chaos
at work & selling my house combined ended up in me losing track of my
library, but enough excuses here's the info:-

I have 3 sources for information on sewing stitches in early medieval europe.

"Late Saxon Textiles from the City of London" Frances Pritchard,
Medieval Archaeology, Volume 28, 1984 pp 46-76 + plates I to V
The precis says
"Archaeological Excavation sin the city of London have produced an
important collection of late 9th to early 12th century textiles
manufactured from wool goat hair silk and flax. The production processes
associated with the different types of cloth are here described,
together with details of weaving techniques and dying practices. Changes
in teh type of cloth used in the 11th century are related to the
introduction of new technology and the decline in use of the
warp-weighted loom. evidence is examined for the local manufacture of
cloth
and for the import of foreign silks. Lastly, attention is drawn to the
similarity of the london textiles to those found in other regions of
Northern Europe."

On page 58-59 diagrams & text describe sewing
"Two pieces have hemmed edges, On one an edge has been cut, folded
inwards & sewn in an overcast stitch from right to left at intervals of
4mm. Such sewing could have secured a trimming, perhaps a fdifferent
fabric or even fur. the hem of the other piece was formed by folding the
edge of the cloth double and then sewing it down, but they type of
stitch used is uncertain. The sewing thread was spun from natural white
wool, possibly dyed, in contrast
to the cloth which was woven from natural brown wool. Three rows of
stitching, apparently sewn with two threads of wool, are visible on one
cloth. the looped stitches made along the edge would have enabled the
cloth to have been sewn to a second piece without the need for
a bulky seam. the other two rows of stitches as well as being decorative
would have served to strengthen the loops which would otherwise quickly
have become detached from the edge. Although an exact parallel is not
known, the use of blanket stitches of various complexity for seans was
widespread in northern europe. The remainder of the sewing is vestigial
and some may merely represent the homely economy of patching-up worn
cloth. two ply wool thread, Z-spun and S-twisted has been consistently
used for the sewing"

So I remembered the herringbone stuff wrong, it didn't comne from
Pritchard's paper. However it is mentioned in two other works:-

"Textiles Cordage & raw fibre from 16-22 Coppergate" By Penelope Walton
Published by the York Archaeology trust.
Also Herringbone is mentioned as a seam edging in "Die Textilfunde aus
dem Hafen von Haithabu" by Inga Hagg. Other seams are mentioned in
"Medieval textuiles from the excavations in the old town of Oslo" Anne
Kjellberg and yet another seam in "The analyses of the textiles from
Evebo Eide, Gloppen Norway" by Inger Raknes Petersen.

The seams & stitches are as follows:-
hem overcast rolled with overcasting holding down one edge of roll- Oslo, York
hem overcast rolled with overcasting going over complete roll-Haithabu, London
hem folded once and overcast- Haithabu
hem folded twice & overcast - York
hem folded once & herringboned - Haithabu, York
Hem no fold, fancy double blanket stitch (see above) London

Seam joined with overcasting two folded edges basted with overcasting -
Haithabu, York
Seam butted & overcast - Haithabu
Seam overlapped with both edges overcast- Haithabu
Seam overlapped with one edge secured with running stitch the other
overcast- Haithabu
Seam with one edge folded under & secured with running stitch, the other
edge folded up & secured at join with overcasting, Haithabu
Run & fell seam (like jeans outer leg seams) one edge secured with running
stitch the other with overcasting - York, Oslo
Seam with edges folded back once joined with running stitch, no basting
to secure
raw edges - York
Seam edges folded back then joined with running stitch, edges folded in towards
one another slightly & secured with overcasting - Haithabu
Seam with edges folded back then joined with overcasting, edges stitched
together with overcasting -Haithabu
Run & fell seam both edges secured with overcasting - Haithabu

I haven't got the full references for the other papers with me, but can
(eventually) dig them up if nobody else has them.

Perhaps I should mention that Haithabu = Hedeby, it's a danish coastal
town, & the finds are around a thousand years old.

describing seams in text is a bit awkward If anyone wants a sheet of
paper with them drawn out I can post them in return for an International
Reply Coupon. These can be bought at Post Offices world wide & can be
exchanged anywhere for postage on one air mail letter. Email me if you
want the sheet & if there aren't too many million of you I won't bother
with the
I.R.C.s

Jennifer

jennyb@pdd.3com.com

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jennyb@pdd.3com.com[15,10]CSuX:finishing saxon seams
Subject: Re: finishing saxon seams
From: jennyb@pdd.3com.com
Date: Mon, 27 Feb 95 17:27:50 GMT
I found the full details of the Hedeby book:-

Series title - Ausgrabungen in Haithabu
part - 20
Volume Title - Die Textilfunde aus dem Hafen von Haithabu
Author - Inga Hagg
Publishers - Karl Wachholtz verlag, Neumunster 1984
ISBN 3 529 1920 8
ISSN 0525-5791

Jennifer

email - jennyb@pdd.3com.com

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Someday, I really should work out the copyright issues with respect to posting this sort of thing - does LJ count as a personal archive? I think that is properly attributed.