Non-Woven Fabrics In Scotland and Ireland of the 15th and 16th Centuries
In Scotland and Ireland of the 15th and 16th Centuries
Written and illustrated by Jennet Jowan Truro (© 1990, Janet Cornwell)
...with thanks to the many fine authors mentioned in the Bibliography, and, of course, their sources, and all our handcrafting ancestors
done for
Symposium on the Textile Arts of 15th and 16th Century Ireland and Scotland,
KNITTING
The earliest existing knitted items in Britain date from 1366 – crimson silk gloves with a green and gold pattern at the writs and a gold design worked into the backs. Knitted items such as silk stockings imported from Spain were known, but rare, in the 16th century. Henry VIII’s sister Mary owning some of the few.
Scottish Knitting
A bishop buried early in the 16th century at Fortrose Cathedral, Scotland was reportedly dress in knitted stockings and gloves. What survives from the grave opening are small pieces, a few inches square, of two-ply, cream-colored silk worked in a very regular stocking stitch of 16rows and 29 stitches to the inch. This was rare, expensive, imported material, and only the very privileged few wore such things. The popularity of knit garments was also retarded by the fact that the craft itself never caught on among the nobility.
The earliest knitters in Scotland were probably craftsmen working in Lowland towns. These professional “bonnetmakers” first appear in the 15th century; by 1490 they had formed a trade guild in Dundee. By the end of the 16th century there were guilds in Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Perth, Stirling and Glasgow, seemingly employing only men.
These craftsmen made stockings, gloves, sleeves, and other knitted goods. Primarily, however, they produced headgear that looked very much like the typical English “flat caps”; these remained fashionable in Scotland long after they had gone out of style elsewhere. Eventually they became part of the traditional dress of Highland as well as Lowland Scots.
Bonnetmakers usually worked with coarse wool considered unsuiltable for weaving. The bonnet was knitted larger than finished size, using large needles, then fulled or “waulked,” either by hand or at a water-powered waulk mill. This process shrank, thickened and somewhat felted the wool, much as a modern wool garment will react to machine washing. When dried to the proper shape, the bonnet was brushed with teazles, then the nap was trimmed with shears. The finished bonnet was tight, durable and weatherproof, admirably suited to the Scottish climate (Fig. 1) It was also heavy: an average bonnet weighed almost eight ounces, but the larger ones could weigh over a pound. As has been noted in several descriptions of Scots clothing at this time, the favorite color was blue, though red and scarlet bonnets are mentioned in the 15th-century Peebles.
The thick, solid qualities that made bonnets so useful did not extend well to other items such as stockings and undergarments, and the upper classes especially weren’t much interested in local knitted offerings. Even to the end of the 16th century, sewn cloth “blanket hose” were preferred. Thus, the practitioners of the knitter’s trade generally did not make more than a modest living. (This should be contrasted to the success of Continental master knitters, who made knit carpets of up to twelve colors, and produced garments rivaling brocade for intricacy and color.)
By the end of the 16th century, knitting in Scotland had gone beyond the guilds and was being practiced among the folk, at least in the Lowlands and the northern islands. The well-known, multicolored “Fair Isle” patterns are said to date from shipwrecks of the Spanish Armada in the Shetland Islands in 1586, when rescued Spanish sailors taught the local people the use of these intricate designs. It is known that by the end of the next century at least, designs similar to fisherman’s jersey stitches (for instance, concentric diamonds) were being used in the Shetlands, and so undoubtedly elsewhere, but it is hard to tell exactly when this began.
Knitting in Ireland
Evidence of knitting in Renaissance Ireland is scanty. It is mentioned as being practiced in early 17th century Derry, but it may have come in with the English-speaking Protestant settlers there. Knitting was not likely unknown, just unfavored before that.
Other Lore
Needles: There is some evidence that knitting began with yarn held in the left hand, worked on needles that were hooked on the end like crochet hooks. However, by the Middle Ages in Europe, straight-pointed, double-ended needles, as well as the single-pointed, knob-ended items more properly called knitting pins, had come into general use. Patterned knitting using more than one thread at a time was also established.
Knitting Sheaths: Knitters found early on that they could increase their speed tremendously by the use of “knitting sheaths.” (Fig. 4, 5) These included a number of devices which supported the right-hand needle and the finished knitting hanging from it. This freed the right hand to work stiches near the tip of the needle, making the work go much faster. Knitting sheaths might be anything from a stick with a hole drilled in one end, to lavishly cared wing0shaped things that fit over the hip, to horsehair-stuffed leather pouches (particular to Scotland and areas of Scots settlement), to a simple bundle of feathers tied together and stuck into the waistband. It is not certain when knitting sheaths first appeared in the British Isles, but they were generally used by the 17th century knitters. It seems reasonable to assume they were introduced at least by the previous century.
Peg Knitting: Cords for decorative piping were much used in the 16th century, and one of the ways they were made was with a “peg knitting” device. (Fig 2, 3) Some of these were quite small, with as few as three pegs. Other items such as sashes and belts were also made on large knitting tubes and frames, and even rugs were crafted using slotted boards with opposing rows of pegs.
Lucets: Used in what might be termed a variant of peg knitting for two pegs was an item called the lucet (left), which was widely used for making a strong, four-sided cord. Lucets might be made of wood, horn, bone, ivory, or tortoiseshell, with or without a long handle, and would be turned over and over in the hand as the chain for the cord was made. The completed cord was threaded through a hole at the bottom of the lucet or through a tube in the handle, much as a peg loom. Lucetted cords have to be tied off carefully, since like knit or crocheted chains, they can easily unravel.
Direct evidence for the use of such things as peg frames and lucets in 15th and 16th century Scotland and Ireland is uncertain, but since they were in general use throughout Europe it seems likely that they were used here as well, at least in the towns and wherever trade reached.
Tablet Weaving
Tablet weaving or card weaving is a specialized way of making narrow bands of fabric by twisting the warp threads around each other and holding the twists in place by means of the weft. This form of weaving probably began in the Bronze Age; it was known in Ireland at least since the Iron Age and Early Christian Scotland and Ireland colonized by Scandinavians; in Scotland it was both imported from southern Europe and produced locally.
The warp yarns in this form of weaving are threaded through holes at the corners of “cards” made out wood, bone, horn, or leather. (Fig. 6) There are usually four holes to a card, although two, three, and six-hole cards are known. In Ireland, tablets of this sort have been found in crannog excavations in Roscommon and Meath, as well as at the 11th, 12th, and 13th century levels in excavations in Dublin. At the 9th century Scandinavian ship burial at Oseberg, a loom and 52 tablets were found, along with a partially made band and several finished pieces showing brocaded patterns and diagonal weaves.
In tablet weaving, the number and thickness of the warp threads dictates the width of the woven band. The order in which yarns of different color and texture are threaded, the direction from which the warp threads enter each card, and the direction and sequence of turning the cards, all serve to determine the final texture and design of the fabric. (The weft usually has almost no effect on the appearance of the piece, since it is hidden in the twists of the warp everywhere except at the edges.” Quite complicated patterns may be achieved when the full possibilities of this technique are put into practice, although very satisfying, even striking designs are available with simple setups. (Fig. 8)
In addition to the variations that may be achieved within the weave itself, there are several kinds of decoration particular to this craft. One technique is the extension of the weft to form a fringe, either by using a double weft with on thread looped out to the side, or by using singly out weft pieces of each cross weave, and then tying off or braiding the weft ends. The “Orkney Hood” from Scotland used this method, as did a piece found in Antrim. In a technique known since the 9th century, the finished fabric may be “brocaded” by weaving decorative threads (especially gold or silver) into the surface. Bands with this kind of decoration have been found in several Scottish graves, including that of Robert Bruce (d. 1329).
Another style of table weaving, used in all the medieval braids found in Scotland (many were imported, not locally made), involves threading the warps from alternate directions and then turning the cards a quarter turn forward each weft pass throughout the length. This results in what looks very much like a stockinette knit stitch, and is the same on both sides of the fabric.
A further use of table weaving, and one that was especially common in Denmark, was to incorporate a tablet-woven edge while weaving a regular loomed fabric. This gave the border extra, built-in strength and decoration.
Table-woven bands were widely used as decorative edging and braid for vestments such as copes and orphreys, though occasionally an entire object such as a stole, belt or lacing was so made. (Scraps of table weaving have been found attached to Anglo-Saxon and medieval buckles in England, and table weaving was the method of manufacture for some very fine silk tapes, only a third of an inch wide, found on a 13th century mitre and buskins at Canterbury.)
Tablet weaving was conducted either at a sort of belt-loom arrangement, or strung up on a small floor loom. The craft was practiced by different levels of society, but of course the most intricate, beautiful pieces were made by and for the church and nobility.
Netmaking
Netting has been used for everything from fishing to binding hair to holding down thatch on cottages. There is one basic knot, a bowline, that is used for almost all netting made by hand, though very fine net may be made with reef knots instead. In the 17th century a fad developed for dainty net made and decorated as lace, and fine ladies even had their portraits painted to show them engaged in this craft.
Earlier nets were almost all utilitarian, however, and were used in hunting small game such as hares as well as in fishing. Little fishing was done in Highland Scotland of the 15th and 16th centuries, as fish was considered a “famine food” to be eaten only if there was nothing else, so nets were used otherwise.
The basic equipment for netting consists of a shuttle called a “needle” onto which the line to be used is wrapped, a gauge called a “mesh,” and a rope or hook to which to secure the net as it is made.
