[Regia-NA] Hemming (was: help with hand stitching. (Chris Knight))

[Arthur]

	When I tried to unravel a scrap piece of wool for the thread, I had a very 
difficult time. The tread would break before it came loose. The further I 
unraveled it, the more difficult it was. Although it looks nicer, I don't think 
hemmed edges are really necessary to the survival of the garment.

Kjartan Thorkelsson

____________________
Matthew 21:44
	And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken:
 but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.

-----Original Message-----
From:	Tracie Brown [SMTP:trbrown@uga.edu]
Sent:	Wednesday, October 22, 2003 11:57 AM
To:	list-regia-na@lig.net
Subject:	[Regia-NA] Hemming (was: help with hand stitching. (Chris Knight))

>From: "Chris Knight" <knight1066@hotmail.com>

>One more thing  ...a woman selling material informed my
>friend who in turn informed me that during the early middle
>ages people did not hem the the edges of their garments....
>Do any of you out there know if there is truth in this?

   It's a misinterpretation or overgeneralization, but not
complete BS as it is based on real data.  Medieval wool
fabric was often fulled -- shrunk and thickened by beating,
whacking and otherwise abusing the wet fabric. (Felting is
what you do to unconstructed fiber, fulling to constructed -
woven, knitted, etc. fiber.)
   Fulling reduces the wool's ability to fray. If the hem of
a garment did not get a lot of stress, either by wearing or
by washing, it might not *need* to be hemmed, but it could
be. There are plenty of extant examples of hemmed edges
throughout the Middle Ages. For example, some of the 14c
Greenland hoods were hemmed at the bottom, but at least one
was not.
   However -- remember all those dagged edges in the 14th and
15th centuries?  They weren't always lined, faced, edged or
otherwise finished off.  Sometimes they were just cut out and
worn as is, because the fulled wool was resistent to fraying.
   While web site's focus is on the 14th century, it also has
diagrams of some stitches (many hem stitches) taken from Inga
Hagg's book on the 9-10c finds from Hedeby, which you may
find useful:
http://www.damehelen.com/images/Stitchsamples.jpg
   Note: linen will fray if you just look at it, and you
can't full it -- you have to hem it, and it's a good idea to
enclose the construction seams, too.  The Hedeby stitch
diagrams above include some techniques for this too.
   Sounds like you've got a good project going.  Were you
planning to pre-wash and dry your wool?  If you wash it on
the hottest setting, then machine dry it on the hottest
setting, you will get some fulling action, and you'll be able
to machine wash (cold or warm, gentle cycle) your garment in
the future without worrying about shrinkage. (Hang it to dry,
however, since dryer heat will shrink it more than wash water
heat.) It will also have a less-modern looking finish to it,
and it won't look brand spanking new. IMHO.
   Please send/post photos.
-- Tracie
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