[MR] Re: Loom Widths

[EXCMairi at aol.com]

In a message dated Fri, 22 Mar 2002  5:37:44 PM Eastern Standard Time, "Rowanwald Central" <rowanwald at sybercom.net> writes:

As the
> weaver worked from what would be the back-bottom hem towards the shoulders,
> they'd widen their "cross weave" (I'm not a weaver, so don't know the term)
> when they reached the point where the sleeves should begin, and form the
> sleeve, while making a horizontal slit in the very mid-point of the piece,
> tying off the threads and then picking them back up again later, to form the
> neck opening.
>    As you can tell, this method of weaving ensured that there would be a
> selvage edge around the entire garment, with sewing only being necessary to
> close the sides and sleeve seams.
>    So those looms, at any rate, were as wide as a person's wrist-to-wrist
> stretch.

Actually, this the opposite of how it was woven. When Coptic tunics were woven to shape, they were woven from sleeve to sleeve, NOT hem to hem. The selvedges end up along the hems, not along the sides of the body. So the looms were as wide as the entire length of the body twice. 

I make the point because it is Just So Cool that they did it that way! It goes against the assumptions we make about early weaving in Western Europe, which was (sweeping assumption alert!) done in the home for the family. Much of the weaving done in Egypt/Persia/Byzantium was done in large workshops and then sold - an entirely different approach, allowing for multiple workers on each loom and more work space, so looms could be wider.

If you consider the decoration common at the time the tunics were woven in one piece, you see that this makes sense. The long clavi, or stripes, that go from front hem, over the shoulders and down to the back hem  and on the sleeves would then be woven in a horizontal stripe. The neck opening then becomes a vertical slit - much easier to weave than a horizontal one. Extant tunics show a small fringe along the sides of the body, where the warp threads were cut to make the seam.

Even when narrower looms come into play and the tunics were cut and pieced, they were done in a similar fashion. The rectangle of cloth is divided roughly into thirds - the bottom two thirds are lower body front and lower body back, woven from side up to side (not bottom up to top). The upper body is then woven in one piece, again - from sleeve to sleeve, NOT from bottom to top. That piece is folded in half, and a seam appears across the torso where the two bottom pieces are attached.

Again, think of the decorations - the clavi become shorter (on the top part of the body - that top third of the overall rectangle of cloth you started with), with roundels woven into the bottom half pieces of the garment.

Mairi