Spinning
Once the fibers were combed (or carded or bowed), they were wound on a distaff -- a short, forked stick -- in preparation for spinning. Spinning was chiefly the province of women. The spinster would draw a few fibers from the distaff, twisting them between thumb and forefinger as she did so, and attach them to a drop-spindle. The weight of the spindle would pull the fibers down, stretching them out as it spun. The spinning action of the spindle, with the help of the spinster's fingers, twisted the fibers together into yarn. The spinster would add more wool from the distaff until the spindle reached the floor; she'd then wind the yarn around the spindle and repeat the process. Spinsters stood as they spun, so that the drop-spindle could spin out as long a yarn as possible before it had to be wound up.
Spinning wheels were probably invented in India sometime after 500 A.D.; their earliest recorded use in Europe is in the 13th century. Initially, they weren't the convenient sit-down models of later centuries, powered by a foot pedal; rather, they were hand-powered, and large enough so that the spinster would need to stand to use it. It may not have been any easier on the spinster's feet, but much more yarn could be produced on a spinning wheel than with a drop-spindle. However, spinning with a drop-spindle was common throughout the Middle Ages until the 15th century.1
Once the yarn was spun, it might be dyed. Whether it was dyed in the wool or in the yarn, color had to be added by this stage if a multi-colored cloth was to be produced.
Knitting
While knitting wasn't wholly unknown in the Middle Ages, scant evidence of hand-knitted garments survives. The relative ease of the craft of knitting and the ready availability of materials and tools for making knitting needles makes it hard to believe that peasants didn't knit themselves warm clothing from wool they got from their own sheep. The lack of surviving garments isn't at all surprising, considering the fragility of all cloth and the amount of time that has passed since the medieval era. Peasants could have worn their knitted garments to pieces, or they may have reclaimed the yarn for alternate uses when the garment grew too old or threadbare to wear any longer.
Far more common than knitting in the Middle Ages was weaving.
Weaving
Weaving cloth was practiced in households as well as in professional cloth-making establishments. In homes where people produced cloth for their own use, spinning was often the province of women, but weaving was usually done by men. Professional weavers in manufacturing locations like Flanders and Florence were also usually men, though women weavers were not unknown.
The essence of weaving is, simply, to draw one yarn or thread (the "weft") through a set of perpendicular yarns (the "warp"), threading the weft alternately behind and in front of each individual warp thread. Warp threads were usually stronger and heavier than weft threads, and came from different grades of fiber.
The variety of weights in warps and wefts could result in specific textures. The number of weft fibers drawn through the loom in one pass could vary, as could the number of warps the weft would travel in front of before passing behind; this deliberate variety was used to achieve different textured patterns. Sometimes, warp threads were dyed (usually blue) and weft threads remained undyed, producing colored patterns.
Looms were constructed to make this process go more smoothly. The earliest looms were vertical; the warp threads stretched from the top of the loom to the floor and, later, to a bottom frame or roller. Weavers stood when they worked on vertical looms.
The horizontal loom made its first appearance in Europe in the 11th century, and by the 12th century, mechanized versions were being used. The advent of the mechanized horizontal loom is generally considered the most important technological development in medieval textile production.
A weaver would sit at a mechanized loom, and instead of threading the weft in front of and behind alternate warps by hand, he'd merely have to press a foot pedal to raise up one set of alternate warps and draw the weft underneath it in one straight pass. Then he'd press the other pedal, which would raise the other set of warps, and draw the weft underneath that in the other direction. To make this process easier, a shuttle was used -- a boat-shaped tool that contained yarn wound around a bobbin. The shuttle would glide easily over the bottom set of warps as the yarn unspooled.
Fulling or Felting
Once the fabric had been woven and taken off the loom it would be subjected to a fulling process. (Fulling wasn't usually necessary if the fabric was made from worsted as opposed to woolen yarn.) Fulling thickened the fabric and made the natural hair fibers mat together through agitation and the application of liquid. It was more effective if heat was part of the equation, as well.
Initially, fulling was done by immersing the cloth in a vat of warm water and stomping on it or beating it with hammers. Sometimes additional chemicals were added, including soap or urine to help remove the natural lanolin of the wool or the grease that had been added to protect it in the earlier stages of processing. In Flanders, "fuller's earth" was used in the process to absorb impurities; this was a type of soil containing a significant amount of clay, and it was naturally available in the region.
Though originally done by hand (or foot), the fulling process gradually became automated through the use of fulling mills. These were often quite large and powered by water, although smaller, hand-cranked machines were also known. Foot-fulling was still done in household manufacturing, or when the cloth was particularly fine and wasn't to be subjected to the harsh treatment of hammers. In towns where cloth manufacture was a thriving household industry, weavers could take their cloth to a communal fulling mill.
The term "fulling" is sometimes used interchangeably with "felting." Although the process is essentially the same, fulling is done to cloth that has already been woven, whereas felting actually produces cloth from unwoven, separate fibers. Once cloth was fulled or felted, it could not easily unravel.
After fulling, the fabric would be thoroughly rinsed. Even worsteds that didn't need fulling would be washed to remove any oil or dirt that had accumulated during the weaving process.
Because dyeing was a process that immersed the fabric in liquid, it may have been dyed at this point, especially in home industries. However, it was more common to wait until a later stage in production. Cloth that was dyed after it was woven was known as "dyed-in-the-piece."
Continued on page three.
