Fabric Overview

All the way through the 13th – 18th century the main fabrics consisted of various mixtures of wool, linen and silk.

Cotton is difficult to spin on a hand loom so it was a very expensive fibre; I have found some 14th Century fabric called “Fustian” which is a fabric using linen and cotton. It was on an abbot’s chasuble and highly embroidered. 

There are mention of linen and silk mixes, also wool and silk mixes. For these wool or linen gave the fabric its strength and the silk gave its dying properties and shine.

Different weaving techniques emerged around the 11th century. It has been noted you could even find a young lad sitting above the loom moving the dividers around, as the weaver below was weaving the pattern into the fabrics.  This meant damask (a self colour pattern), brocades and patterns which could be up to 14” high, as well as checks and stripes, could be obtained if you had enough money.

Side note, prostitutes in some large towns had to have stripe cloth as linings to their cloaks to show their trade.

Fabrics We Use

Here at Linen & Needle we work hard to source the best materials to create your items. We also spend a lot of time researching to make sure that what we use is appropriate as possible for the era you are depicting.

Some of the various fabrics we use include:

• Pure wool
• Wool mix

(we also carry manmade wool for those with allergies)

• Irish linen
• Fustian, linen and cotton mix 
• Plain silk
• Silk brocade
• Silk velvet
• Silk and linen mix
• Silk veiling
• Upcycled vintage fur - we do not use modern fur.

(we also carry manmade fur for those who do not wish to wear real fur)

• Cotton drill

(used as a substitute for coloured canvas for banner and heraldry garments).

• Various materials are also available for padding

If there is a particular material you would like as part of your garment, or would like to discus options for a particular project please contact us.

Silk Brocade

To get the best for our customers we also work hard to source the best suppliers for our materials, such as our silk brocade.

Our silk brocade is pure silk which is hand loomed. It gives it a great feel and shine. The designs are carefully selected to reflect the time periods we usually work with. As the fabric is hand loomed once the roll is used up the is very little chance of us being able to obtain that design again.

If you see any brocade you like either on our Facebook or in our shop, please contact us. We can sell you the fabric and then take that cost off any later commissions. Or you can use it yourself.