Fashion and textiles
EXAMEN: M EE R K E UZ E E N O P EN V RAG EN ; I D E N T I FI C AT I E VA N T E X T I E L ; ES S AYV R A G E N (1-2) G E R E L AT E ER D A A N
G E S C H I ED EN I S
Boeken online!
Textiles
Class 1
Reader: verplicht, nodig voor het examen // additional: eigen informatie, niet verplicht
Why textiles?
• Textile: second largest industry in the world
• Associated with feminine
Power – gender – politics
• Textile also linked to early globalisation
o So its cultural but also environmental
Art – music – podium
• In the art but also the art is made on it (linen f.e.)
• Role in rituals and ceremonies
Endpoint? – exam !
• Identify textiles
o Visual
o Material
• Learn textile histories
o Globalized
o Linked to colonialism
• Socio-economics
o Intersectional
▪ Class
▪ Gender
▪ Race
1
,1. Linen
Linen
• One of the oldest textiles in the world
• One of the important fibres in the ancient civilisations →
today: one of the least popular/important fibres
Spun linen thread
• One of earliest known textiles
• Oldest known textile remnants: 30.000 years old
o Discovered in Georgia (2009)
Origin
• Originated in Asian highlands and Caucasus
o Later reaching Egypt and Europe
• Flax seeds: 5000-3000 BCE
o Found in Belgium
• Textile fibres are organic and disintegrate fast
Tarkhan dress – how do you know it’s linen?
• Tarkhan dress
o Oldest garment we know of
o Found: Tarkhan, Egypt (1913 by archaeologists)
o Between 3482 – 3102 BC
• Linen?
o In summer → it cools you off
o When you wear it: it gets looser and it wrinkles very
easily
o You can still see the pleads that are made in the dress
▪ Wrinkles
• In Egypt: lots of linen found
o Very important to them
o But also climate (dry)
Egyptian linen
• Flax central to Egypt’s textile industry
o Cultural significance: legend
▪ Flax is so important → one of first
things created by the gods
• High quality in Egypt
• Used for gift exchange
o People would pay in linen
• Photo’s: workshops
o Process of linen making in Egypt
• Traveling through the Mediterranean that helped the expansion of it
2
,Belgium – flax
• Especially in the Flanders !
• “Belgium is a land abundant with flax, the land and
climate are perfect for flax, and the people wear
beautiful linen garments.” Julius Caesar,
Commentarii de Bello Gallico, 58–49 BC
What is linen?
• Linen: “bast fiber”
o Comes from inner lining of plant stalk, just beneath the skin
• Made from the flax plant (linum usitatissimum)
• The plant
o Annual plant
o Grows up to 1 meter
o Blue flowers, each has 10
(lin)seeds
o Flowers for only 1 day
Linseed oil / Linen
• Oil on canvas
o Linseed oil as binder for the pigments
o Canvas woven from linen threads
• Linoleum
o In 19the century: linseed oil primary
ingredient in linoleum
o Linoleum: Latin: “linum” (flax) and “oleum”
(oil) → flax oil
From linen to flax:
Sowing
• Flax seeds sown mid-November (Nile inundation)
• Depictions of sowing flax found in Old and Middle
Kingdom tombs
o Depict the sowing of flax and grain
together
• Typically done by women
Harvest
• Pulled from ground, not cut
o To preserve long, straight fibers
• First harvest
o Right after flowering
o Stems are green
o → fine fibers for aristocratic clothing
3
, • Second harvest
o 30 days after flowering
o Stems turning yellow
o → strong fibers
• Third harvest
o Stems are fully golden
o → coarse fibers for ropes and mats
o → seeds for linseed oil
Rippling
• Removing seed bolls by beating the plants
• Done by hand or with wooden implements
Retting
• Seed heads are removed → break down the hard outer bark of the flax stems
• Flax stems submerged in slowly running water for 10-14 days (depends on flax type and
water temperature
o The kind of water will decide the color of
your flax / influenced by the retting
method used
• Outer bark has rotted away → flax removed from
water
• Flax dried in sun
o Preparation
Breaking (beating) + scutching
• After retting
• Removing the leftover hard bits: two manners
o Beating the flax fibers with large wooden fan or bat
to shake loose pieces
o Passing fibers between two sticks held in hand to
remove any remaining debris
Hackling
• Only in modern production !! (Egyptian civilisation)
• Combing the flax until only long, shiny fibers remain
• Fibers separated by hand
• Next: fibers pulled back and forth over a smooth, narrow object (sort of cone) to achieve
the desired texture
4
EXAMEN: M EE R K E UZ E E N O P EN V RAG EN ; I D E N T I FI C AT I E VA N T E X T I E L ; ES S AYV R A G E N (1-2) G E R E L AT E ER D A A N
G E S C H I ED EN I S
Boeken online!
Textiles
Class 1
Reader: verplicht, nodig voor het examen // additional: eigen informatie, niet verplicht
Why textiles?
• Textile: second largest industry in the world
• Associated with feminine
Power – gender – politics
• Textile also linked to early globalisation
o So its cultural but also environmental
Art – music – podium
• In the art but also the art is made on it (linen f.e.)
• Role in rituals and ceremonies
Endpoint? – exam !
• Identify textiles
o Visual
o Material
• Learn textile histories
o Globalized
o Linked to colonialism
• Socio-economics
o Intersectional
▪ Class
▪ Gender
▪ Race
1
,1. Linen
Linen
• One of the oldest textiles in the world
• One of the important fibres in the ancient civilisations →
today: one of the least popular/important fibres
Spun linen thread
• One of earliest known textiles
• Oldest known textile remnants: 30.000 years old
o Discovered in Georgia (2009)
Origin
• Originated in Asian highlands and Caucasus
o Later reaching Egypt and Europe
• Flax seeds: 5000-3000 BCE
o Found in Belgium
• Textile fibres are organic and disintegrate fast
Tarkhan dress – how do you know it’s linen?
• Tarkhan dress
o Oldest garment we know of
o Found: Tarkhan, Egypt (1913 by archaeologists)
o Between 3482 – 3102 BC
• Linen?
o In summer → it cools you off
o When you wear it: it gets looser and it wrinkles very
easily
o You can still see the pleads that are made in the dress
▪ Wrinkles
• In Egypt: lots of linen found
o Very important to them
o But also climate (dry)
Egyptian linen
• Flax central to Egypt’s textile industry
o Cultural significance: legend
▪ Flax is so important → one of first
things created by the gods
• High quality in Egypt
• Used for gift exchange
o People would pay in linen
• Photo’s: workshops
o Process of linen making in Egypt
• Traveling through the Mediterranean that helped the expansion of it
2
,Belgium – flax
• Especially in the Flanders !
• “Belgium is a land abundant with flax, the land and
climate are perfect for flax, and the people wear
beautiful linen garments.” Julius Caesar,
Commentarii de Bello Gallico, 58–49 BC
What is linen?
• Linen: “bast fiber”
o Comes from inner lining of plant stalk, just beneath the skin
• Made from the flax plant (linum usitatissimum)
• The plant
o Annual plant
o Grows up to 1 meter
o Blue flowers, each has 10
(lin)seeds
o Flowers for only 1 day
Linseed oil / Linen
• Oil on canvas
o Linseed oil as binder for the pigments
o Canvas woven from linen threads
• Linoleum
o In 19the century: linseed oil primary
ingredient in linoleum
o Linoleum: Latin: “linum” (flax) and “oleum”
(oil) → flax oil
From linen to flax:
Sowing
• Flax seeds sown mid-November (Nile inundation)
• Depictions of sowing flax found in Old and Middle
Kingdom tombs
o Depict the sowing of flax and grain
together
• Typically done by women
Harvest
• Pulled from ground, not cut
o To preserve long, straight fibers
• First harvest
o Right after flowering
o Stems are green
o → fine fibers for aristocratic clothing
3
, • Second harvest
o 30 days after flowering
o Stems turning yellow
o → strong fibers
• Third harvest
o Stems are fully golden
o → coarse fibers for ropes and mats
o → seeds for linseed oil
Rippling
• Removing seed bolls by beating the plants
• Done by hand or with wooden implements
Retting
• Seed heads are removed → break down the hard outer bark of the flax stems
• Flax stems submerged in slowly running water for 10-14 days (depends on flax type and
water temperature
o The kind of water will decide the color of
your flax / influenced by the retting
method used
• Outer bark has rotted away → flax removed from
water
• Flax dried in sun
o Preparation
Breaking (beating) + scutching
• After retting
• Removing the leftover hard bits: two manners
o Beating the flax fibers with large wooden fan or bat
to shake loose pieces
o Passing fibers between two sticks held in hand to
remove any remaining debris
Hackling
• Only in modern production !! (Egyptian civilisation)
• Combing the flax until only long, shiny fibers remain
• Fibers separated by hand
• Next: fibers pulled back and forth over a smooth, narrow object (sort of cone) to achieve
the desired texture
4
