Re: [Mid] Authentic Cotton

Greetings--

> If necessity was the mother of invention, then creativity was its
child.
> We best keep in mind there are more things about the Middle Ages that
> documentation doesn't exist for than the opposite. If we are only going
to
> utilise that which can be documented, we are going to have a narrow scope
on
> what life was like in the Middle Ages. Creativity can fill in the gaps
now,
> much as it had to have done then.

I think this discussion is conflating two issues.

1) Is cotton OK to use in the SCA? Sure it is. It can be documented as
being period, it comes in many different weights and weaves--some of which
make excellent substitutes for other period fabrics--and it breathes. It
also dyes nicely, and tends to be affordable.

2) Is cotton the correct fabric choice if I am trying to recreate as
accurately as possible the clothing of time period, social class, and region
X? Maybe, maybe not. That's what research will tell you. For my own
particular area, my research hasn't turned up cotton yet.

Those are different questions altogether. The answer to #2 is going to
change from person to person, based on what time period and area is being
looked at.

A lot of what we do in the SCA has to be based, by necessity, on educated
guesses. That's where understanding the big picture is so important, and
that's where I've made the educated guess that if I'm trying to recreate an
average piece of clothing my persona would have worn, cotton wouldn't have
ranked high as a fabric likely to be available to me.

Nicolaa

From: "Susan Carroll-Clark" <nicolaa@columbus.rr.com>
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Received on Sun Jan 13 11:44:25 2002