It's been a while since I last heard (or read) it, but today was the day. Someone on Facebook, in a group for Experimental Archaeology (including Experience Archaeology) posted it.

"Unfortunately, the modern tailors just do not stitch as fast as people who started as children and have sewn all their lives."

I've heard this a lot over the years. Now that I think of it, though, I get the suspicion that it was predominantly textile stuff... spinning, especially, as well as sewing.

Well. Here's what I think.


Modern crafters are not necessarily slower than their historic counterparts. First of all, individuals have different working speeds (then as now). Once you have reached the end of your working speed development, there you are. I've tried sewing as fast as I could, so I'd see how much of a difference it would make. The result? I was not faster at all compared to working at my relaxed normal speed, only the seams were not as nice. Unless I have to get acquainted with some new fabric, or fiddle with a particularly difficult bit of seam (such as a weird corner), my normal sewing speed has reached my personal maximum, and that's where it will stay.
 
It's perfectly logical, too. Think about it: If you are running every day to become a faster runner, you will at one time find your maximum - and that will be it. There'll be fluctuations, of course, but there's an end point to speed.
Similarly, crafting speed has a limit somewhere and you can't get indefinitely faster with more practice. If that would be the case, it should not be possible to see the needle, or shuttle, or hammer, or saw of a very experienced crafter with 30+ years of daily practice anymore, because that thing would move that fast. Just like our materials have limits, and our tools have limits, so does the range of movements and the maximum possible speed of going through those movements while still efficient.

Thirdly, "crafting speed" is hard to compare between individuals, as you do not know the exact circumstances of the work and the exact materials. There's a difference between spinning raw wool fresh from the sheep or clean combed wool. There's a difference between forging something from iron or from high-carbon steel. There's a difference between sewing a heavy silk or a loosely woven linen. There's a difference between carving a spoon from wet hazel or dry oak. And that's not even taking into account the use of different tools, or working styles.

I am firmly of the opinion that there is no reason why a practised crafter today should not be as fast as a practised crafter from 10, 50, or 500 years ago.
Case in point: There is an attempt at calculating the approximate time spent on sewing types of garments in Textiles & Clothing (the London publication) from documented garment prices and tailor wages. The times do roughly match the times that I need for tailoring and hand-sewing the same types of garments. (The day I discovered this? That was a happy day for me, and the first time I really started thinking about this "we are never as fast as they were" thing.)

What do you think? Have you been told that we can never reach the fantabulous speed of those gone by? And, most interesting to me: Have you ever heard that applied to something outside of textile context?

Dear Internets,

a goodly while ago, I was a very happy woman because I found a picture. Those of you who have been researching stuff and looked for helpful pictorial sources will know exactly what I mean with that. (For those of you who don't: Imagine finding a winning lottery ticket that buys you a lovely evening out with your loved ones.)

I found a picture of a textile-related contraption. It was perfect bliss.

And then I did the Stupidest Thing Ever to do with sources just found. Those of you who have been researching stuff will probably know exactly what that is. The STE is the following thought: "Oh wow, finally! This is very good. And now I know where to find this source. I WILL BE ABLE TO REMEMBER WHERE IT IS." followed by the corresponding action, as in not writing down in at least one place where one can reliably find the info again where it was. Or marking the book. Or both. Plus, maybe, adding a few hundred more notes in other places.

I did one little test run with something cobbled together very vaguely resembling the basic concepts of that contraption. It seemed to work. I put it away to do some more research and test driving and planning to eventually do a reconstruction.
Then, things happened just like they tend to do: Stuff came up, stuff had to be dealt with, stuff was dealt with, more stuff came up, the projects in the drawer stayed in the drawer.

All that must have been more than a year ago in the meantime, and I cannot find that picture again. So it's time for me to bleg for some help - maybe you have seen the picture (or a similar one).

The contraption was for weaving tape (ribbon, band, narrow-wares) with a rigid heddle. It was basically a board lying on a table, the rigid heddle firmly set onto that board at about the front, and behind it with some space between them was a short upright round piece of wood. The warp was wound around that upright dowel and ran through the heddle; the woman weaving held the band (obviously moving it up and down to change shed) in one hand and shuttle and/or other tools in the other hand. I think the already finished band was also wound around a dowel that she held in her hand.
That's what I really remember (or am quite sure about). The rest of it? I think she was blonde, sitting with mostly her back turned toward the viewer, in the foreground of the picture, and I think she was wearing a green dress. It's having a late-medieval feel in my memory, and it may or may not have been a depiction of Mary.

So, dear Internets, I would be so, so happy if you could help me find that piccie. Because you know, yesterday I set down and fiddled with something prototype-like, and it totally works and is lovely to work with... and I'd so love to compare with the picture before I do a final version.

I have a hard time believing how time flies by - it seems just like yesterday that we left for our paddling holiday, and now it's weeks later and the Forum is almost upon us.

Time to take care of the last bits and pieces, which include the last bits of fine-tuning for the experiment that we have planned for this year. It's about Late Antique resist-dyed textiles... and among the things left to do is making a template for the application of the resist pastes we are planning to use. The materials, though, have not all arrived yet, a package seems to have gone astray. Which again proves Rule #1 for Experimental Archaeology: Things always take longer than you expect.*

That, and going through the whole thing together with Sabine who will take care of the actual dyeing process. We will dye using indigo - I'm really looking forward to that, I always love when fabric suddenly becomes blue!


* Rule #2, by the way, is Something that you need is always missing. Maybe I should do a whole post about the Rules...

The last few events have drained my stock of wares quite a bit, so on the list for today's work is: Make new portions of gold thread, iron gall ink, and other stuff that has almost run out. I will also need to re-stock my spindle whorls rather soon. And I'm thinking about adding something else to the shop - but I won't tell you yet.

That's not all, though; the desk would like to get cleaned up again, the cat wants to be cuddled regularly, and there's a stack of books to sort and a list of things to finalise for the Forum. Now... where is one's Secret Evil Twin to pitch in with some additional work power when one needs it?

I am back from a wonderful weekend at the Cave Gladium, where I had a thoroughly nice time offering "home-shopping" to lots and lots of different groups in their camp. It was a different way to meet people and get them to know the things I offer (including workshops and courses), and I spent quite some (really enjoyable time) chatting about textiles, techniques, the valueing of textile crafts (and other crafts), and other things.

What really blew my mind was the hospitality I also received - offers of a place in the shade to take a rest, offers of drink, offers of food. It made me feel really welcome and really appreciated, and especially the offers of drink kept me watered enough to be well and happy in the heat. And hot it was - beautiful, hot, dry summer weather with blue skies, almost no clouds, just a very slight breeze from time to time and high temperatures from early morning to late at night. I tackled the heat by moving very, very slowly (assisted by a slightly hurting foot, partly thanks to an unextinguished cigarette end lying on the ground in my path, happily smoldering away) and accepting almost every offer of drink and shade.

It was a lovely working weekend, and will not be the last time I shoulder my "Kiepe" (a carrying basket to wear on your back) and take a walk!

A little bit of last-minute packing and organising, then I'll stuff all the things into the car and will be on my way to Cave Gladium. It's the first time since ages that I go to an event without my own stall or tent, and the first time since even more ages that I will offer a kind of mobile services. (Actually, it's the first try of doing the mobile salesperson for me - back in my very beginnings in going to medieval events, I'd sing together with a friend, wandering around the place.)

So I'm quite excited, and not at all sure how it will work out, and whether it will work well or okay or not-at-all, and a little anxious too. Which is... sort of nice, as it has the feel of doing something entirely new. And as we all know, something new now and then is good for us!

I'm not fully back yet, brain-wise, or so it seems - the usual morning routine has yet to re-establish itself. The list of emails has shrunk much, though, and the list of to-do items has grown, so that is normal-ish again.

This weekend is the Cave Gladium, a medieval market/event in Furth im Wald. A few years ago, I was there with a small market stall; then I did not manage to get there for a while. This year, I'm planning to go there with a little basket of goods for sale and take a walk around the encampment on Friday and Saturday.

And then, very soon, our Textile Forum will take place. Amazing how time flies by!

Just in time for the Forum, the first Forum Proceedings will come out. In case you are interested in the book (details here), I am planning to carry it in my online shop. If you want to make sure that you will get one without ordering it from Oxbow directly, just drop me a note :)