The issue today with linen is that not only the machines are too rough on the fibers( something that could be avoided with enough skill and knowledge overtime) but the flax we use nowadays have been bred over two centuries to be used on machinery designed for cotton production and thus the breakability of the fiber is a benefit for that purpose. Since linen is much shorter and more fragile than it was two hundred years ago we cannot reproduce linen goods that performed and were as fine as two hundred years ago
That is an excellent point and good knowledge to share! So many things we have today are made to fit the existing machinery/technology rather than the other way around. So that does not surprise me one bit.
@@chesneymigl4538 hemp can be worked to be longer and finer than modern linen, there is no big production of textile hemp yet in the same capacity as flax production, but in an artisanal or artistic vision of it, it sounds like something to look into
As a Belgian I would like to add: Brussels bobbin lace. The linen thread spun for this was so fine and was spun in dark damp rooms to keep the thread from becoming too brittle. Only one ray of light was allowed into the room, and it was arranged so that it fell upon the thread. (Or that is what we get told) This fine thread was one reason preventing mechanization of the process of making Brussels lace, as well as the production of it in other regions, as it could not be bought anywhere else. It was also what made the lace so costly. There were import bans in France and England for Brussels lace because they were spending too much money on it. So English merchants actually smuggled the lace to England and called it 'Point d'Angleterre' (and that's how it's still known in France), as they could not reach the same level of quality. There is still an existing production of Brussels lace made by hand in Belgium. This production is getting smaller and smaller as the workers get older. But all the tourist traps today are of course mediocre machine made lace.
That is so amazing! It is quite interesting that with Brussels bobbin lace, it still comes back to the thread being so fine that machines cannot spin or handle it. We really have been robbed of so much beauty when they teach us that mechanization is the end all, be all. I've seen a Barmen lace machine once, which can reproduce simple bobbin laces, but of course with much sturdier and coarser thread!
There must be a misunderstanding somewhere: in french, "point" means needle lace, so "point d'Angleterre" cannot be the name of a bobbin lace, which is called "dentelle". In 18th century France, the best bobbin lace was well known to be produced in spanish Flanders.
@@NouriaDiallo”point” means lace, just like the German “Spitze”. They both mean point, referring to the pointy lace designs of the16th century. “Dentelle aux fuseaux” means bobbin lace, and “dentelle à l’aiguille” is needle lace.
@@nellekeglansdorp1595 [For clarity, french words are between quotation marks]. "Point" means stitch (Deutsch : Stich). It does not mean "pointe" [english: pointe; Deutsch : Spitze] even if they both come from the french verb "poindre" [english: to prick; Deutsch : stechen]. In every definition, "point de [city where it's made]" means needle lace from [said city], to this day. Garsault in his 1971 "L'Art de la lingère" explains that "dentelle" is made using bobbins ["fuseaux"] and "point" is made with a needle, referring to "point d'Angleterre" as the finest. "Dentelle" has become an umbrella word for lace, but it wasn't the case in the 18th century; "point" still refers to needle lace, even if since the 19th century, it may be called "dentelle au point d'Angleterre" rather than "point d'Angleterre". The opposite is not true, you cannot refer to bobbin lace as "point", nor to crocheted or knitted lace.
I'm gonna be honest, you flexed so much in this video by switching crafts every time you mentioned them that I was lowkey expecting you to pull out a spinning wheel at the end. A similar moment for me was finding out as a preteen that people still wove by hand; I've been obsessed since then and was finally able to actually get into both weaving and spinning this year... But while making sturdy and comfortable linen is definitely on my list, really fine linen is very much something that will have to remain a dream, I think T.T (In the meantime, I'm hoping to weave AND spin the fabric for my next skirt... How's that for resistance >:) ) Thanks for the crochet rep too. It gets looked down on too much :( Ps, nice pin ;)
I am with you there, spinning and weaving is on my list of things I really want to do so I can make my own clothes with my very own fabric, living in cattle/sheep country I’m spoilt with choice for wool 😹😹there are a few alpaca farms out here too. As well as cotton farms. I have been lucky enough that I’m allowed to harvest cotton from the fields after the machines have been through as there is still a lot left on the plants, I got enough once to make a dooner once, just from what was left in the fields and there was still heaps left even after I had gone through. So my mind us wanting to learn spinning so I can try my hand at making thread.
It's so sad how our modern society doesn't value the skills involved in these older crafts :( Not everything can be, or even should be, done by machine. The enormous skill the crafts people of the past had is so awe inspiring! I find it heart breaking that those of us who appreciate and strive to remember and possible even replicate any of these old skills are seen as 'eccentric' or 'old granny' types. I'm trying to encourage my daughters to learn any craft skills I can impart or they can find instruction for. Also, that Egyptian linen and the Dhaka muslin would be so incredibly soft! 😍 If only we could still have the crafts people with those skills! Thank you for making videos like this. It is truly enjoyable and informative to learn about these things! I would watch any and all videos you create about the skills of the past 🥰 History and craft are 2 of my favourite subjects 😄
And also sadly, it's all about the Benjamins (or euros or pounds or krone...). I am trying to get a small quilt business going and there are few people who want to spend the money on something even as small as a baby quilt and pay for what it even costs me to make, let alone my time spent in making it. It's much cheaper and easier to pop onto Amazon and get something mass-produced from a place that pays the workers pennies. We 'old grannies' appreciate good quality crafts and the skills needed to make them. Good on ya for teaching your daughters!!!
Since I got into crocheting, I really feel the difference how I look at my own wardrobe. Even the fabric is modern, we're able to choose better, long-lasting materials, and they feel much more different than mass-produced clothing. Once a friend called me if I need linen- his grandma's hand woven linen was that she made before her marriage. The difference between an IKEA (pretty well woven) fabric, and the hand made one is like being from 2 Galaxies apart! It has bumps too, yes, and some wiggly edges, but it's drape and strenght is just incredible, a true master work! There we can see how the need for hand made clothing and accesories are high, but the demand of crafting , creating is so much higher (especially in de ye olde times women were doing their knitting,weaving together in their communities) and no machine can take the joy away from us 🖤✨
That is such an amazing treasure! I fear we are loosing so much tactile and "You just know when it feels right" knowledge as the older generations who knew are passing away.
I remember going to a museum and they had some ancient Egyptian linen, and I remember admiring it because it was so evenly spun and woven and it was transparent. I imagine it could fit through a ring like Shetland shawls. This was about 6-7 years ago.
So true, my Grandmother use to knit Shetland lace shawls she would make 6 in a night just to put food on the table the next day, I have my baby shawl which I need to send to my Aunty, Gran only made 3 of this design the first one for me as her first grand child and 2 more for friends who’s daughters were having a grandchild at the same time. My Aunt and Mother both grew up knitting as children to help Gran in making the shawls. The more shawls made over night the more money they received, what is so shameful was they never got a cut of the real price these shawls were sold as. They only got a few pennies per shawl but when they were sent south to London the company got pounds per shawl. It’s this reason that people do not place high value on hand made goods. There is not a machine made that can make Shetland lace or even Fair isle jumpers and yet many people bulk at the price of these hand made items. Fair isle takes hours to make, even for a speed knitter which Gran was, I use to love watching her knit she would hardly look at what she was making and she was knitting with 6 colours at a time. Unfortunately I’m not able to wear any of the Shetland jumpers for some reason it feels like I’m wearing a cacti’s inside out all the time. I can not knit anymore due to wrist and hand issues I was in my late twenties when I had to stop, my fingers would lockup and then the whole hands and wrists would follow. I took up crochet as it was gentler on my hands and I have since learned how to do Afghan knitting which for some reason is now called Tunisian crochet 🤔 much of the crochet stitches are used in this type of knitting so that made the learning process a lot easier. What I have found the hardest is trying to find natural fibers to use, I have found I like the cotton wool blends but it’s so hard to find, I don’t want acrylics or manmade fibers they cause sooo much static when using and then wearing😿😿
Just imagine how crazy slow it must have been for the biggest portion of history to come to obtain a new garment. I am totally into this and mesmerized by Kristine's voice! Thank you, ma'am!
I'm a crocheter and that was the best explanation I've heard as to why machines can't currently replicate crochet. You're voice was perfectly calming to watch this evening as I settled down before bed, yet your content engaging. Tomorrow I'll have to look at some other of your videos. So glad that YT recommended this to me.
Last year I found three pieces of actual handcrocheted lace within a mixed lot of lace that somebody donated to our sewing club. I do not know for sure, but the pieces could be from the 1920s to '30s, though they could also be younger if some grandma maybe filled a "trousseau chest" for her granddaughter in the '60s or something like that. Two are rectangular strips of filet crochet with stylized rose blossoms, each about a meter in length. And there is one band of over 2m, made from a slightly thicker (yet still thin) thread and it shows a pattern that was already in use in the late 1800s, I think. It has a scalloped edge at one side and is suitable to pull a ribbon through. I also have a modern skirt and a minidress from white fabrics and also some lace, both of which do not fit me anymore. My plan is to take those apart and then design a kind of Edwardian-style inspired summer dress out of the pieces and adorn it with some of the vintage lace. I need to try and figure out a way to arrange the lace that I do not have to cut it. Ideally, it can be taken off the garment in one piece again at some point in the future.
I heard or read somewhere that the Egyptians spun their threads using drop spindles that they supposedly made by sitting on the edge of the roof (Egyptian houses tend to have flat roofs accessible to the residents) and dropping the spindle all the way to the ground.
Thank you for this video. It encouraged me to continue in learning the traditional skills of my area: weaving and braiding. I will be working on the family spinning wheel this summer.
Thank you for this enlightening and inspiring (although at times tragic) video. Fittingly enough, I watched it while crocheting, and I now have a greater appreciation of the craft, as well as a newfound sense of pride in my "hobby." Thanks so much for sharing!
As an almost lifelong crocheter, I love that I can do something machines can't, but I hate that mechanization has made it so the layperson and consumers won't pay the prices that my handmade pieces are worth. I priced out a dress I made, and I realized that unless I sold it to a superstar like Beyonce that it would probably never sell. That being said, it is still my favorite dress.
wow.... kind of mind blowing to me. Didn't know linen could be so fine as it used to appear to me as a coarse fabric, compared to cotton.... Also as a crochet lover I'm a bit sad seeing all the local antique stores selling old crochet doily for less than $5 🤧 and.... cute pride pin on your scarf! happy pride! ~ sending my love ~
As another lovely commentor pointed out, since linen fibres are processed on equipment made for cotton, and has been grown to accomodate that over the last 200 years, we really never get the opportunity to appreciate linen for how good it could be! Which is sad, but also makes it very understandable that people couldn't be aware unless they learned the history around it.
Love how much research you did for this video (with sources!). And I agree, crocheting without looking at what you’re doing is a mess in my case😅 P.S. We love an ally, your support is very much appreciated Kristine❤️
I thought this was an excellent video Kristine. Full of such brilliant information. Thank you for all your research. I learned to do tatting as a child but it is quite a long time since I actually did any. I also carry a nalbinded pouch all the time for my phone and wallet. A case of old meets new! You've made me want to get my needle out to make something else for myself...
Well, I’m amazed at the breadth of the history, and I’m astonished at how many textile crafts you know! I can spin moderately well, and crochet, and sew a bit. I’ve dabbled in weaving, but you can do tatting, nalbinding, knitting, weaving, and crochet. And they all looked well done! I’m in awe!
Thank you for sharing, this made me think about my fabric stash in an entirely new way, and it also made me appreciate more than ever my daughter's crochet and each gift she has given me. I always thought her handmade gifts were priceless, but now I know that no educated mind would disagree!
Romania - most known for their traditional “Ia” or “Ie” blouses - were made up of homespun fabric that hasn’t been able to be machine reproduced. With the appropriation of Romanian traditional design and motifs, the homespun (whose name I can’t recall) has almost entirely disappeared.
I'll add macramé to the list. Macramé creates a textile by knotting. If you think machines has problems with needlebinding and tatting, macramé increase that exponentially.
This is my first of your videos. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and find it quite inspiring! Thank you for all it took to make it - it looks very much like a labour of love. I have subscribed, and look forward to watching more of your videos.
Thanks Kristine, I am very inspired by your language and story telling skills, such a great historian on subjects that I do care for, I admire you so much!
I was watching a couple of videos about people spinning art yarns and it struck me at the time that a machine would not be able to do that sort of spinning.
I remember going to the museum as a child with Mom where I got to see Elizabeth I dress that was on display and falling in love with all that needle work, it was what fired my passion for embroidery work, I was 10 at the time. When we lived in the UK my parents always took us to the museums in London and Greenwich at least once a month we would then spend lunch time in the park having a picnic during the summer months. Living in Australia is great but I miss the rich history that was always around the next corner that you walked. As a side note the French were doing the same thing as the British in India, but for some reason history has forgotten this little fact, I’m not British, I’m Scottish born and breed it’s just that I hate it when only one half of history is pointed out, and the other half forgotten.
That is a very good point. For this one, my main focus were the fabrics, so I didn't want to dwell too long on the complications of the oppression (much like with the gross oppression of indigenous people in the Americas, Europe and Australia, it was not so much one nation as a prevailing and dangerous idea that went beyond borders). But yes! It is always more complicated than a brief summary video can convey.
@dawsie The French could not keep up with the British. There were 3 big wars between the French and British, and after lossing all 3, the French had to move from Indian Sub-continent. So, it's the British that more or less shaped the history.
Oh, I came across this video by chance, and I loved every second of it. I am part of the rebellion team 😊 keeping the art of knitting and crochet alive while aiming to building and grow a knitting community to share and grow our knowledge. I cannot imagine a happy life with a healthy mind, body and soul without yarn & needles in it ❤ If you resonate with that, let's be friends on YT 😊
The business model you described where UK would charge rent and fees to the very Indian weavers and suppliers they were exploiting, appropriating and profiting from, is what US Private Equity does, as we speak, when it gobbles up successful large companies, like Toys R US, Yankee Candle, Prismacolor, Jo-Ann, cherished perfumes and cosmetics, music, media, art, food, publications, and on and on and on. In the case of Toys R US, Bane Capital (Mitt Romney's company) was but one PE who purchased the land Toys R US stores sat on and then rented it back to them. This is one of many filthy tactics used in order to juice something to death, discard the hull and then use purchased media, academia, and consultancies to generate narrative in order blame the destroyed company, culture, craft, or industry (I will not say brand) for everything. Incarcerate, abuse, kill, slander or supress any resistance. Reward the obedient; capitally, socially. When it comes to the destruction of everything, it is the same ol' shite, not one drop of innovation or optimizing,just classic jerk holery, yet somehow most people still don't see it.
There is a lesser known equivalent to dhaka muslin from the americas themselves it is Mexican see through fabric my great grandmother was the last maker that i am aware of... i do not know what it was made from my mother claims it was cactus fuzz but i find that hard to believe considering most cactus fuzz i am aware of is of a thicker fiber than what i saw on the now lost 2 inch by 3 inch piece my grandmother used to treasure which i was never allowed to touch just look (this was a very light yellow in color almost white). I do know it was spun with a drop spindle which my grandmother lost the talent to use with age and my mother never had the coordination neither fully learned the entire process and all that may be left is my mother's failing memory and what i remember of questions i had asked long ago.
I know there are some knitting techniques that machine knitting cannot do-however I don’t know enough to name them! I would love to hear more about what these are.
Oooh, I have not delved too deep into the physics and technicalities of knitting machines either, but that does sound like an excellent way to spot a hand-knitted garment. 👀
I loved this! Even tho I'm always on the brink of tears when I think of the loss of knowledge the Britain empire has done throughout the centuries. It makes me so mad!!!!
May I ask if you will produce a video on exactly how folks back in the day were able to make fabric with such a high thread count?? Crunching all those threads into one inch on some type of loom just blows my mind. Thank you!!
I've been crocheting for about 60 years, and it has fallen out of my "love list" in recent years because of the yarns. After a washing or two, they become so matted and fuzzy that the detail virtually disappears. I keep looking for yarn that won't fuzz. Can you or any of your readers tell me which sort of yarn would feed my desire? Thank you very much for this informative lesson on textile history. Loved it.
Wow...what an amazing video. I'm so glad I found your channel! This video gave me the same feeling you got after visiting that wandering exhibit. I love learning history like this :D
There’s a saying 天衣無縫that means “perfect/flawless” is a Chinese idiom literally meaning heavenly seamless cloth. It must feel divine holding, touching or just looking at Dhaka muslin.
I'd loove this video, thank you for teaching about it. Do you have any information about felt, I 'd like to know when people started to use it, have you heard any legend about it?
I saw a video of local farmers that grew golden flax and harvested by hand. The whole process was tedious but it produced very long luxurious golden silken fibers that shined glossy and silky. Then they wove them into exquisite fabrics. Modern tech is harsh and bleaches the fibers creating what metaphorically tussah silk is to real silk. I was amazed to hear that tussah was marketed to the west was the leftover chaff etc that they used as stuffing or filling in china. Greed, money, marketing and ignorance.
Archeologists didn't preserve most of the fabrics from the pyramids. They just tossed it to the side. I would hope that modern archeologists would consider all textiles to be important.
❤ love your video s. Can i give you a tip? We learn to say 'industrial revolution ', which points to and highlights the 'revolutionary machines' as if there were no negative sides on the invention of machines....i do not buy this word, i speak of 'industrialisation'.😊
I'm crocheting as I'm watching. A couple or three years ago, Target had shirts with actual crocheted sleeves on them, selling for maybe $20-$25. I was SO MAD! The people who made them must have been earning something like 10c per sleeve. Anyway, I didn't buy one, and I discourage anyone else from buying obviously handmade clothing for dirt cheap. Don't encourage this business model.
A pound of cotton over 200,000 mile long! Which source did you find that claim in? If you don't mind, please and thank you! I think that's the next research rabbit hole I want to go down!😂
It was a wonder there was anything left of the Pyramids after centuries of Egyptians stripping down their exteriors and ransacking their chambers. It was Napoleon and much later Carter that thought to study and preserve what they found, including digging the Sphinx free from eons of sand storms. Britain's rule was relatively benign compared to the damage from 13 centuries of occupation and carnage, and relentless plundering of India's riches by muslims.
Traveling exhibitions are amazing. I love that people unable to travel can also learn and see the beautiful history and the ownership of the home country is always important. As much as i want to see all the museums in person, i cannot afford it, but i can afford weekend trips to my local museum and these wandering exhibits make it so i have the opportunity to see so much.
Hi Kristine,, I really loved your presentation. There is a great news as Muslin revival Team finally revived the Dhaka Muslin! I will email you. You can see the video from Muslin Dhaka RUclips channel. We shared the process. ( except 1-2 ). Thanks Sharif
This was a very interesting video. The social and economic history was very impactful .thank you for your research a Walker bognor regis west sussexengland
Thinks for this informative video. I like your way of describing things. You have such a kind voice (Is it a peculiar thing to say?). I wanted to know more about Muslin after watching your video. Anyway, there might be a ray of hope for the revival of Dhaka Muslin. The last couple of minutes of this 8:36 min video shows some sign of encouragement. Thanks. ruclips.net/video/RGsxvSe8IPs/видео.html
It really is a shame that this stuff wasn't valued or protected. I really dislike the attitude that it's not possible for us to all win that drives some of this exploitation. I'm sure Dhaka muslin could've been shared with the British and still been recognized for the labor intensive work that it is and respected and fairly paid for.
The issue today with linen is that not only the machines are too rough on the fibers( something that could be avoided with enough skill and knowledge overtime) but the flax we use nowadays have been bred over two centuries to be used on machinery designed for cotton production and thus the breakability of the fiber is a benefit for that purpose. Since linen is much shorter and more fragile than it was two hundred years ago we cannot reproduce linen goods that performed and were as fine as two hundred years ago
That is an excellent point and good knowledge to share! So many things we have today are made to fit the existing machinery/technology rather than the other way around. So that does not surprise me one bit.
They were able to rediscover Dahka muslin cotton in 2013. Maybe we could find extant flax with the old properties.
@@chesneymigl4538 hemp can be worked to be longer and finer than modern linen, there is no big production of textile hemp yet in the same capacity as flax production, but in an artisanal or artistic vision of it, it sounds like something to look into
As a Belgian I would like to add: Brussels bobbin lace. The linen thread spun for this was so fine and was spun in dark damp rooms to keep the thread from becoming too brittle. Only one ray of light was allowed into the room, and it was arranged so that it fell upon the thread. (Or that is what we get told) This fine thread was one reason preventing mechanization of the process of making Brussels lace, as well as the production of it in other regions, as it could not be bought anywhere else. It was also what made the lace so costly. There were import bans in France and England for Brussels lace because they were spending too much money on it. So English merchants actually smuggled the lace to England and called it 'Point d'Angleterre' (and that's how it's still known in France), as they could not reach the same level of quality.
There is still an existing production of Brussels lace made by hand in Belgium. This production is getting smaller and smaller as the workers get older.
But all the tourist traps today are of course mediocre machine made lace.
That is so amazing! It is quite interesting that with Brussels bobbin lace, it still comes back to the thread being so fine that machines cannot spin or handle it. We really have been robbed of so much beauty when they teach us that mechanization is the end all, be all.
I've seen a Barmen lace machine once, which can reproduce simple bobbin laces, but of course with much sturdier and coarser thread!
@@KristineVike I think it all boils down to what the Germans call 'Fingerspitzengefühl' and well machines have no fingers... 😅
There must be a misunderstanding somewhere: in french, "point" means needle lace, so "point d'Angleterre" cannot be the name of a bobbin lace, which is called "dentelle". In 18th century France, the best bobbin lace was well known to be produced in spanish Flanders.
@@NouriaDiallo”point” means lace, just like the German “Spitze”. They both mean point, referring to the pointy lace designs of the16th century. “Dentelle aux fuseaux” means bobbin lace, and “dentelle à l’aiguille” is needle lace.
@@nellekeglansdorp1595
[For clarity, french words are between quotation marks].
"Point" means stitch (Deutsch : Stich). It does not mean "pointe" [english: pointe; Deutsch : Spitze] even if they both come from the french verb "poindre" [english: to prick; Deutsch : stechen].
In every definition, "point de [city where it's made]" means needle lace from [said city], to this day. Garsault in his 1971 "L'Art de la lingère" explains that "dentelle" is made using bobbins ["fuseaux"] and "point" is made with a needle, referring to "point d'Angleterre" as the finest.
"Dentelle" has become an umbrella word for lace, but it wasn't the case in the 18th century; "point" still refers to needle lace, even if since the 19th century, it may be called "dentelle au point d'Angleterre" rather than "point d'Angleterre". The opposite is not true, you cannot refer to bobbin lace as "point", nor to crocheted or knitted lace.
That epic side eye about the 'naturally disappointing' line was amazing!
Thanks 😅
@@KristineVikeThat line definitely got a 👍 from me!
I'm gonna be honest, you flexed so much in this video by switching crafts every time you mentioned them that I was lowkey expecting you to pull out a spinning wheel at the end.
A similar moment for me was finding out as a preteen that people still wove by hand; I've been obsessed since then and was finally able to actually get into both weaving and spinning this year... But while making sturdy and comfortable linen is definitely on my list, really fine linen is very much something that will have to remain a dream, I think T.T
(In the meantime, I'm hoping to weave AND spin the fabric for my next skirt... How's that for resistance >:) )
Thanks for the crochet rep too. It gets looked down on too much :(
Ps, nice pin ;)
That part was so fun to film! I had completely forgotten how to tat though and I still haven’t spun anything. But it’s on my list! 🧶❤️
I am with you there, spinning and weaving is on my list of things I really want to do so I can make my own clothes with my very own fabric, living in cattle/sheep country I’m spoilt with choice for wool 😹😹there are a few alpaca farms out here too. As well as cotton farms. I have been lucky enough that I’m allowed to harvest cotton from the fields after the machines have been through as there is still a lot left on the plants, I got enough once to make a dooner once, just from what was left in the fields and there was still heaps left even after I had gone through. So my mind us wanting to learn spinning so I can try my hand at making thread.
@@dawsie wow that's cool honestly
It's so sad how our modern society doesn't value the skills involved in these older crafts :( Not everything can be, or even should be, done by machine. The enormous skill the crafts people of the past had is so awe inspiring! I find it heart breaking that those of us who appreciate and strive to remember and possible even replicate any of these old skills are seen as 'eccentric' or 'old granny' types. I'm trying to encourage my daughters to learn any craft skills I can impart or they can find instruction for.
Also, that Egyptian linen and the Dhaka muslin would be so incredibly soft! 😍 If only we could still have the crafts people with those skills!
Thank you for making videos like this. It is truly enjoyable and informative to learn about these things! I would watch any and all videos you create about the skills of the past 🥰 History and craft are 2 of my favourite subjects 😄
They would have been so, SO soft. Like we cannot even imagine! I am so happy you enjoy these videos because they are really engaging to make too! 🥰
These are women’s skills. Need I say more?
And also sadly, it's all about the Benjamins (or euros or pounds or krone...). I am trying to get a small quilt business going and there are few people who want to spend the money on something even as small as a baby quilt and pay for what it even costs me to make, let alone my time spent in making it. It's much cheaper and easier to pop onto Amazon and get something mass-produced from a place that pays the workers pennies. We 'old grannies' appreciate good quality crafts and the skills needed to make them. Good on ya for teaching your daughters!!!
Since I got into crocheting, I really feel the difference how I look at my own wardrobe. Even the fabric is modern, we're able to choose better, long-lasting materials, and they feel much more different than mass-produced clothing.
Once a friend called me if I need linen- his grandma's hand woven linen was that she made before her marriage. The difference between an IKEA (pretty well woven) fabric, and the hand made one is like being from 2 Galaxies apart! It has bumps too, yes, and some wiggly edges, but it's drape and strenght is just incredible, a true master work! There we can see how the need for hand made clothing and accesories are high, but the demand of crafting , creating is so much higher (especially in de ye olde times women were doing their knitting,weaving together in their communities) and no machine can take the joy away from us 🖤✨
That is such an amazing treasure! I fear we are loosing so much tactile and "You just know when it feels right" knowledge as the older generations who knew are passing away.
I remember going to a museum and they had some ancient Egyptian linen, and I remember admiring it because it was so evenly spun and woven and it was transparent. I imagine it could fit through a ring like Shetland shawls. This was about 6-7 years ago.
They were so, SO amazingly skilled! I just continue to be ever more in awe the more I learn.
So true, my Grandmother use to knit Shetland lace shawls she would make 6 in a night just to put food on the table the next day, I have my baby shawl which I need to send to my Aunty, Gran only made 3 of this design the first one for me as her first grand child and 2 more for friends who’s daughters were having a grandchild at the same time. My Aunt and Mother both grew up knitting as children to help Gran in making the shawls. The more shawls made over night the more money they received, what is so shameful was they never got a cut of the real price these shawls were sold as. They only got a few pennies per shawl but when they were sent south to London the company got pounds per shawl. It’s this reason that people do not place high value on hand made goods. There is not a machine made that can make Shetland lace or even Fair isle jumpers and yet many people bulk at the price of these hand made items. Fair isle takes hours to make, even for a speed knitter which Gran was, I use to love watching her knit she would hardly look at what she was making and she was knitting with 6 colours at a time. Unfortunately I’m not able to wear any of the Shetland jumpers for some reason it feels like I’m wearing a cacti’s inside out all the time.
I can not knit anymore due to wrist and hand issues I was in my late twenties when I had to stop, my fingers would lockup and then the whole hands and wrists would follow. I took up crochet as it was gentler on my hands and I have since learned how to do Afghan knitting which for some reason is now called Tunisian crochet 🤔 much of the crochet stitches are used in this type of knitting so that made the learning process a lot easier. What I have found the hardest is trying to find natural fibers to use, I have found I like the cotton wool blends but it’s so hard to find, I don’t want acrylics or manmade fibers they cause sooo much static when using and then wearing😿😿
@@dawsie Machines can't do knitting patterns that contain "nupps".
Just imagine how crazy slow it must have been for the biggest portion of history to come to obtain a new garment. I am totally into this and mesmerized by Kristine's voice! Thank you, ma'am!
I'm a crocheter and that was the best explanation I've heard as to why machines can't currently replicate crochet. You're voice was perfectly calming to watch this evening as I settled down before bed, yet your content engaging. Tomorrow I'll have to look at some other of your videos. So glad that YT recommended this to me.
Last year I found three pieces of actual handcrocheted lace within a mixed lot of lace that somebody donated to our sewing club.
I do not know for sure, but the pieces could be from the 1920s to '30s, though they could also be younger if some grandma maybe filled a "trousseau chest" for her granddaughter in the '60s or something like that.
Two are rectangular strips of filet crochet with stylized rose blossoms, each about a meter in length.
And there is one band of over 2m, made from a slightly thicker (yet still thin) thread and it shows a pattern that was already in use in the late 1800s, I think. It has a scalloped edge at one side and is suitable to pull a ribbon through.
I also have a modern skirt and a minidress from white fabrics and also some lace, both of which do not fit me anymore. My plan is to take those apart and then design a kind of Edwardian-style inspired summer dress out of the pieces and adorn it with some of the vintage lace. I need to try and figure out a way to arrange the lace that I do not have to cut it. Ideally, it can be taken off the garment in one piece again at some point in the future.
@@johannageisel5390 I love those langerie dresses. Good luck with the project.
I heard or read somewhere that the Egyptians spun their threads using drop spindles that they supposedly made by sitting on the edge of the roof (Egyptian houses tend to have flat roofs accessible to the residents) and dropping the spindle all the way to the ground.
That sounds like an excellent way of doing things!
Thank you for this video. It encouraged me to continue in learning the traditional skills of my area: weaving and braiding. I will be working on the family spinning wheel this summer.
Yesss! The rebellion welcomes crafters of all kinds!
Thank you for this enlightening and inspiring (although at times tragic) video. Fittingly enough, I watched it while crocheting, and I now have a greater appreciation of the craft, as well as a newfound sense of pride in my "hobby." Thanks so much for sharing!
Is…is crochet literally an act of raging against the literal machine? 💪🧶
You know it!! 🧶🧶🧶
I am a rebel,😁
Didn't realise my wife was such a rebel 😂😮
😅 yes!!!
Yesss
The Dhaka muslin makes me think of the Story the Emporer has no clothes.
As an almost lifelong crocheter, I love that I can do something machines can't, but I hate that mechanization has made it so the layperson and consumers won't pay the prices that my handmade pieces are worth. I priced out a dress I made, and I realized that unless I sold it to a superstar like Beyonce that it would probably never sell. That being said, it is still my favorite dress.
wow.... kind of mind blowing to me. Didn't know linen could be so fine as it used to appear to me as a coarse fabric, compared to cotton.... Also as a crochet lover I'm a bit sad seeing all the local antique stores selling old crochet doily for less than $5 🤧 and.... cute pride pin on your scarf! happy pride! ~ sending my love ~
As another lovely commentor pointed out, since linen fibres are processed on equipment made for cotton, and has been grown to accomodate that over the last 200 years, we really never get the opportunity to appreciate linen for how good it could be! Which is sad, but also makes it very understandable that people couldn't be aware unless they learned the history around it.
Also please appreciate the absolute irony of youtube putting an add for machine embroidery under this video lol
That is so on point, I can’t even! 😂
Love how much research you did for this video (with sources!). And I agree, crocheting without looking at what you’re doing is a mess in my case😅
P.S. We love an ally, your support is very much appreciated Kristine❤️
❤️🏳️🌈❤️🏳️🌈❤️
I just found your channel and I love it! Immediately subscribed!
I thought this was an excellent video Kristine. Full of such brilliant information. Thank you for all your research. I learned to do tatting as a child but it is quite a long time since I actually did any. I also carry a nalbinded pouch all the time for my phone and wallet. A case of old meets new! You've made me want to get my needle out to make something else for myself...
Well, I’m amazed at the breadth of the history, and I’m astonished at how many textile crafts you know! I can spin moderately well, and crochet, and sew a bit. I’ve dabbled in weaving, but you can do tatting, nalbinding, knitting, weaving, and crochet. And they all looked well done! I’m in awe!
Thank you for sharing, this made me think about my fabric stash in an entirely new way, and it also made me appreciate more than ever my daughter's crochet and each gift she has given me. I always thought her handmade gifts were priceless, but now I know that no educated mind would disagree!
Romania - most known for their traditional “Ia” or “Ie” blouses - were made up of homespun fabric that hasn’t been able to be machine reproduced. With the appropriation of Romanian traditional design and motifs, the homespun (whose name I can’t recall) has almost entirely disappeared.
I adore your unapologetic commentry...i live in India and you know where i am coming from !!! But hey, it's 2023 and I found you❤
Connected through unapologetic amazing crafts! Love it!!
I'll add macramé to the list. Macramé creates a textile by knotting. If you think machines has problems with needlebinding and tatting, macramé increase that exponentially.
I am rebelling as I watch this.
This is a brilliant video. Thank you!
Viva la craftolution!
I've seen references to the finest Egyptian thread being twined instead of spun. That would explain the fineness. I need to do some research on this.
You are very likeable and clever. Your videos transmit knowledge in a entertaining way. Thank you Kristine.
I am very happy you think so!
So educational. And I so much appreciate that you provide a proper reference list.
We do love being able to backtrack things to their proper sources!
This is my first of your videos. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and find it quite inspiring! Thank you for all it took to make it - it looks very much like a labour of love. I have subscribed, and look forward to watching more of your videos.
I love your passion for textiles and their history.
I so agree.
Timeless manual skills are best.
this just changed my entire thought process on fabrics. God bless you
I am honored to have inspired you! Fabrics are amazing! It is such a feat of engineering that we all too easily overlook.
Thanks Kristine, I am very inspired by your language and story telling skills, such a great historian on subjects that I do care for, I admire you so much!
I am so happy to find more passionate textile history enthusiasts!
I was watching a couple of videos about people spinning art yarns and it struck me at the time that a machine would not be able to do that sort of spinning.
Such a good point! We will miss a lot of great art if machines do everything.
I remember going to the museum as a child with Mom where I got to see Elizabeth I dress that was on display and falling in love with all that needle work, it was what fired my passion for embroidery work, I was 10 at the time. When we lived in the UK my parents always took us to the museums in London and Greenwich at least once a month we would then spend lunch time in the park having a picnic during the summer months. Living in Australia is great but I miss the rich history that was always around the next corner that you walked.
As a side note the French were doing the same thing as the British in India, but for some reason history has forgotten this little fact, I’m not British, I’m Scottish born and breed it’s just that I hate it when only one half of history is pointed out, and the other half forgotten.
That is a very good point. For this one, my main focus were the fabrics, so I didn't want to dwell too long on the complications of the oppression (much like with the gross oppression of indigenous people in the Americas, Europe and Australia, it was not so much one nation as a prevailing and dangerous idea that went beyond borders). But yes! It is always more complicated than a brief summary video can convey.
@dawsie The French could not keep up with the British. There were 3 big wars between the French and British, and after lossing all 3, the French had to move from Indian Sub-continent. So, it's the British that more or less shaped the history.
What a fantastic video Kristine! Thank you for the incredible research that you do. It is greatly appreciated! ✌❤🇨🇦
Thank you! It was such an interesting project to work on!
I have a T-shirt from Egypt, made of Egyptian cotton. It feels like silk.
Thank you for the time and effort put into making this wonderfully informative video.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Oh, I came across this video by chance, and I loved every second of it. I am part of the rebellion team 😊 keeping the art of knitting and crochet alive while aiming to building and grow a knitting community to share and grow our knowledge. I cannot imagine a happy life with a healthy mind, body and soul without yarn & needles in it ❤ If you resonate with that, let's be friends on YT 😊
Thank you for sharing❤ it is much appreciated
Thank you for an excellent, insightful, and ultimately emotional video.
Thank youuu! Historical textile nerding out is still so underappreciated generally. 🥹🥹🥹
This is very fascinating, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge! :)
Glad you enjoyed it!
The business model you described where UK would charge rent and fees to the very Indian weavers and suppliers they were exploiting, appropriating and profiting from, is what US Private Equity does, as we speak, when it gobbles up successful large companies, like Toys R US, Yankee Candle, Prismacolor, Jo-Ann, cherished perfumes and cosmetics, music, media, art, food, publications, and on and on and on. In the case of Toys R US, Bane Capital (Mitt Romney's company) was but one PE who purchased the land Toys R US stores sat on and then rented it back to them. This is one of many filthy tactics used in order to juice something to death, discard the hull and then use purchased media, academia, and consultancies to generate narrative in order blame the destroyed company, culture, craft, or industry (I will not say brand) for everything. Incarcerate, abuse, kill, slander or supress any resistance. Reward the obedient; capitally, socially.
When it comes to the destruction of everything, it is the same ol' shite, not one drop of innovation or optimizing,just classic jerk holery, yet somehow most people still don't see it.
There is a lesser known equivalent to dhaka muslin from the americas themselves it is Mexican see through fabric my great grandmother was the last maker that i am aware of... i do not know what it was made from my mother claims it was cactus fuzz but i find that hard to believe considering most cactus fuzz i am aware of is of a thicker fiber than what i saw on the now lost 2 inch by 3 inch piece my grandmother used to treasure which i was never allowed to touch just look (this was a very light yellow in color almost white).
I do know it was spun with a drop spindle which my grandmother lost the talent to use with age and my mother never had the coordination neither fully learned the entire process and all that may be left is my mother's failing memory and what i remember of questions i had asked long ago.
I know there are some knitting techniques that machine knitting cannot do-however I don’t know enough to name them! I would love to hear more about what these are.
Oooh, I have not delved too deep into the physics and technicalities of knitting machines either, but that does sound like an excellent way to spot a hand-knitted garment. 👀
Machines can't do knitting patterns that contain "nupps".
I loved this! Even tho I'm always on the brink of tears when I think of the loss of knowledge the Britain empire has done throughout the centuries. It makes me so mad!!!!
Yeeeah. It was not a great time for appreciation and preservation of knowledge or cultures. 😬😬😬
May I ask if you will produce a video on exactly how folks back in the day were able to make fabric with such a high thread count?? Crunching all those threads into one inch on some type of loom just blows my mind. Thank you!!
I've been crocheting for about 60 years, and it has fallen out of my "love list" in recent years because of the yarns. After a washing or two, they become so matted and fuzzy that the detail virtually disappears. I keep looking for yarn that won't fuzz. Can you or any of your readers tell me which sort of yarn would feed my desire? Thank you very much for this informative lesson on textile history. Loved it.
Wonderfully informative video.. and side note your Spathiphyllum looks lovely.
Thank you! She was a gift and I am very fond of her.
Wow...what an amazing video. I'm so glad I found your channel! This video gave me the same feeling you got after visiting that wandering exhibit. I love learning history like this :D
You are a very lovely and sensitive person. Thank you♥
Thank you for this video
There’s a saying 天衣無縫that means “perfect/flawless” is a Chinese idiom literally meaning heavenly seamless cloth. It must feel divine holding, touching or just looking at Dhaka muslin.
Thank you. Lovely video.
I cant think too long about exquisitely fine textiles or stars will manifest permanently in my eyes. 👁👁 GOD I love skilled handiwork
YES! And the extent to which they were magnificently skilled is just mind blowing!
Great video, Kristine!
Glad you liked it!
I just found your delightful & informative channel & subscribed.
Super interesting vid, thank you 💖💖
I'd loove this video, thank you for teaching about it.
Do you have any information about felt, I 'd like to know when people started to use it, have you heard any legend about it?
Thank you so much for sharing this with us. Fascinating! Colonialism / Greed have a lot to answer for. Sending best wishes from Down Under 💖💐🌸🌺🇦🇺😎
It is an ugly and discombobulated history. But at least being aware of it might help us make better decisions in the future!
I saw a video of local farmers that grew golden flax and harvested by hand. The whole process was tedious but it produced very long luxurious golden silken fibers that shined glossy and silky. Then they wove them into exquisite fabrics.
Modern tech is harsh and bleaches the fibers creating what metaphorically tussah silk is to real
silk.
I was amazed to hear that tussah was marketed to the west was the leftover chaff etc that they used as stuffing or filling in china.
Greed, money, marketing and ignorance.
Happy Resisting 🤗🌟💗
I think Lotus silk should be added to your list because it is fascinating and a dying art form
Archeologists didn't preserve most of the fabrics from the pyramids. They just tossed it to the side. I would hope that modern archeologists would consider all textiles to be important.
You are amazing!
Nicely done 👍❤️
Many thanks!
Brilliant thank you
Happy resisting and happy pride!!!!
Many thanks and happy pride right back!! 🏳️🌈
If I found a chest of fabric, I'd be thrilled.
Ayyyy! Tatting! I like to do it as a way to keep my hands busy^^
Another great video 💚🧶🪡💚
Egyptians were so right and correct on their reverence for linen. Bring this attitude back linen rocks
❤ love your video s. Can i give you a tip? We learn to say 'industrial revolution ', which points to and highlights the 'revolutionary machines' as if there were no negative sides on the invention of machines....i do not buy this word, i speak of 'industrialisation'.😊
I'm crocheting as I'm watching.
A couple or three years ago, Target had shirts with actual crocheted sleeves on them, selling for maybe $20-$25. I was SO MAD! The people who made them must have been earning something like 10c per sleeve. Anyway, I didn't buy one, and I discourage anyone else from buying obviously handmade clothing for dirt cheap. Don't encourage this business model.
A pound of cotton over 200,000 mile long!
Which source did you find that claim in? If you don't mind, please and thank you! I think that's the next research rabbit hole I want to go down!😂
How i agree, happy resisting! 😃
Yep
It was a wonder there was anything left of the Pyramids after centuries of Egyptians stripping down their exteriors and ransacking their chambers. It was Napoleon and much later Carter that thought to study and preserve what they found, including digging the Sphinx free from eons of sand storms.
Britain's rule was relatively benign compared to the damage from 13 centuries of occupation and carnage, and relentless plundering of India's riches by muslims.
Traveling exhibitions are amazing. I love that people unable to travel can also learn and see the beautiful history and the ownership of the home country is always important. As much as i want to see all the museums in person, i cannot afford it, but i can afford weekend trips to my local museum and these wandering exhibits make it so i have the opportunity to see so much.
I agree! It is such an amazing thing!
Hi Kristine,, I really loved your presentation. There is a great news as Muslin revival Team finally revived the Dhaka Muslin! I will email you. You can see the video from Muslin Dhaka RUclips channel. We shared the process. ( except 1-2 ). Thanks Sharif
If your looking at knit fabric, if Nupps are involved you know it's handmade because they haven't figured out how to make those with a machine.
Actually England did the same like muslin to Egyptian cotton 🥲💔it was the finest in the world before they ruin it 💔
She's charming and engaging. Love the video.
Thank you for this information. #SaveSoil #Consciousplanet
This was a very interesting video. The social and economic history was very impactful .thank you for your research a Walker bognor regis west sussexengland
I just discovered your channel youre so sweet
Thinks for this informative video. I like your way of describing things. You have such a kind voice (Is it a peculiar thing to say?). I wanted to know more about Muslin after watching your video. Anyway, there might be a ray of hope for the revival of Dhaka Muslin. The last couple of minutes of this 8:36 min video shows some sign of encouragement. Thanks.
ruclips.net/video/RGsxvSe8IPs/видео.html
⭐️
It really is a shame that this stuff wasn't valued or protected. I really dislike the attitude that it's not possible for us to all win that drives some of this exploitation. I'm sure Dhaka muslin could've been shared with the British and still been recognized for the labor intensive work that it is and respected and fairly paid for.
Long live the ludite rebellion!!!😮
Luddite..
Knowing how things work and building communities does make us more resilient!
😀😀😀😀😀
🇧🇷🇧🇷 How come?? All fabrics, crochets etc. can be made by machines.🇧🇷🇧🇷
The ones in this video cannot. They are either too finely woven, or uses a technique that is difficult to replicate mechanically.