authentic wools, linens

[richsc]

From a thread over on RAT<br>
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pub45.ezboard.com/fromana...=886.topic<br>
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I was wondering what findings there are to tell which kind(s) of modern wool fabric might be closer to the Roman variety ?<br>
And, given the large number of types of linen, is there any kind that is more accurate than others? The linen I get in bolts is pretty stiff stuff, and one is a herringbone. <p>Legio XX<br>
Caupona Asellinae</p><i></i>

[venicone]

some websites which might give you a clue or two<br>
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[url=http://www.textiles.umist.ac.uk/textiles/research/Archeology/archaeology.htm" target="top]Research on Vindolanda Textiles [/url]<br>
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[url=http://www.lsa.umich.edu/kelsey/research/Publications/spring2001/textiles.html" target="top]The Kelsey Textiles from Karanis[/url]<br>
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[url=http://www.unc.edu/courses/rometech/public/content/survival/DeRamus_Durham_Laxton/brian.html" target="top]Ancient Textiles as Evidence for Textile Production[/url]<br>
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<p><img src="http://www.ttforumfriends.com/images/forum/co.gif"/><br>
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<span style="color:red;"><strong>[url=http://pub55.ezboard.com/btalkinghistory" target="top]Talking History Forum[/url]</strong></span></p><i></i>

[Lepidina]

Washing linen in plain old hot water with regular detergent and throwing it in the dryer on high will soften it right up. Obviously do this before you sew it because it will shrink. But once it shrinks, you don't have to worry about it doing it again and can throw it in the wash as normal.<br>
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Linen is usually marked "dry-clean only" because of the shrinkage factor or because the fabric has been treated to keep it from wrinkling too much. But most of my reenactment clothing is linen and goes in the washer and dryer all the time without any problems. I usually use the gentle cycle on the hand-sewn stuff to save wear and tear on the stitching.<br>
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Deb <p></p><i></i>

[richsc]

The linen I have is relatively thick, and I haven't seen it shrink much. Stains, particularly rust, are hard to eliminate, but that is part of a soldierly impression. I usually don't bleach any linen, but I don't exactly know how Romans cleaned their linen, that is, if it was fulled like wool or just rinsed out.<br>
<p>Legio XX<br>
Caupona Asellinae</p><i></i>

[Lepidina]

All cloth had to be fulled after weaving. It was part of the manufacturing process. Somewhere I have a picture of Egyptian fullers (no relation to me stomping on cloth that is probably in some fuller's earth mixed with urine. That's pretty much how fulling was done until I think around the 1200s when monks invented the fulling mill that mechanized some of the process, mainly the stomping part.<br>
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As for washing, I know for hundreds of years before commerical soaps, the detergent of choice was - stale urine, preferably from a young boy. Don't empty your chamber pots just yet! Clothing was soaked in the urine to neutralize the body oils that had built up in the cloth. Urine, is of course, urec acid and you need an acid to neutralize body oils. It is also free and available in mass quanitites. (Hey honey, drink another beer! I need to do laundry!) Clothing was then boiled in a lye solution, which is a base, to neutralize the urine and actually clean the clothes. Lastly things like blueing are added to keep whites whiter. I know the Romans used chalk in some of their togas to make them a brilliant white (the toga candidicta if I remember correctly from my Latin classes in jr. high) but don't know if that was used in regular laundry or if they had blueing but I'm sure they probably had something to bleach their whites. Maybe just drying them out in the sun was good enough.<br>
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Vinegar might work for working on rust stains as that's a universal cleaning agent. Don't know if the Romans had baking soda but vinegar and chalk might have the same effect. And you'd be surprised at how well stains come out if you beat your clothes over a rock.<br>
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Perhaps we should have a Roman laundry at the next Roman days. (No, I am not volunteering.<br>
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Deb <p></p><i></i>

[richsc]

I like the idea of an amphora to collect from the males.<br>
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We tossed that idea around after we got the caupona together. I have enough extra panels to make another shop, but how would you do the smells? <p>Legio XX<br>
Caupona Asellinae</p><i></i>