Textiles - Tumblr Posts
Vintage Wool Fish Rug by Canvello
YOU KNOW WHAT BOTHERS ME
when fantasy books describe the cloth of Quant Farmpeople’s clothing as “homespun” or “rough homespun”
“homespun” as opposed to what??? EVERYTHING WAS SPUN AT HOME
they didn’t have fucking spinning factories, your pseudo-medieval farmwife is lucky if she has a fucking spinning wheel, otherwise she’s spinning every single thread her family wears on a drop spindle NO ONE ELSE WAS DOING THE SPINNING unless you go out of your way to establish a certain baseline of industrialization in your fake medieval fantasy land.
and “rough”??? lol just because it’s farm clothes? bitch cloth was valuable as fuck because of the labor involved ain’t no self-respecting woman gonna waste fiber and ALL THAT FUCKING TIME spinning shitty yarn to weave into shitty cloth she’s gonna make GOOD QUALITY SHIT for her family, and considering that women were doing fiber prep/spinning/weaving for like 80% of their waking time up until very recently in world history, literally every woman has the skills necessary to produce some TERRIFYINGLY GOOD QUALITY THREADS
come to think of it i’ve never read a fantasy novel that talks about textile production at all??? like it’s even worse than the “where are all the farms” problem like where are people getting the cloth if no one’s doing the spinning and weaving??? kmart???
𝙼𝚢 𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚙𝚑𝚘𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎; 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚊𝚍𝚍𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚢 𝚜𝚞𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚛𝚘𝚋𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚘𝚗!
𝙸𝚖𝚊𝚐𝚎 𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚝: 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚖𝚒𝚌𝚝𝚊𝚒𝚕𝚘𝚛
hi! so I heard that you're an expert on costuming, particularly in asoiaf and I was wondering if you knew of any multiple sources to go to for some costumes or fashion that the characters of asoiaf would wear. Like a certain Tumblr, tv show, Pinterest board, movie idk lol any ideas?
Hi! Personally I interpret ASOIAF in terms of early medieval fashion (post-Roman), but that’s likely because I’m much more fluent in classical history than medieval. In reality there are many, many different ways to imagine ASOIAF. Many of the womens’ descriptions sound more early renaissance—GRRM’s extensive use of lace, for instance. I’ve even seen compelling arguments for ASOIAF mirroring Elizabethan styles (Game of Thrones did this with Braavos).
Keep in mind that while GRRM claims to strive for “historical accuracy,” there’s really no baseline of accuracy for a fantasy series, at least not with the way GRRM describes clothing. It’s all over the place. Which is fine! He’s not a fashion historian. As such, I’ll include a wide range of references in trying to answer your question. I hope it helps get you started, and that you are inspired to keep exploring!
Fashion
This is modern runway—in other words, aesthetic inspiration. Costume designers do reference fashion during research.
@agameofclothes
@a-song-of-style
@asongoficeandfirefashion
@gameofclothes-blog
@everythingasoiaf
@gotinspiredfashion | polyvore
Research
I threw together some ideas for the different regions/cultures in ASOIAF. Again, you’ll come across things that aren’t faithful to…whatever medieval period GRRM references, but this is the nature of fantasy (and preliminary research). I tried accounting for class differences as well as fashions blending into different regions; i.e.: the Stormlands sharing a border with Dorne, or the Reach and the Westerlands. Again, design is subjective, so simply use these ideas as a jumping off point.
Beyond the Wall
North
Iron Islands
Riverlands
Vale
Westerlands
Crownlands/King’s Landing
Reach
Stormlands
Stony Dornish
Salty Dornish/Rhoynish
Sandy Dornish
Free Cities/Valyria
Slaver’s Bay/Ghiscar
Qarth
Lhazar/Eastern Essos
Shadowlands
Meta: Clothing in ASOIAF
Time Period
Terminology
Clothing Index 1 | 2
Regional Styles
Smallclothes
Armour 1 | 2 | 3
Livery
Cloaks
Wedding Fashion
Myrish Lace
Tokars (note: one user equates the tokar to an “elitist” toga; this is redundant, as the toga evolved into an incredibly patrician garment)
Sleeves/Pockets | Purses
Gloves
Hair: Dye | Shaving
The westerlands: Jewelry | Cloth of Gold | Cersei
The north: Sansa | Arya
The stormlands: Estermont
Dorne
Textile Discussion
GoT Costumes
Wiki
Textiles
Embroidery
Smallclothes
Hair 1 | 2
Margaery
Sansa 1 | 2 | 3
Daenerys 1 | 2
Cersei
Books vs show
Further analysis
Relevant Resources
These are focused on the middle ages, but there is something to be gained by studying the patterns of classical civilisations as well. I recommend What People Wore When for a visual study on the history of fashion.
General medieval research
Some fantasy/sci-fi textile modification
Costumes from some medieval films (take the accuracy ratings with a grain of salt, some are quite off)
Medieval Jewelry
Medieval Costume and Fashion
Textile Research
Extant Medieval Clothing
Medieval Patterns
If you’re looking for more historical research, I recommend Claire Hummel’s excellent historical fashion masterpost.
Hope that helps!
Need the chart in easy reference handy…
Get yourself a fabric store that will light your fabric on fire for you
No but legit I asked what the fiber content of something was and the guy didn’t know so he cut a chunk off and lit it on fire and felt the ashes and was like. Yeah this is mostly cotton with a lil bit of silk. And that was the moment I knew. This is it. This is the fabric store for me. Also that guy is marriage material. Not for me but damn some person is gonna be so happy with him.
Progress on my current project ! Having some with stripes and slashing this time around. Didn't take any progress photos for the hosen/pants because it broke my brain a little, lol. I also started doing fingerloop braiding for the lacing cords.
I still have to fix a few things on there, including fixation on the brustfleck, and after that onwards to making the hat !
This is what I got up to last night when I wasn't feeding the dog popcorn. The last time I showed the main menu it was very clunky so I rolled it back to something simpler
Living Room in Boston
Ideas for a sizable, open-concept living room renovation
Birds Sweater<33
Hand knit by me, pattern is called Birds Chart and is by Priscilla Publishing Company, the structure of the sweater is made up by me.
August 6, 2015 - Thursday
So, lately, I’ve been thinking about starting something like a little art hunt here in Chicago, IL.
You know, drop clues here and there. I’ll probably be using Twitter and Tumblr (to an extent) if I actually do it. I don’t have a Facebook account and no I won’t be setting one up either.
Slight problem is I don’t have a smart phone. So, I’d have to set up all the clues & art work prize (yes, it’ll be free) a head of time, get my bum to a computer and then let you all know where/when to start.
The art work prizes will typically consist of drawings. Also, the occasional painting and/or textile based prize. ONE prize per art hunt.
The art hunts, if I should decide to start one, will not have any specific dates. They’ll be done at random.
Don’t worry, sometimes I’ll post a picture of the prize before hand and other times I’ll give you an idea of what it is. Example: Like it’s size and medium.
Also, I’d love it if you all take pictures during the art hunt and then post them (on Twitter and/or Tumblr) once that particular hunt is over. I’ll come up with a hash tag for you guys to use at a later time.
NOW, for the drawings I’ve been working on recently. My scanner cut off two of my drawings just a little bit.
So, what do you all think?
A piece for an exhibition curated and commissioned by the amazing Peter Driver http://peterdriver.tumblr.com.
She is a character I'm developing at the moment for a possible web comic, stay tuned :)
HUNGER! is now a big physical woven tapestry you can buy here. smiling normally at you
So my sister wants to start sewing more, because
a. She’s 5′ 11″ and can never find pants long enough for her legs or shirts long enough for her arms.
b. She hates synthetic fibers as much as I do and it’s difficult to find natural fiber clothes that aren’t made of cotton
c. She’s a biologist and would physically fistfight microplastics if given half a chance
So her gift from mom and dad for her birthday was a sewing machine. Not a super expensive one but a good solid serviceable one.
And recently she asked “So where do I GET wool or linen and thread that isn’t polyester” and mom was like ‘go ask your sister’
And I, of course, crashed into the group text like “GET A PEN I HAVE WEBSITES FOR U” and honestly I’m thrilled about this
Textile Sample Book (French, circa 1840-50).
Woven wool and silk fabrics on paper.
Images and text information courtesy The Met.
Making your own clothing is so fulfilling for exactly this reason! And you can make it actually fit in a way that mass produced clothes never do. Used sewing machines are cheap or free (and come with thread!), and all you need is an old iron, a seam ripper, measuring tape or string, and good scissors (or a cutting roller and pad).
Fabric can be very cheap in store and online. Or start with an old bed sheet and don’t worry about wasting good fabric.
Our grandparents’ clothes looked so good because they were hand made to fit.
One side effect of my research for this novel being steeped heavily in textile history is my swelling disgust with modern fabrics.
Firstly they're so thin? Like most things you see in Old Navy or even department stores might as well be tissue paper?? Even some branded sports t-shirts I've bought in recent years (that are supposed to be 'official apparel' and allegedly decent quality) are definitely not going to hold up more than a year or two without getting little holes from wear.
This side of even two hundred years ago fabrics were made to be used for YEARS, and that's with wearing them way more often because you only owned like three sets of clothes. They were thick and well made and most importantly made to LAST. And they were gorgeous?? Some of the weaves were so fine and the drape so buttery we still don't entirely know how these people managed to make them BY HAND. Not to mention intricate patterning and details that turned even some simple garments into freaking ART.
I know this is not news, the fast fashion phenomenon is well documented. Reading so much about the amazing fabrics we used to create and how we cherished and valued them, though, is making it hard not to mourn what we lost to mass production and capitalism. Not just the quality of the clothing and fabrics themselves, but the generations of knowledge and techniques that are just gone. It makes me what to cry.
I need to get a sewing machine.