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Looping the Loops Winter 2006
Future MEDATS meetings
Development of Liveries and Uniforms in Europe Before 1600
20 May 2006
Aspects of English Secular Embroidery in the Middle Ages
October 2006
Knitted Garments in the Collection of the Museum of London
By Edwina Ehrman
1500's era knitted caps
Stockings
Found near main Second Hand Market
one Red one Blue
1 has a silk chin strap that is attached on the inside of the cap
1 cap is only 7 inches in diameter
Edwina presumed it was a child's cap
One member noted it may be a lady's cap that was not intended to cover the entire head.
2 caps were found with coins in the brim
Coins of Richard III and Edward III
Museum has a furhter 12 caps and 1 cap lining and a knitted mitten from Hill Street, Finnsbury
The mittens were made from natural wool and has a black decorative band.
"Hood shaped" cap has open decoration and has ear flaps, it may possibly have been died with madder
There is also a flat cap with a slashed brimm
this cap is made using stocking stitch and felted originally dyed red and lined with silk.
it also has a double layered brim.
There is also another flat cap with a silk ribbon threaded through the brim
The Museum also has many earflaps that are no longer attached to a cap, they are knitted in stocking stitch
There is also a child's knitted verst, on  display in the new Medieval Gallery.
Slides of the vest can be viewed using a magnifying glass at the museum.
Stockings in the collection
1 long with reinforced heel
1 short used increasing and decreaseing stitches
knitted silk stockings from Finnsbury that are deemed imported
The lecturer encourages as many people as possible to come view these resources. Please let the museum know if you wish to see a specific item as they are not all on display.
Middle Eastern Culture
By: Jenifer Scarce
Scarce began the talk by discussing why knitting is considered a craft.
Scarce considers knitting everyday and useful, but not without value.
Scarce argues that knitted items have a high value, because they are useful and can be decorative and made with great skill.
However, Scarce admits that these items are hard to track down because they are perishable.
Most existing examples exist in fragments.
The Newbury Collection in the Ashmolean contains approximately 1,000 Islamic textile fragment.
The Victoria and Albert Museum holds 8 pieces of Muslim textile fragments.
Scarce admits that identifying knitted garments is also problematic because items are often incorrectly identified as nalbinding when it is actually knitted and vice-versus.
Tracking down written evidence is also difficult because of the many words that are used in Persian, Turkish and Arabic languages. These languages often have many meanings as well. This all makes it diffcult to track down reliable information on Medieval "Middle Eastern" knitting.
Scarce prefaces the rest of the lecture with the fact that she can not find any "sources I would trust" to any knitting earlier than the 19th Century.
That being said, she believes that the decorative cuffs seen in 17th Century Persian miniatures are mistakenly assumed to be decorative trousers cuffs.
Scarce points to a pari of knitted slipper socks as her evidence that the miniatures actually depict the top cuff of the slippers in a boot. Scarce references a pair of 17th Century slipper boots in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
The main areas of archeology are teh Pre-Islamic burial groupnds in Upper-Egypt.
These finds contained many coptic pieces
Fustan was excavated in the early 20th Century
9th-15th C theoretical extrapolation from other textiles.
Overview of Time periods
Egypt
1st C BC- 5th C AD Coptic Era
642 AD Islamic Period beginds
7th-9th C Uhmyadds
9th C Fustad founds the Tucarids
10th-12th C Fatimids (Shiite Arabs)
Cairo founded 969
12-13th C Saladin/Early Mamluks
13th-Early 14th C Mamlucks
Morocco & Spain
11th-13th C Buber Dynasties: Castian & Lyon
13th-14th C Nacarids of Granada
Socks from Oxyrincus (sp?)
have been attributed as 5th C coptic knitted sock found on site , but could have been made elsewhere
Scarce found, upon study, is actually nallbinding
3 pieces excavated by Yale University
Egypt was a great hub for trade so it is difficult to distinguish between Egyptian and other culture's products
Fatimid Dress
Inscription bands- often referred to as Tiraz
The Royal Hunter, Edited by Prudence Oliver Harper, notes that Tiraz is actually the weaving factory.
These bands are often found on the shoulders, around the  armsb or placed on hems
The bands often include the name of the Caliph, important officials and the name of the factory and date of production.
Scarce notes that these bands have also been found on scarves, shawls and turbans.
Islamic Museum of Cairo holds a 6th C turban.
Theere is an early 9th C Iraqi textil fragment in Scotland
Ashmolean Museum (Oxford) holds embroideries on a scarf and blue silk counted cross stitch on linen
Scarce recommends looking at Mary Thomas' knitting book pattern for 8th-10th C knitting fragment
The fragment has now been lose
The pattern includes reds, dark & light blues and some pinks. It should be noted that these colors are also common in 7th C tapestry woven decorative bands.
Mamluk Socks of Egypt foudn in white and blue cotton, posibly 13th C, appears to have been knitted from the toe up.
Spain (Al-andalus)
12th C tomb of a queen
Drina Ferdinand tomb contains cushions decorated with a Fluer-de-Lis pattern.
Scarce has found evidence of knitted trouser suits worn by berbers, such as what we see in modern natural and brown stripes.
Ruth gilver, South Hampton University The Virgin Mary's Knitting: Pictures as Technical Evidence
Julie Botticello Conservation of Two Knitted Caps Cuming Museum Southwark
The Cumming Museum on Walsworth Road is located near Elephant and Castle
They have in their collection two woollen burgesses' flat caps with coins in the brim. These caps were found on Windmill Street in May 1868 during and excavation.
This area is thought to have been the location of the knitting and hoisery guilds.
There are many occurence of knitted woolen caps from the 13th C.
An  order was put into effect in 1571 stating that everyone above the age of 6 must wear a woolen cap on Sunday and certain holidays.
This order was again instated in 1597. It is thought that these orders were put into effect to preserve the cap industry, which was endangered by foreign imports.
15th C flat caps were often made with or without brims. Sometimes teh brims were slashed in various patters.
Fine hats and stockings appear in the second half of the 16th C.
Hat A
Hat A is knitted in the round with stocking stitch. The hat is presumably knitted from the brim to the center. This is known by the destinctive loops. The outside of hat A is also felted.
8 stitches per inch
Hat B
Hat B is also knitted int eh round with stocking stithc. The upper brim is grafted on with a single ply z twisted wool.
10 stitches per inch.
Both caps were dyed with morndant dye, probably madder and alum, but this has not been verified with tests.
Conservation focuses on the caps as archeological excavation. All soils have been retained for further study. WEak areas have been reinforced with stitched supports. Support mounts have also been created to preserve the caps.
Leslie O'Connell Edwars History of Knitting Before 1600: A Survey of Elizabethan hand knitting.
16th C knitted woolen cap in the Victoria & Albert Collection
2 Shakespearian plays includes lined mentioning knitted caps
Evidence for knitter
1570 census of the poor including employment in Norwich mentions knitters
Queen Elizabeth visits Norwich in 1570, inluded a dispaly of textiles including spinning and knitting
1577 Ipswich census includes mentions of knitters
Thomas Caesar's survey 1597
129 persons who knitted woolen stockings
knitters in Richmond said to have knitted 2 pairs of stockings a week