Interesting Trivia About Traditional Irish Textile Crafts

As an online bookseller I regularly come across interesting and fun books on a wild range of subjects. Today I had the opportunity to look through the book "Ireland's Traditional Crafts" edited by David Shaw-Smith. The book covers a broad range of traditional Irish crafts from textiles, to stonework, to candlemaking and fly-tying. In this article I thought I would list some interesting trivia about some of Ireland's textile crafts.

Have you ever wondered how the term "spinster" came to be used to designate an unmarried woman? Well according to "Ireland's Traditional Crafts" an unmarried woman was considerate unfit for marriage until she had spun (by hand) the flax necessary to make all the linen for her future household. In early Irish tradition it was always the female head of the household (with her female servants) who did the spinning and weaving for the house. It wasn't until much later that men became weavers.

During the the sixteenth century Henry VIII passed a law saying that no Irishman was allowed to use more than 7 yards of linen to make a shirt! This, of course, was an extremely difficult law to enforce, and rebellious Irish were known to later use far more linen yardage than the legal 7 yards for their shirts and dresses, just to spite their English rulers.

There are several steps the wool must go through before it can be spun into thread. One of these is carding. But before the wool can be carded, it must be greased. The kinds of greasing agents that were used by the Irish included oil, paraffin, rancid butter, and goose grease. (Goose grease was apparently the most popular.) I think that if I were to purchase an Aran Jersey (sweater) today, I would be careful NOT to ask what greasing agent was used to prepare the wool. In some cases, ignorance is bliss.

Irish housewives were taught to always remove and hide the wheel band of their spinning wheels before going to bed. Why? Because it was a well known fact that fairies were skillful spinners and it was not smart to tempt visits from these mischievous supernatural beings.

A variety of natural dyestuffs were used in traditional Irish dyeing crafts. These included roots, leaves, berries, flowers, insects, and shellfish. One of the most popular dyestuffs came from lichens. The more common lichens even had a special Irish name: crottle. It was often the children's job to collect this crottle (lichens) from rocks, trees trunks, and house roofs. Crottle was used to make a brown dye.

In order to make these natural dyes permanent in the wool the wool first had to be treated with what is called a "mordant." These are usually a metallic salt. One of the most common mordants used is alum, which could be found in a crude native form from wood ash, sheep manure, oak galls, and even human urine. Once the wool had been treated with a mordant, it would be put into the dyeing solution. (This would be another case were ignorance is bliss. I don't need to know which exact mordant was used, thanks!)

Traditionally it was the woman's task to do the dyeing. It was actually considered unlucky for a man or boy to even be present when the dyepot was set out and in use.

The weavers of the Aran Islands are known for their "crios" weaving. A crios is a multi-colored woolen belt or sash that is hand woven, without a loom or any mechanical device. Traditionally this sash is 2 yards long if it is to be worn by a woman or 3 1/2 yards if it is to be worn by a man. The traditional method of weaving has the weaver tying the warp threads of one end to the laces of his or her shoe.

Lacemaking became very popular and important to the Irish economy in the early eighteenth century. A wide range of methods for making lace by hand was used. The book mentions briefly bone lace (later called bobbin or pillow lace), needlepoint lace (later called rose point), limerick lace, and crochet lace. Different areas in Ireland became associated with different techniques, so you also have labels like Kenmare point lace and Clones lace, to make things even more confusing. During the First World War the lace industry in Ireland suffered, and never really recovered.

In handknitting (or just knitting) the different stitches used to knit sweaters (called jerseys or ganseys) meant different things in traditional Irish crafts, particularly in regards to those who made their living from the sea. Some of these stitches (like the Trinity or Blackberry stitch) had Christian meanings, while others (like the Ladder of Life and Irish Moss) were supposed to symbolize positive things such as "the pilgrim's road to eternal happiness" and "wealth". Since bees were considered lucky for the fisherman, one popular knitting stitch was called the Honeycomb (which looks just like its name).

As you can see, I've only briefly touched the surface about all the fascinating facts that are out there about traditional Irish textile crafts. I hope I've inspired you to do more research, either online or through your local library.

Blessings!

Source
David Shaw-Smith (editor). Ireland's Traditional Crafts