The Needles eye

Needle's Eye

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About

Needles Eye is currently in recruiting mode. Were looking for people who enjoy having fun and are passionate about costuming, research and sharing your knowledge with patrons. If you're interested in more info, please contact us!Properly researched, accurately made reproduction of historical costume has an important role beyond the stage or historic site. Clothing reveals a remarkable picture of the daily lives, beliefs, expectations and hopes of those who lived in the past. Language of clothing speaks of status, occupation, aesthetics, social cohesiveness, prosperity and a host of other meanings, subtle and overt. Needle's Eye is a group comprised of passionate researchers, costumers and tailors who want to share their knowledge of costuming and tailoring history. At faire we: - Showcase period and period inspired garb for patrons to look at, touch and ask questions - Offer on hand presentations of black work, tatting, embroidery, cut work, bead work. We include patrons in various tasks, give them a chance to try their hand in sewing to show them that it is not as hard as they might think it is- Lecture on period tailoring techniques, history of garment construction, based on status, background and nationality- Provide on site sewing demonstrations, including corset making, bodice construction, skirt pleating, etc, all inclusive to patron interaction in making of various garb piecesWe love what we do and it shows in the work and interaction with the patrons and other actors. Needle's Eye is based in Bay Area, CaliforniaPHOTOS

PHOTOS

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Needle's Eye in Action

Encampment & our work

dsc00899cross stiching Working on the ItaliansOn the booksthe showcasaesetting up the beadsSherri tattingzupandsc00683drawing... 3754045593_f3fe939f9d_odsc_0408at work100_8567talking costuming with patronsbit of handworkdsc00900100_9390dsc00868dsc00853dsc00858dsc00700dsc00681100_9301100_9282100_9277100_8552rgt_8099rgt_8037rgt_8025rgt_8010rgt_8008rgt_8005rgt_7953rgt_7929rgt_7926rgt_7914rgt_7910SCHEDULE

Schedule

March 12 & 14 Sonora Celtic Faire Sonora, CA Mini Set upMay 1 & 2 Shasta Dragonwood Renaissance Faire Anderson, CA Walk aboutJune 5/6 and 12/13 Valhalla Renaissance Faire South Lake Tahoe, CA Full set up June 26th & 27th Fair Oaks Renaissance Tudor Fayre Fair Oaks, CA Full set upAugust 7th & 8th Willits Renaissance Faire Willits, CA Walk about September 11th & 12th Ardenwood Renaissance Faire Fremont, CA Full set up October 16 & 17 Folsom Renaissance Faire Folsom, CA Full set up

RESEARCH

Page 1

In search of a perfect color RED
Red has appealed to humans for ages.
Netherlands buried their dead with red ochre, as did Cro - Mognonos, who painted cave walls with the same iron-rich ore.
In ancient China, red was considered a clucky color, symbolic of prosperity and health
In the Arab world, it was sometimes construed as a sign of divine favor, sometimes as the mark of the damned but above all as a male color, emblematic of heat and vitality
South of the Sahara, red was a color of high status
In Egypt it was a harbinger of danger sacred to the trickster of Seth.
In ancient Rome, red light was equated with divine fire. Red was synonymous with status and only most powerful men could wear it. They were called coccinati: the ones who wear red.
In primitive societies the color was often been credited with magical powers, including the ability to exorcize demons, cure illnesses, and ward off the evil eye.
It is one thing however to assign meaning to the color, another to create the color itself. For thousands of years artists met with disappointment as they tried to reproduce the flaming scarlets and deep crimsons. The best red these artists knew was ochre, the Cro - Mangnons pigment, which produced a color that was muddied with orange and brown.
Sometime before the 5th century B.C. painters in Asia discovered a more satisfactory red, which could be made from the mineral cinnabar, or mercuric sulfide, a compound also known as vermillion and minimum. Cinnabar however was very expansive. Yet because it was by far the most brilliant red paint available, cinnabar continued to be used for more than a thousand years.
Red Cloth
Exclusive, expansive, and invested with powerful symbolism, red cloth became the prize possession of the wealthy. Before the invention of artificial dyes in 19th c. it could be obtained only from exotic substances and secret techniques that few dyers ever mastered.
It was big news, then, when Spains conquistadors found the Aztecs selling an extraordinary red dyestuff in Mexico, in 1529. Calling the dyestuff grana cochinilla or cochineal, it produced the brightest, strongest red Old World) has ever seen. According to a prominent English chemist Robert Boyle, cochineal yielded a perfect Scarlet. Cochineal became Europes premier red dyestuff and Spain made a fortunate selling it to dyers around the globe.
Spanish lucrative monopoly did not sit well with the rest of Europe. They kept the secret of cochineal under wraps that no one even knew whether it even animal or vegetable extract. The search for cochineal became a national crusade for England, Netherlands and even Spain.

Page 2

The Dyers Lot - part one
800 years ago Lucca (city in Tuscany) was a power to be reckoned with: its luminous silks, dyed in jewel-like tones were the wonders of 13th century. No one on the continent equaled them. Lucchese silks included smooth taffetas, intricate damasks, and elaborate brocades. They were sold only by Europes most exclusive merchants.
During the feuds that erupted in early 1300s, many of the Luccas dyers and silk workers fled to Venice. They where greeted with open arms. They were hoping to learn the trade secrets of Luccas citizens harbored. Those who accepted put themselves in danger. Luccas guild laws prescribed death for any Lucchesse practicing the silk trade outside the city. According to statue, the men were to be strangled, the women burned.
Luccas draconian guild laws were the sign of the times. Textiles were a matter of life and death in the Renaissance Europe.
Textile transformation begun after 1350s with aristocrats who survived the Black Death. They had money to spend, to showcase their dominance. They tried to outdo each other, insisted on wardrobes far larger and fancier than those of their grandparents. Textile industry grew, created new markets and trade networks. They inspired the invention of new technologies, new types of spinning machines, methods for bleaching, etc.
Textiles were a lifeline for many communities. By 15c. 100,000s of Europeans from shepherds to great merchants made a living from textiles. Because of each step in the cloth-making process was handled by different craftsmen, more than a dozen people could be involved in fashioning a single piece of fabric.
Wealthy Europeans were willing to pay astronomical prices for those dazzling Italian textiles, which they wore as badges of rank, not least because of their color.

Page 3

Silk and Wool in the making - specialization
Silk Making - Silk workers of Lucca included in their ranks a host of specialized workers:
Reelers to unwrap the cocoons
Throwers to twist the thread
Boilers to clean it
Dyers to color it
Warpers and weavers to turn the thread into cloth
Wool Making - The most common fiber in Europe required even more specialization:
Shepherds to raise the sheep
Shearers to fleece them
Washers to wash the raw wool
Carders to pull the fibers apart with bristles
Spinners to spin those fibers into yarn with distaffs and spindles
Weavers to spin fibers into yarn
Wool then had to be finished
Fullers or walkers washed the fabric in troughs of water treated with fullers earth, a mineral compound that promoted absorption
o Many walkers trampled the mixture into the cloth with their bare feet, but prosperous fullers kept their boots on and used a millwheel and hammers instead
o The soaking-wet cloth was then hung out on wooden frames called tenters
o Tenterhooks held the fabric fast and stretched it to the right dimensions as it dried.
o While still damp the cloth would be brushed and sheared several times for a finer softer nap
Dryers then worked with finished cloth. Sometimes they treated the unspun wool instead, a costly practice that yielded the most intense and enduring colors and gave the expression dyed in the wood

Page 4

Colors - the evolution & the law
To the people of the Renaissance Europe, gray and beige were the colors of poverty: only the poorest of the poor and lowly priests, monks and nuns wore undistinguished garb. More prosperous peasants, craftsmen, and other middling folk dressed in muted clothing colored with cheap, domestic dyes. Although such dyes could sometimes yield strong blues, yellows, oranges and greens, the fabrics tended to fade quickly, especially if the wearer worked outdoors.
Peasants sometimes appear brightly dressed in medieval and Renaissance works of art. This is less a reflection of peasant wardrobes than the fact that wealthy patrons could afford precious pigments and expected their artists to use them. Although some people in the lower ranks may have worn colorful clothes from time to time, particularly for special occasions, most of the vivid hues commonly worn by the wealthy were beyond their reach.
Bright clothing was a mark of high status, a code for power that even illiterate could read at a glance. The association of color and rank was reinforced by the sumptuary laws that decreed what each level of society was allowed to eat, drink and wear.
In Nuremberg such laws forbade ordinary men from wearing gold lace, velvet, pearls, trains, ermine and weasel fur
In Siena, veils, trains and platform shoes were tightly regulated.
In England 14c. yeomen and artisans could not wear silk, rings, jewels, or buttons being new to Europe and extremely fashionable at the time.
o Yeomen could however wear cat fur w.o penalty
Laws also regulated color.
One of the earliest of these dates back to 8c when Charlemange ordered peasants to clothe themselves in black and gray, a dress code similar to that of 15c. Florence where female slaves were restricted to coarse woolens and expressly forbidden to wear coats or dresses or sleeves of any kind in any bright color.
In many parts of medieval Europe only aristocrats were entitled to wear scarlet cloth
Some types of purple fabric were also restricted.
As centuries passed, bright fabrics became more widely available. In 1583 an Elizabethan commentator complained that now there is such a confuse mingle of apparel that it is verie hard to know who is noble, who is worshipfull, who is gentleman and who is not. Peasants still in major part could not afford the best and the brightest. According to another Elizabethan writer, they dressed instead in a dull tweed called medley and graye and russet, never dyde.

Page 5

Dyers Lot - Part two
Dyers had to spend many years apprenticed to a master learning the trade. Usual work days were long: started before dawn and ended after sunset. Their job was exacting, exhausting and dangerous.
Before the invention of artificial dyes in 19c. most dyes came from plants and there was ho rhyme and reason to colors they yelded:
Green woad produced a blue dye
Purple loosestrife a brown dye
Red blossoms might turn orange or yellow if they produced any lasting dye at all
To make things even more complicated, the dye in some plants was found in their flowers, while others had it in their leaves or roots. Nor was the amount of dye consistent. Also, some dyes were naturally fast while others required addition of chemical binding agents such as tannin, cream of tartar, alum, iron and chrome knows as mordants because they helped dyes bite into the cloth.
Urine was used for both bleaching as well as the key ingredient in blue dye
Mordants, while necessary presented more problems. Each produced different colors from the same dyestuff. The temperature of the dyebath = the mixture of water, dyestuffs and other ingredients was often crucial to the color, as was the amount of time the cloth remained in the dyepot. Even the dyepot itself could affect the color of the cloth, if its metal reacted with the dye. Nor were the dyepots the only tools that dyers needed.
In 1394 when two Tuscan dyers fell into debt and their show was inventoried, the list ran to nearly a hundred items, including vats, washboards, winches, scales, tubs, shovels and a small sieve for fishing the wool out of the boilers. Their equipment was worth over 400 gold florins, with dyestuff worth another 200 florins. In the age when 20 florins sufficed to buy a small farm, this was a substantial sum, which may explain why the dyers were in debt in the first place.
Although best dyers produced colors of rare beauty that people would pay a kings ransom, they themselves ranked very low on the social ladder.
In India dyers were considered unclean
BBecause dyers changed the outward appearance of objects, ancients Greeks regarded them as dabblers of deception. Greek word dolon (to dye) had a second meaning, to deceive
Spartans considered dyers trickets and forebade them to dwell within the city
Under the Romans dyers fared better. They were believed to have the protection of the Goddess Minerva. Nevertheless few people wanted them as neighbors and the dyers district could be found by smell alone
After Rome fell Dyers in Europe lost both status and skill. During the Dark Ages the art might have died completely if it were not for few dedicated practitioners and patrons and monks who wrote treatises on dyeing.
European interest in dyeing rekindled with the Crusades. Soldiers who traveled east marveled at the brilliant colors and luxurious feel of Arab fabrics.
In Spain and Sicily, Arabic dyeing manuals were translated into Latin.
It was during that period that Luccas rise to fame began, with the arrival of Jewish textile workers in the 11c who came to the city by way of southern Italy and Sicily. They brought with them the secrets of dyed silk, an art that was far more advanced in their eastern homelands than in Europe.
The Church leaders had little liking for the dyers due to the smell that usually followed them.
Delicate ladies scorned them for their stained fingernails. According to a 13c grammarian John Garland, the only reason any lady would ever marry a dyer was for money.
Dyers odorous workshops and their habits of dumping their stinking vats into streams made them enemies of just about anyone.
In 12c England they were held in such low esteem that merchant companies expelled any members caught practicing the art.
Attitudes toward dyers changed again in 13c. European market for fine textiles was expanding and skilled textile workers found themselves in demand.
Edward III wood Flemish dyers to England and many cities including Volterra and Sienna ofference assistance to foreign master dyers who agreed to set up shop within their walls.

Page 6

Dyers and guilds
Dyers took advantage of their new power and organized themselves into guilds or trade associations. Their chiedf aim was to prevent rivals from driving prices and quality down. Also they established working hours, conditions and wages, all of which varied from city to city. To keep competition down they also set up systems of apprenticeship which limited entry into the profession.
When dyers had trouble establishing their own guilds, they became minor members of larger guilds ran by wool merchants or weavers who often ruled with iron hand
Guild of the Arte di Calimala in Florence burned any cloth not dyed to standard and fined the dyer. If they dyer could not pay the fine Arte si Calimala chopped off of their hands instead.
Guilds prospered and helped raise members to new heights of respectability. In London the dyers guild was even allowed to rare privilege of keeping swans on the Thames, a privilege once reserved solely for royalty. Over time dyers guilds became specialized. Dyers who worked with different fabrics often belonged to different guilds as did dyers who worked on different colors.
Blue, black and green were one common range
Red and violet and yellow another
A dyer caught using colors outside his chosen specialty could be fined and thrown out of his guild. Depending on dyestuffs they employed, dyers were also categorized as either plain dyers or high dyers.
Plain dyers known as schwarzfarber in Germany were by far the largest group.
Apprenticeship of plain dyers on average lasted three years followed by at least five years practice as a journeyman working in a licensed masters shop.
Guilds allowed only a few of the journeman to attain the rank of master. To achieve the rank, candidates had to pass a test. One such exam required a master-piece of 48 yards of linen dyed blue, along with several pounds of woolen thread dyed in blue and green.
----
High dyers specialized in fine fabrics and rare and expansive dyes.
Called schonfarber in Germany, Teinturiers en bon teint in France, Tintori darte maggiore in Italy they were far less numerous
Their apprenticeship lasted twice as long as that of plain dyers
Independent masters they did not always form guilds. When they banded together, they usually specialized in a single color
EXAMPLE
Scarlet dyers formed their own guilds in Venice, Genoa, Marsilles, and several other cities.
Every dyers guild was in a sense a secret society that protected its arts from outsiders. Members who violated the rule were punished, expelled from the guilds, even outlawed from the city.
Guilds also established standards for their members, discouraged taking shortcuts, and prohibited the substitution of cheap ingredients for expansive ones.
EXAMPLE
Arte di Calimala decreed that any member who used cheap red dyestuffs thus compromising the citys reputation for quality of goods would be fined 100 lire or loose their right hand.
This regulation was no coincidence. Though other cities and countries produced red fabric, Luccas scarlet silk was famous. The techniques for making this fabric was therefore most valuable.

Research

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Costuming guileline Design
and implementation

Bibliography

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Cut My Cote, Dorothy K. Burnham
Dawna Polska, Maria Bogucka, 832140135x
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Dress of King Henry VIII, Maria Hayard, 9781904350705
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The Mode in Hats, R. Turner Wilcox
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Etc..

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