24 Comments

Native Americans would use porcupine quills as permanent 'pins' to bind material together as well. It's kind of crazy the complexity of something as simple as sewing when you think back to what they had to work with.

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Neat!

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But then we invented suing, and things were never the same!

Yeah, it's another dad joke.

Sew me!

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Sew what?!?

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This stuff is so amazing to me. How often do we even think about how important little stuff like this was to us being here now? Crazy.

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I love bringing that little sense of wonder in the everyday. It's all right here for us!

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You are truly an admirable human 😊

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I really need to re-learn sewing… fast-fashion has made it almost unnecessary for me to even put a button on.

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I think the last things I sewed onto anything were punk band patches!

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This is one of my favorite topics. Because there is another aspect of sewing and textile manufacture. You could say it was custom made as a vital economic contribution women could make without putting themselves or the children in danger. It could even be interrupted safely, and without destroying the work. I make it a point to show home-based textile manufacture in everything pre-industrial revolution that I write. Especially if it is prior to widespread use of the spinning wheel.

Most pre-industrial revolution historical stories, in my opinion, show way too much fabric used, especially by the lower classes.

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Nice! When was the spinning wheel introduced? Have you written much about this?

I know a bit about the potter's wheel, for which the earliest evidence seems to be around 5300 years ago. It would be fascinating to discover how that led to the sewing wheel.

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I haven't written articles about it. And I'm not sure when the spinning wheel came into widespread use -- some time in the middle ages? I write well before (or after! I have a little sci-fi) that period, so haven't had to look it up.

Every historical story I've written, both here on substack and my published Roman story, Cloak and Stola, shows women and girls spinning and weaving. Even my FMA fanfic makes it part of the restoration of Ishval, even though they have something like early twentieth century technology. Just because spinning and weaving DOES work so well with women caring for children. Maybe look at my recent short "Vickers."

Otherwise, everything historical I've written, other than my Aeneid stuff (because it deals only with the upper class) includes women and girls who spin and weave (and even the upper class wove, which is more obvious in the Aeneid in the Latin). In particular, in "Cloak and Stola" I actually got a table that showed how many hours it would have taken to spin and weave the tunic Sophie makes in first century Judea. It came out to about six months, if I gave her time to do some other things during the day as well, before she had children to care for.

Remember, the soldiers at the foot of the cross divided the bloody clothes he wore on the way to crucifixion as BOOTY. That wasn't just something they did for Jesus. That was HOW VALUABLE any cloth was.

Which is actually part of my problem with some of the near naked images of women in stories set in the way way distant past, like Conan. Except in some artwork, meant to show the beauty of the human form, and except in the very bedchamber itself, I think it would be a sign of POVERTY for a king to display his beautiful women that close to naked. They would be covered head to foot in layer after layer of fabric (except sometimes the breasts, because of breastfeeding). People who wore that little clothing were POOR, not SEXY. I understand the genre, but I can't help cringing when I see people do that. Even though I wrote it that way myself in "Lesser Than the Dogs of the King."

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What a beautiful piece Andrew!

I love watching sewers and how they design newness. You took me on a journey to that innovation. I never saw it that way yet I reckon so many innovative trends (I could even state threads).

Wow! Unexpected anatomy could become needles and threads, that is super interesting. Our ancestors were so smart, adaptative, and probably not too complaining about design. They did with what they had and it was already beyond enough!

I don't know if you know the French brand "Petit pli", they are bringing innovation into the textile industry with clothes that grow on "you".

You can read my piece of it here: https://yourbrandingletter.substack.com/p/play-brands-3-design-is-play

I would love to have your thoughts on them.

PS: I am still having issues receiving your emails. Hopefully, there is the app, but I am missing important pieces from time to time.

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I can see why you like Petit Pli! Very innovative, and very slick design. The innovation angle is fascinating.

I'm glad my writing is still connecting with you, Keva! I wish I could help with the email issues. I hope it's just a small Substack issue, but I really don't know. Thanks for being here!

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You are welcome, Andrew!

Yes, they are super inspiring ✨️

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The next step in this evolution was the invention of technology to do the grunt work, such as the loom and the sewing machine. And the former, in particular, wasn't welcome by those whose jobs it was intended to replace...(Sound familiar?).

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Loves me some Jacquard Loom lore!

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Love this.

Ive found a lot of similarity with welding, both in terms of utility advantage, and transformation of society, which some folk describe as sewing with electricity

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I love it. You're really just attaching two things together!

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and constructing or repairing. welding been super helpful with car repairs, especially on older cars it becomes crucial

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Incredibly useful skill. I neglected practicing welding after being introduced to it i a sculpture class, of all places! Good thing I'm as good looking as I am.

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Have you written about the Loom as the OG computer? Feels like it would be a good follow up to this.

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Technology - a means of compensating for the consequences of the fall of Man - a pale caricature of our own natural abilities that we have lost touch with:

https://stevenberger.substack.com/p/creation-by-mere-thought?utm_medium=reader2

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