Exhibition

Weaving

The inhabitants of the Mediterranean in Neolithic times soon abandoned leather clothing, due to the dissemination of the art of weaving, whereby cloth is created from plant and animal fibres using a special frame. The cloth was wrapped around the body with the aid of belts and special pins, offering light covering during the summer months and heavier protection in the winter, depending on the weaving and raw material used.

Over the millennia, clothing progressed from covering the human body with strips of cloth, to the production of separate coverings for the upper and lower body, with sleeves, trousers and skirts, and also clothing covering the whole body.

RAW MATERIALS

Wool

Sheep’s wool is the basic raw material for weaving in Mediterranean countries. Shearing takes place in April and May, before the move to high-altitude summer pasturage. The wool is washed repeatedly and carefully. Once dry, it is carded with two large metal carding-combs that untangle the strands. Clumps of the clean, fluffy wool are attached to the distaff and the spinning-woman draws out the thread and winds it round the spindle . The thread is transferred from the spindle to the reel , then the spinning wheel and finally the bobbins , small canes wound with thread that are set in the shuttle .

This process is used for all types of thread except silk.

Flax

Flax-seed is sown on land where there is a lot of water. It forms thin stems 30-40 cm. long, which are dipped in a water-tank after harvesting and then pounded or crushed with a gin with wooden teeth. The outer stem breaks off and the tangled fibres are released. These are then carded with a special comb and spun in the same way as wool.

Cotton

The fruit produces white fibres attached to the seeds, so that the wind can carry them over long distances. Cotton is a water-loving plant that grows in hot climes. It was introduced to Crete from Egypt, possibly in prehistoric times, but grows only in certain areas of the island. After harvesting, the cotton is separated from the seeds using a cotton gin. The fine fibres do not need to be carded and are spun like wool.

Silk

The silkworm was introduced from China during the medieval period and widely farmed throughout Mediterranean Europe, wherever the mulberry tree grows. The silkworm feeds on the leaves and produces a very fine thread from its saliva.

When the silkworm is ready to undergo metamorphosis, it spins a cocoon with its saliva, from which it will emerge as an adult silk moth . The silk moth lays eggs within a few hours and dies.

Silkworm farmers collect the cocoons before the moth emerges and boil them in a large cauldron. The thread is freed from the binding substance, is unwound using a special process and is ready to weave.

Textile Use

Sheep’s wool can be spun into thread of different thicknesses, depending on the cloth for which it is intended.

Light textiles are used to make clothing intended to be worn in contact with the skin, e.g. shirts, or for embroidered tablecloths, curtains etc.

Heavy textiles are used for bedding, rugs, shepherds’ capes etc.

Linen is mainly used for light summer clothing, towels and other household materials.

Cotton is widely used for clothing, bedding and many other purposes. Unlike wool, it is not attacked by moth.

Silk cloth is considered valuable, especially when it is correctly prepared, due to its fine, soft texture and strength. This is why the “Silk Road” came into being during the first millennium A.D., to be followed by the famous voyages of Marco Polo. In Turkish-occupied Crete, there was little demand for this precious textile and thus rural silk work is rare.

DYEING THE THREAD

The vast majority of sheep are white, so their wool need not be dyed for white textiles and clothing. With the spread of coloured materials and multicoloured designs, however, the wool needed to be dyed. A wide variety of animal, mineral and vegetable dyes has been used down the centuries. The dye is placed in a tall cylindrical vessel, the kioupi , to which hot water is added. Once the water is the right colour, the skeins of wool are placed in it and left for a while. Once dry, the coloured threads are ready for weaving.

Loom And Textiles

The Cretan loom is large with a horizontal frame. Its basic parts are the same as those of traditional European looms.

There are many kinds of textiles on Crete for various purposes, created using different weaving techniques and decoration.

Cretan embroidery woven on the loom is among the loveliest in Europe. The motifs are always geometrical, based on the diamond, and are derived from the Byzantine aristocracy of Constantinople who settled in Crete in the 11th and 12th centuries. The designs and colours have remained unchanged ever since, as each weaver copies them faithfully from the one before. There are five types of woven textiles:

1. multicoloured embroidery with geometrical designs
2. monochrome or two-tone decorated material, known as “kouskouse”
3. multicoloured “peramatista” materials with simple geometrical designs
4. two-tone or multicoloured striped material
5. multicoloured weaving with decorative images

It is worth noting that multicoloured embroideries are unique to certain areas of the island, and are distinguished by the different shape of the diamond and the surrounding decoration. The same is true of striped weaving, where regional differences are observed in the colour combinations.

The uses of woven materials are many, according to size, decoration and weaving technique. A few examples are set out below:

1. “Bagali”, a strip of white material with embroidered ends used as a saddle-covering
2. “Vouryia” or traveller’s knapsack
3. Large farmer’s sack
4. Woman’s work apron
5. Man’s work apron
6. “Fraski” swaddling clothes
7. “Anthomandila” cheese-cloth
8. “Kanapeliki”, a long thin sofa-cover of “peramatisto” material

9. Wedding sack, a large woollen or cotton sack decorated with wide coloured stripes. The bride used this to transfer her woven dowry to her husband’s house. The sack was then used almost exclusively for the monthly transfer of wheat and barley to the mill and flour on the return journey, to be used for baking bread and paximadi.

10. “Prossomi”, a small thick decorated shoulder-covering, worn to protect the left shoulder when carrying the water-jar from the well.

As we know, the traditional costume of every nation is its sign of identity. Of course, clothing fashions evolve over time, and male and female Cretan costume changed many times from 1500 to 1900.

We will provide a brief description of Cretan costume in the early 20th century, when European fashion was increasingly starting to prevail.

Μen’s clothing

This is basically comprised of a white collarless shirt, a medium-sized blue “vraka” or pleated breeches, a long, wide blue or red linen belt, and yellow calf-skin working boots or black ones for festive occasions. Over the shirt may be worn an embroidered sleeveless waistcoat or a crossed waistcoat with sleeves. Over the waistcoat goes a blue cape with a hood, also embroidered, with a red lining. The head is covered by a folded black kerchief with an embroidered edge. The breeches, waistcoat and cape are made of felt or, more rarely, of fulled woollen cloth.

Women’s clothing

Everyday clothes comprise a long, dark, pleated skirt, a white or dark collarless shirt, a jacket and a black or white headscarf hanging down the back. The usual footwear is leather clogs, or boots like those worn by men in some mountainous areas.

Festive costume is quite different from everyday clothing: the skirt is made of crimson taffeta with wide pleats, worn with a white shirt and a waistcoat with black sleeves. Town shoes in the contemporary fashion are worn, while the hair is covered by a coloured silk headscarf falling on the right breast.