Margo-- I consulted the "expert,", the Oxford English Dictionary. In the 16th century, ribbon, riband, and other variant spellings, meant the same thing it means today. It could be a narrow strip of fabric intended to ornamentation, but another meaning is strips of fabric, or tatters. Also, strips of anything that are similar to ribbons. It's also been used in place of "sliver" to mean a band of fiber ready to be spun.
It looks to me like a ribbon of fabric could be woven that way, or cut or torn into a ribbon. Without more information, you can't determine what it is from just the word ribbon. Kim -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Margo Anderson Sent: Friday, February 13, 2009 7:55 PM To: Historical Costume Subject: [h-cost] 16th Century Ribbon? I hope some of you textile history folks can help me: In the 16th century, did the word "ribbon" mean a narrow woven textile, or could it also mean a narrow piece cut from wider fabric? Margo _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
