I'd always thought (and I have no idea where I heard it, I've "known" it for so long, I've never second-guessed it) that "dyed in the wool" was referring to dying the wool fiber before it was spun, as opposed to being yarn-dyed or dyed as yardage.
Emma ________________________________________ From: [email protected] [[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] [[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, April 22, 2009 3:33 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [h-cost] Dyeing linen wool blend Your dilemma is interesting. In "What Clothes Reveal" a linen/wool blend is referred to as linsey-woolsey (for obvious reasons) in the 18th century, and somewhere they talk about cloth "dyed in the wool"...where a wool blend is dyed and the wool takes the dye more or differently from the other fiber producing a textured effect. Assuming the wool takes the dye more, that would I guess be dying it for the wool not the other fibers. Very accurate for the 18th century, but I'll bet this type of thing goes way back. _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
