When I do come across the textile pieces I get quite excited, I look at them carefully and then often wonder, "Now, how did they do that?" Lots of questions come to mind whenever I look at an ancient textile.

As weavers and handspinners, we appreciate the work that can go into a piece of fabric. We know what was involved in the processing of the cotton, hemp, linen or wool. The work that was needed to clean and scour the fleece, or to harvest and rett the flax, and then hours involved in handspinning the yarn.

If the garment was dyed, then what was involved in the dye process? The dyeplants would have been gathered in season, and prepared for the dyebath. The yarn would have been mordanted and then dyed.

And if the piece was woven, what type of loom was it woven on? How many shafts? Is there a pattern? The warp would have been carefully planned and calculated. What was its use? Who was it for? How many threads per inch? How should the yarn be spun? At what twist? The weaver of this cloth of ancient time would have had many of the same thoughts in mind as we do now when we plan our projects.

During an afternoon touring the British Museum, in London, I noticed this handwoven cotton top. On closer examination, I realized that the V-neck had no sewn selvages, so I think it must have been shaped on the loom.
I took a close-up photo of the V-neck shaping, but unfortunately the image was blurry. I will try to get another photo at another time.

This particular piece of work has been on my mind for some time. How was it shaped? How could I duplicate this piece of work? I had an idea and to test my theory of the shaping of the neck of this garment, I tried it on the end of a hemp warp that I had on my loom.

I tested the weaving for the neckline, but still have further questions and things to explore at another time. There is some sort of pattern at the bottom egde of the garment. And how was the fringework done?