Publisher's description:
Among the most evocative items to be discovered by archaeologists are the scraps of silk and wool and other fabrics that signal so eloquently their owner's status and concerns. Such clothing and textile finds have figured prominently in excavations of medieval sites in London in the past two decades; they have included knitting, tapestries, silk hair-nets and elaborately patterned oriental, Islamic and Italian fabrics, which reveal for the first time the wide range of cloths available to medieval Londoners; there are beautifully made buttons, and buttonholes and edgings which display superb craftsmanship and a high level of needlework skills; the way that clothes were cut and sewn can be studied in detail. This highly readable account will be of wide general interest; dress historians and archaeologists will also find a wealth of new insights into the fashions, clothing and textile industries of medieval England and Europe.

Contents:
page IX Acknoledgements
X Conventions
1 Introduction
Sources
Preservation of the textiles
Circimstances of deposition
Chapter content
9 The Excavations, By Alan vince
15 Techniques used in Textile Production
Wool
Hair
Linen
Silk
Dyes
Looms
26 Wool Textiles
State of preservation
The weaves of the cloths
Three-shed twills
Four-shed twills
Six-shed twills
Tabby weaves with weft-faced bands
Selected catalogue I
Tapestry
Selected catalogue II
Knitting
Felt
77 Goathair Textiles
Processing goathair
Use of goathair textiles
80 Linen Textiles
Self-patterned weaves
Finishing
82 Silk Textiles
Silk in roman Britain and Anglo-Saxpn England
Sources of supply in the 12th to 14th centuries
Tabby-woven cloths
Tabby-woven cloths with self-patterned bands
Selected catalogue III
Tabby-woven cloth with band in 1.3 twill
Selected catalogue IV
Welf-patterned tabby
Selected catalogue V
3.1 twill damask
Selected catalogue VI
1.2 welf-faced compund twills
Selected catalogue VII
1.3 weft-faced compund twill
Selected catalogue VIII
Lampas weaves
Selected catalogue IX
Satin
Selected catalogue X
Satin damask
Selected catalogue XI
127 Mixed Cloths
Half-silk velvets
Linen and wool union cloths
130 Narrow Wares
Tablet-woven braids
Selected catalogue XII
Fingerloop braids
Plaited braids
Tabby-woven braids
Garters
Selected catalogue XIII
Hairnets
Selected catalogue XIV
150 Sewing Techniques and Tailoring
Sewing threads
Sewing techniques
Bindings and facings
Fastening methods
Decorative features
Construction
Dagges
199 Appendix: the dyes, by Penelope Walton
Methods of extraction and identification
Results
202 Concordance
212 Glossary
215 Bibliography.