Wharram Percy/Fashion and Clothes

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Task
  1. Read the text.
  2. Do the interactive exercises.



This is Molly’s weaving loom. Her husband made it for her. She dyes the wool with berries from the wood.

We all wear a tunic and leggings like the one I'm wearing now. In winter we wrap a big hood over our head and shoulders to try and keep up warm. The cloth is coarse[1] wool and it's very itchy[2]. Henry made himself a pair of wooden shoes, I wear cloth wrapped around my feet, its more comfortable. Some of the richer villagers buy leather shoes but many, especially children, go barefoot. Henry's prized possession is a sheepskin he wears in winter. We also use it as a bed cover.

I always carry a small spindle with me and I make yarn whenever I have a few spare minutes between jobs. We have two sheep on the common. I sell the yarn to Molly the smith's wife who has a weaving loom. We buy cloth from her or the travelling weaver who visits the village.

Clothing for the Rich

The Lord and Lady and their family wear very different clothes to us. They have fine wool made by skilled weavers in Malmesbury in Wiltshire. They also have clothes of silk, velvet and fine linen, some of this is woven by Belgian craftsmen who are said to be the best in the world. Both men and the women wear very bright colours. The ladies usually wear long dresses and for banquets they have very tall hats. The men wear short tunics with very fancy sleeves and tights. I'm very envious of their fine leather shoes and that they have more than one set of clothes. Lady Percy and her daughters have gold thread in their gowns when they are at special events like the tournament.

Interactive Exercises

Clothing

Can you do the puzzle?

leggings synonym for trousers
tunic old name for a long shirt
helmet medieval headwear
sock like a stocking on your foot
hood something you can put on your head, it's fixed to the jacket
clothing costume
leggings synonym for trousers
tunic old name for a long shirt
helmet medieval headwear
sock like a stocking on your foot
hood something you can put on your head, it's fixed to the jacket
clothing costume

Fabrics

This is a bit more diffcult - give it a try!

silk textile fiber made by the mulberry silkworm
wool fiber made out of sheep's hair
leather textile made out of animals skin
linen textile made from the fibers of the flax plant
barefoot without any shoes
yarn long line of fiber, thread

Can you do it as a crossword puzzle?

If you click on the numbers, an input field will open!

silk textile fiber made by the mulberry silkworm
wool fiber made out of sheep's hair
leather textile made out of animals skin
leggings synonym for trousers
tunic old name for a long shirt
linen textile made from the fibers of the flax plant
barefoot without any shoes
hood something you can put on your head, it's fixed to the jacket
yarn long line of fiber, thread

Verbs to go with textiles and clothing

Find the pairs:

to dye to color
to weave interlace two yarns or threads at right angles to form a cloth
to shrink to make smaller
to widen to make bigger
to wear to have clothing on
to wrap to cover or enclose in something
to make to produce




  1. coarse = rough, hard, not polished
  2. If something itches, you must scratch yourself