Clothes on the body – wool and linen

It was especially the women in the old farming communities who took responsibility for the tasks of processing wool and linen and producing clothes for both everyday and festive occasions. The men's tasks were linked to the earliest processes in the processing, which often required strength and more hands.

Both the processing of wool and flax involves long work processes; the wool is sheared from the freshly washed sheep, the wool is sorted, carded, spun and is ready for weaving or knitting. The flax in the field is shaken and reddened before the flax fibers can become available. The work from flax stalk to soft spinning flax consists of many processes that require patience and skill.

Museum exhibitions

Age-appropriate dialogue-based tour with stories in the exhibitions.

The focus is on the farmer's self-sufficiency and housework with the division of tasks between men and women.

 

Activity

The students are divided into smaller groups.

The work involves raw wool that is carded and spun, and flax that is broken, combed and crocheted.

In connection with the processing of the raw materials, we emphasize the craftsmanship skills - practice makes perfect. We compare our own productions with examples of historical clothing and the clothes the students themselves wear. We also present the students with some theoretical tasks that concern energy and resource consumption in the production of textiles, and thereby put the sustainable way of using resources in the past into perspective for the challenges that exist in contemporary clothing production.