and what we are buying in modern fabric store as muslin or batiste? Cambric or batiste is a fine dense cloth.[1] It is a lightweight plain-weave fabric, originally from the commune of Cambrai (in present-day northern France), woven greige (neither bleached nor dyed), then bleached, piece-dyed, and often glazed or calendered. Initially it was made of linen; from the 18th and 19th centuries the term came to apply to cotton fabrics as well. Chambray is a similar fabric,[2] with a coloured (often blue or grey) warp and white filling; the name "chambray" replaced "cambric" in the United States in the early 19th century.[3] Cambric is used as fabric for linens, shirts, handkerchiefs, ruffs,[4] lace, and in cutwork and other needlework.[5][6] Dyed black, it is also commonly used as the dustcover on the underside of upholstered furniture.[7]
@@MINI-ME666 I first thought this video was about sea silk. That was another extremely expensive fine silk-like fabric, that was taken from the seashell Pinna nobilis (byssus fibres those attached them to the sea ground), and almost as difficult to harvest as cob silk. It had a special orange tint and could not be dyed in the era it was in use (so everybody could see that it was no normal silk).
I first thought this video was about sea silk. That was another extremely expensive fine silk-like fabric, that was taken from the seashell Pinna nobilis (byssus fibres those attached them to the sea ground), and almost as difficult to harvest as cob silk. It had a special orange tint and could not be dyed in the era it was in use (so everybody could see that it was no normal silk).
The exact same thing is said about warm shawls from Orenburg 😄 why do people all over the world evaluate the quality of clothing items with the help of rings? 😂
It is sad only about Orenburg shawls !!! People sometimes hear things and don’t know the origin and it’s not the quality,but how delicate the shawls 🤦🏻♂️ chemise is definitely a myth ! Although the chemises was made from linen ,but not that delicate ! It is a protective garment ,it has to be sturdy , doable and washable .no way such a delicate fabric can stand it 🤷🏻♂️
I spent two months in Orenburg in the late nineties, and a lady visited my host family with a shawl she was making to sell. I've thought nothing of it since till reading your comment.
I'm from Dhaka and have been fascinated with Muslin all my life. The sad thing is there are ancient fabrics disappearing every day. Rajshahi silk is gone, as is real Tussore and even proper khadi. One thing you perhaps skipped either for the sake of time or to avoid sensation is that in line with the Calico Acts the production of fabric was outlawed in India. Raw cotton was grown, harvested and shipped to Manchester where it was spun into very crude industrial cloth and shipped back to be sold to natives who initially had no interest in buying it. The solution was to ban spinning and weaving, a ban enforced by removing the thumbs of anyone caught with a wheel or a loom in their posession. You may recall that one of Mahatma Gandhi's first acts of rebellion was to spin cloth at a wheel. This was an urbane chap, a trained lawyer who wore suits but when he became a freedom activist he learned first to spin and weave his own cloth and for the rest of his life that was all he would ever wear. Today the spinning wheel is at the centre of India's flag. All because the Calico Acts were so emblematic of (greater) India's subjugation. Secondly cultivation of carpas was replaced by the British with jute and in some places indigo. They had no use for carpas cotton because their mills couldn't use it and its continued cultivation posed a threat to their monopoly. These two reasons, banning the local manufacture of cloth and destroying the plant are the main reasons why Muslin disappeared and as for the 16 steps, Saiful Islam's team eventually concluded that there was something missing. Perhaps as some small act of resistance, the workers had not revealed all of their secrets to their overlords. Want to know what I consider poetic justice? Bangladesh has come back today as the world's largest manufacturer of clothing (bar China of course, the anomalous outlier in every industry).
Yes everything you said is true although wheel in indias flag Ashokas dhamma chakra (wheel of righteousness/moral) on his rock edict. It symbolizes eternal nature of bharat as civilization.
Only one source so far has brought it to my attention that, at the first presidential inauguration of George Washington, he meaningfully selected a simple brown tailcoat of American make as his attire. Maybe it's not usually seen as an interesting detail against the exciting bits like crossing a river in the dark in December, but it caught my attention when it was explained that among the other, more famously enumerated oppressions by the British against their own people in the colonies was the outlawing of producing their own fabrics. Sound like they knew what that whole industry was worth to any given community, and that's why apparently nobody was allowed to have it. 🤔 I've been blessed to actually make some cool friends in rural New York, despite me being from over 2,000 miles away born in Arizona, who have been showing me around the northeast, and the old footprint of the megalithic industrial scene that USED to be there until the 1970s (when Democrat mayors decided to renovate their communities, tore down everything from the 1800s, and stopped halfway except for installing some crummy Modern Art sculptures 🙄); haven't been there yet, but I'm told there are still a few old textile milles to see, and I can't wait! 🤩 Supposedly that's what Tarry Town USED to be named for-its tarry cloth-although I guess it's been changed, probably at the same time as those "urban renewal" history-bleaching demolition projects. Damn commies... 😝 My source for the tailcoat story was "George Washington: Dealmaker and Chief", although I do expect to find more as I continue my self-education, particularly seeking out "primary" documents. I've always known that Americans still refer to our money as "bucks" because back in colonial days trade in deer hides with the native tribes was so extensive that leather was actually used as a cash currency before our revolution. I never actually appreciated the immense significance of this detail until I found a tutorial about how to make moccasins hosted on the TH-cam channel of the Cherokee nation; their own expert historian generally explains the scope of the leather trade with colonists and other Europeans. According to him, the native hunters themselves almost drove deer to extinction in the North American East. (The species has long recovered, though, to greater numbers than it's ever been-presumably because few modern Americans still eat deer as a primary food source.) I never actually put these two data points together before, but it makes absolutely sense to me now that if the British outlawed fabrics manufacture in the colonies, but just wanted the colonies to grow raw materials for foreign manufacture and to be sold back to the colonists in a completed state, that OF COURSE the colonists just started dealing more in leather goods with the freer locals much more. Oops! 😄
@@eutytoalbaAs an aside, Tarrytown was named after either the Dutch word for wheat or one of the early settlers, John Tarry. It’s not certain which one for sure. Many parts of lower NY/Hudson valley were Dutch settlements. 😊
my bengali mother told me that the dhaka muslin was so fine that the whole saree could fit into a matchbox! its crazy to me how this fabric sounds like a myth when in reality it was apart of my history and we cannot even fathom these kinds of arts exist because of the over saturation of our current industries and art.
Thanks for sharing what your mother told you! How precious those family memories are. A lot of people have this misconception that ancient humans were ignorant and only the modern ones are intelligent. Lots of ancient crafts were far more eco-friendly and exquisite than the modern tech actually, including textiles.
Exactly d same information I received from my Mother as well that it was such a fine fabric that the whole saree made of this fabric could fit in a matchbox.
I am from Karnataka, in my young age, I heard the same thing about Daka muslin , it can fold and put it inside the match box,English people spoil the life of weavers
Hi, I got the same info from my mom. Actually, a few ladies in my family including my grandmothers had such fabrics (traditionally passed on from their elders). Initially, I thought that my grandmothers had provided exaggerated info to my mom. But after research, I got to know it was all real.
I knew the story, but not with the happier ending. How great is it that someone actually took it upon himself to bring this fabric and cotton plant back? In my opinion he’s a hero. Loved this video. Very well put together. Thank you for sharing this.
It's not true that longer fibers were more appropriate for industrially produced fabric, across the board. Flax plants were actually bred to have shorter fibers, because the fine, long, thin fibers would break in the machines, so that the linen we have today is coarser than linen that was available pre-industrialization. (Kristine Vike has a good video on that.) Good video, though!
There is distinct difference between linen o flax fibers and cotton fibers.linen and flax fibers are stiffer and more brittle,cotton is much more flexible,so yes you are right about linen,but it’s only for linen in general the mass production do prefer the longer fibers !
Very good video! I thoroughly enjoyed it. I weave, knit, crochet, sew, spin, die yarn and do embroidery. So I have great interest in this. I hope you do more videos on this subject. But, unfortunately, you are right, I never get paid what my work is really worth. My family even takes it for granted.
but those are totall different fiber lengths. cotton fibers are the length of the distance of the outside of the fruiting body fluffball to its center, which is in the 1-2 inch range. flax and hemp fibers are made from the plants' stalks, and a single fiber in those is typically over a foot long. however with an appropriately mechanized beating process that doesn't need a minimum stalk length, you could very easily limit the maximum fiber length by cutting the stalks to that length before extracting the fiber.
Fun fact from a Bangladeshi, cotton clothes were so oppressive to British wool that the East India Company resorted to destroying looms & cutting of the thumbs of the weavers which were used to operate the looms.
@@ArmancioW Fun fact: Many "credible" historians are running a PR campaign for the Empire, last thing they have to hold on to for national pride I guess.
Greed and stupidity are everywhere, one engenders the other and they are expressions of human nature at its worst. Shining a light on it, like in this video, is the best antidote.
True enough, but the fashion industry is obsessive about fast fashion and profits. Have you seen the videos about the mountains of donated used clothing that was dumped on Africa.
I work in textile manufacturing; this is absolutely fascinating. The thread count gives you that real sense of how difficult that could have been just to simply engineer it.
@@GaiaCarney I think depending on what the yarn is made from. Poly or nylon yarn would create something sheer/thin and would tear easy. I'm no engineer though.
@@Siriusly4033might be sheer and thin, but it doesn't breathe properly and feels cold in winter and hot in summer. Natural fibers cool you off in the heat of summer and warm up in the cold of winter
@@tlvance3973 yes, so in my industry, we don't make fabric for clothing. our styles go into making medical products, fish nets, sun shade etc. multiple different products.
@@GaiaCarney That's the beauty of it. It was very strong and could be folded and inserted in a match box. Also it was a luxurious item that was mostly worn by nobles.
We were taught in fashion design that the Romans would take imported Chinese silk, unweave it and reweave it into a more sheer version, to increase profit on the rare product. Then someone snuck silk worms out and the silk industry spread.
Yes, the middle men used the Roman re-worked silk to convince Chinese merchants that the west had its own silk as a way to bargain the Chinese into selling the silk cloth to them for cheaper. Brilliant deceptive bargainers, they also convinced the Chinese to deal with them by convincing them the journey was too dangerous to make it worth doing on their own without the middle men. Apologies, as the name of them escapes my memory at the moment.
During the renaissance, my city Bologna (Italy) was a major center of silk manufacturing. Underground in the city pass several rivers that powered the weaving and spinning machines for silk production. This all happened in basements, to keep the machines secret. Eventually industrial espionage led to the spinning machines to be reproduced in france, where it became major competition and eroded Bologna's dominance in silk production.
As one who spins fine yarns/thread (and does a lot of fiber based arts/crafts) the shorter fibers would be easier for traditional hand spinning of cotton. The crimp or physical twisty structure of the fiber may also be a contributing factor in how fine the cotton can be spun and remained strong. The smoother the fiber the more likely it will be to not create a strong thread - you'll need more fibers or a mix to keep things together while spinning. I do hope that the plant gets stable and widespread enough for folks like me to get fiber to spin for ourselves. There are many of us out there all over the world that keep traditional fiber arts alive and well. There are other threads and fibers that were used in lacemaking and clothing that have also been lost or can't be reproduced as fine as they were hundreds of years ago. This gives me hope.
Have you heard of the very rare Golden fabric made from snail spit or something like that. There's only a few artisans left that know the craft. It was pretty interesting. Thought might enjoy the info. 😊
I love this video so interesting As a fibre artist I was just thinking sometimes shorter fibres are what you want to work with, with felting sometimes the structure if the fibre is what makes it possible or impossible to felt by itself. Every fibre is different and creates such different end results. I spin, weave, crochet, sew and felt. I mostly do pictures and 3d wool sculpture.
Yes I can't remember the name of the clam. I know it's from the Mediterranean Sea and attaches itself to rocks with fine gold coloured threads. The natural gold colour is what makes it so valuable, because apparently it looks like actual gold.
This was a culmination of atleast 5000 years of cotton weaving, IVC was trading cotton with Mesopotamia, Muslin export started around the silk route from Gujarat then it was absolutely perfected by the guilds in Dhaka. If only the British weren't so hellbent on their trash Manchester cotton shoving it down everyone's throats.
A similar thing happened to Scandinavian linen , some artefact clothing has thread count of 1000 but such high quality items are expensive and time consuming to make. Wool however was far cheaper and faster to work so northern Europe relied heavily on wool until the industrial revolution allowed mass processing of flax into linen fibres.
Linen is the bomb, I've just rediscovered it and now handmake most of our clothes from it. Once you've stopped wearing crap fast fashion, you can never go back.
Hemp or raime has a longer staple fiber, and can be woven into finer cloth than flax. All three would be considered linens, and share similar properties. Just FYI
Thank you! I got over 2 metres of italian flax muslin, almost equivalent to this vanished Decca? Muslin. Pricey, yet exquisite thin floating material. Everybody believes it is silk but it aint. It resembles of ancient egyptian royal fabric with its thin, dense, sheer quality. This fabric was used by Valentino studios couple of years ago for a haute couture collection. I also purchased some linen fabric from 1600- century, this Tudor time flax has a golden lustre, and lignin the modern flax lacks. I sew a shirt/ blouse of the linen muslin ( can be pulled through a ring!) and line my ancestral folklore costume with 1600- century flax. I sample textiles when traveling, maybe my blood heritage from my mom. I am chef and artist, when I dont paint, I sew. I am definately going to follow you!
A s a spinner and weaver, having researched and applied that research, most of the cotton used today is Upland cotton. It is a very short staple cotton. The longer staples are Egyptian. Sea Island and Supima. The story goes that since the longer stapled cottons were susceptible to the bol weavil and did not fit into the cotton gin, Upland became favored. The Industrial Revolution caused eradication of many varieties, and not just cotton. There was also naturally colored cottons, which Sally Fox tried to bring back, like she did with the tan colored Levi jeans, but having been sued by other cotton growers for contaminating their cotton fields, she finally decided to call it quits. Their was also a variety of linen which wove sheer fabric. Lost to us now.
I had 3 Sea Island cotton shirts with a claimed thread count of 1000. They were like silk and after 20 years of pretty regular wear were still like new. They cost from memory £115 each in about 1995. Sadly they got lost in a house move - all my shirts and ties somehow vanished in this house move... IDK
That fabric sounds so lovely - what an interesting story. I hope they will be able to re-create it. I'm not at all surprised that the fabric disappeared because of greed. Time and time again, corporate greed has resulted in substantially inferior products and services for consumers -- and massive suffering for their underpaid, overworked, expendable employees.
Love learning about different fibers. As someone allergic to polyester and synthetic materials I’ve gained more of an appreciation of different fibers and knowing the history really puts more into perspective thank you.
I am the same! I now have many sheer warm natural fabrics made entirely of sheeps wool, and I knit and crochet alpaca. I have cheap cotton muslin, only for making patterns. My grandmother has real muslin and it was how the Southeastern US could support milkwhite European skin. Covering up in muslin layers - yes Layers - kept people dry and pale. Hats too, of course. She complains that cotton doesn't breathe anymore. I had to point her towards pure linens.
Historical costumer here: I’m absolutely obsessed with Dhaka muslin and extinct textiles in general. I have a small collection of antique fabrics and it’s amazing to see the detail and craftsmanship they achieved. Holding something in your hands that was so difficult to make that it often demanded a lifetime of devotion and resulted in the disability of the craftsperson is a mind blowing experience and a powerful reminder as to how different the world is post Industrial Revolution. There’s something about the quality and feel of these fabrics that is completely alien when compared to modern textiles. They’re simultaneously very human and yet almost supernatural in their unbelievable fineness. You can’t help but wonder about the human who made it and how they made something so beautiful and useful it’s outlived them by hundreds of years.
You articulate the beauty of this fabric so well that I see my fingers touching it. I see light passing though. What I don’t see is the evilness one could inflict to another to stop the ability to create such a delicate fabric. What a horrid and violent memory the craftsman , family and village forever lived with. Beauty and peace does exist but not here on earth, may we all pray for His return soon.
As a quilter, I love learning about other textiles. I don’t participate in fast fashion, and I think it’s a real shame that ancient threads, fabrics and sewing techniques are disappearing. Thank you for making this video; bringing it back to life!
Loved this so much! I fell down a South Asian craftmenship rabbit hole after discovering the peacock dress and everything that was stolen from South Asia. Btw Bengali traditional saree house Aarong has been trying to replicate this style of muslin saree for years. It's not the same since Dhaka muslin is not available so they use other types of muslin, but they work closely with local artisans and weavers to create their sarees and other handicraft pieces. Their most popular sarees are their jamdani sarees (visually similar to muslin), nakshi kantha sarees and katan sarees. They have a website and if you live in the US, they have a shop in NY.
They knew how to wash things, how much they did depended on culture and economic status. That said poor people tended not to buy such things in the first place, like now, you saw the estimated price. Though in England at least clothes were one of the things handed down to servants once they had seen their use, many of which would have had the fabrics repurposed into newer styles if possible and were carefully tended to, to only be worn on special occasions like Sunday's and weddings.
extremely expensive fabrics are generally washed very little to not damage them. something like muslin could probably hardly be washed or not even washed at all without visible deterioration, becoming uneven. the modern "dry cleaning" industry was invented to clean fabrics without water and with other solvents like volatile hydrocarbons (historically particularly turpentine and naphtha, I think) because most other solvents don't have that effect of water that it softens various fibers, especially cellulose and ceratin (cotton, hemp, linen, and animal hair). that softening makes a water-based washing process, in the process of even the lightest possible agitation to loosen and rinse off dirt (for an expensive fabric, you would agitate as little as possible and instead soak it for longer and of course with effective soaps and such), inevitably shift or even fray fibers, potentially change their length, and when the fabric dries, it inevitably sets in a slightly hardened state in the drying position, which for special fabrics may end up looking identifiably different than a cloth that has never been wet since before the yarn was spun. for example the never washed fabric may have fewer fibers loosely sticking out of its threads, and the preserved smooth roundness of the threads may make them flow more smoothly in the weave, with a previously wet fabric having its threads flatten against each other at the crossing points. there's no putting that toothpaste back in the tube.
@@Ass_of_Amalek i foun d it easy to hand wash fine silk, linen and thin rayon, by soaking a long time like overnight and then not much handling needed , some dipping and swishing and squeezing, the final rinse , dip and let the water run of f it. hang to dry. i think using enzymes in the water like biokleen, i might try next for a long soak. Should work even better. Long soaking made my life easier when i had no washer for a while. Only really dirty clothes need scrubbed.
Fun facts, 'calico' is derived from the old name of Kolkata/Calcutta. In the English cotton mills, there was a constant cloud of cotton fibers floating in the air which made management expressly forbid smoking, lighting a match or a candle. An open flame would explode across the entire floor of the factory. That's why most mills had those giant windows, for light. Many of the workers developed fatal lung disease from inhaling the fine floating fibers. If it's not Dhaka muslin, it's just cheap cotton??
There is a small swath of Medieval linen in the Cluny Museum on the Left Bank of Paris, and it is the most exquisite linen I have ever seen. If is * extremely * fine, unbelievably fine (more so than any contemporary fabric Ive seen), and from the Middle Ages. In Queen Elizabeth I court, the lowliest courtier, you know, the guy who was forced to stand behind the door of the receiving chamber to make way for the important people, a single doublet worn by this modest courtier cost the equivalent of $50,000 US today. King Henry VIII had wall tapestries made as a wedding present for Anne Bolyn, which cost the equivalent of one of his battleships. People in the past respected beauty. People today aren't usually capable of even recognizing it, as shown in the tasteless extravagant of architecture, fashion, and everything else. The nouveaux riches.
You say that like medieval people didn't have their boors galore (just look at their gaudy costume or their crude, clunky jewelry festooned with gems without regard for how the colors go together), and like we don't have objects of wonder and beauty that far surpass what the people of the Middle Ages dreamt of.
Brutalism and modern art is designed to depress people already gutted by the rat race caused by interest rates. Inspiring induces nationalism which breaks the hold of the current elites in power. This is why they brand anything that gives people inspiration as being racist, supremacist, fascist etc.
The majority of the population could not afford fine fabrics. Appreciation of fine things was limited to an extremely small number of people, the rest were serfs.
Being a little bit interested in historical fashion and classic literature, I always vaguely wondered, why the famed 'fine muslin' of ye olde times wasn't a thing anymore. Yet another tale from history, that makes you sigh in despair.
@raraavis7782 Good thing is that some people and organization are working here in Bangladesh to restore the great "Dhaka Muslin". Significant results have come but it may take some time to get to the original "Dhaka Muslin". I guess that is a relief for you.
I'll sum up: the British took over production (despite not having the know-how) and chopped off the hands of or killed the craftspeople who were making it in India, thus removing all knowledge of how to produce such fine linens.
Its not BS but simply something that has been sterilised and attenuated in the west (especially the colonising nations). The atrocities committed by the British and other European colonisers on Asia, Africa and Native Americans are truly horrible. People living in the UK mightn’t remember or even ever have been truly exposed to it, but trust me people here, living in the very areas which have been “colonised,” remember fully and truly the extent of injustices conducted against their grandparents and great grandparents.
@@BoggWeasel Says who? There are written edicts of the East India Company which declares that any weaver weaving fine muslin will have their thumbs chopped off. Some weavers did have their thumbs chopped off to show that the Brits were serious about the threat. A few months back, Indian women took out a parade in London, showcasing most of India's traditional handloom woven sarees. Why do you think they did that? 😁
I always wondered about the prolific use of muslin. In 19th c literature, references are made to “my good muslin” which I interpreted as a very special garment. Thank you for detailing the mystery behind this fashion history!
My mind cannot fathom how fine a 1,200 thread count of a fabric is! This ancient fabric really put me into an absolute awe. What's more amazing, is that somebody trying to rediscover this treasure. I wish these people all the best that one day we will see this fabric again.
What an amazing story. I work in manufacturing goods from a variety of different fabrics, and one thing that became evident in the one year I've been in the industry is how enormously underpaid the crafters are.
Thank you for this insight and knowledge! The criminal activity of the East India Co has robbed this world of so much history and culture in the name of blind profit. It feels good to watch this short video 🤍✨🌈 Thank you 🙏
@ right, but the Dutch and Germans weren’t quite as good at “it” as the golly old East India Co. The English had a gift at getting small kingdoms in Barat to turn on their neighbors and forge alliances with this foreign power. They were darn good at working with greed and manipulation. They took what they had learned “dealing with” the Scottish and Irish and set about dividing up the subcontinent in order to control the resources for profit.
Thank you for telling this story. My whole life, I heard about how ppl from my village lost their hands to the british and heard my elders tell stories about how the beautiful and fine this fabric was. My great grandmother had a Muslin saree she cherished so much that was so fine that you could fold it into the size of a match box! Such a shame we lost such important work and history
As a spinner, hearing your description of the fibers of the other cotton type drives home just how skilled these artisans were. Spinning cotton by hand is much harder than wool or other animal fibers because it is SO slippery by comparison. I genuinely can't even imagine spinning with short cotton fibers by hand. I'm sure it would have taken YEARS to master this craft and the production of this thread. It's sad to think how greed destroyed such an amazing tradition.
I've speak the last 2 years learning to spin and weave, knit and crochet my own home produced fiber. Mainly because I don't want to be dependent on industrialists for anything, but also natural curiosity. I can't imagine stringing a loom for 1,000 threads per inch. I'm amazed by that. Wow!
I haven’t watched to the end yet, however, I have often wondered where such fine, gossamer like fabrics came from. The skills of our ancestors in spinning and weaving are fascinating. Thank you for sharing - now I will watch the rest.
You don't mention that many of the Indian artisans were actually put out of work by cutting off their fingers in order for the English manufacturing to get ahead. It was a horrible, cruel time.
He doesn't mention it bc he knows that's indian fake knews which have been refutted by historians. No historical evidence the english chopped fingers of indian manufacturers and it would make no sense bc the east india company was in competition with the enlglish textile manufacturers
I come from a family from Dhaka which used to deal in muslin. Please refer to the pages of history, the main reason of death of Dhaka muslin was entirely different. When the Britishers found that their British textile was unable to compete with Dhaka muslin, one day all the master muslin weavers of Dhaka were assembled and their thumbs were chopped off. Since the muslin weavers' finesse depended on their ability to feel the threads with their thumbs, this gory 'operation' by the British ensured that these ' master weavers could no longer create their master pieces. This actually brought an end to the famous Dhaka muslin.
A similar effort has been started in West Bengal, India. A Government enterprise, Bishwa Bangla, has started recreating the muslin fabric (although not yet at the 1000 threads per square inch) and producing ready made garments made with the fabric. I have purchased several- they are the best shirts I own for both comfort and appearance. If it was good enough for Moghuls and Mary Antoinette, I am not complaining.
Wow! I'm a costume historian and had never heard that story. That is simply incredible. Maybe even more incredible is that humans have, working under sometimes primitive conditions, made items of such incredible beauty and quality. I think not only of the silks and this muslin, but also of some of the laces. It's incredible.
I understand that you'd be amazed, given what the white colonizers have taught you. We were far from primitive when the colonizers came and used a traitor to take over bengal. We were, at that point in time, the documented richest land of the whole globe.
That's the tenacity and resourcefulness of the brown skin. The greed and jealousy of White skinned colonizers forced such knowledge to disappear. Not that the Brits could ever create something as fine as Dhaka Muslin.
When I initially heard about this in a textiles course in design school they had taught us that variety of cotton was extinct. I'm so thrilled to hear someone was able to do the legwork and find it again. This is a triumph for artisans everywhere.
I make bobbin lace - actually my grandmother made lace too (not sure about earlier ancestors). This story of the loss of fineness in thread is interesting because there's a similar trajectory in hand-made lace. I wonder if it has the same kind of history. The stuff made 150 or more years ago could be so much finer than what we can make today even with the finest threads. Old fine laces can be incredibly beautiful. Mind you, the fine stuff takes an age to make - even with today's finest threads
I love lace. The closest thing I ever see to handmade lace is crocheted doily. So pretty! I can't imagine a finer handmade lace, must be gorgeous!! It's a shame not many online content creators talk about handmade lace😢
I suspect you can get very close with essentially engineered spider silk. That's probably the only fiber thin enough that still possess enough tensile strength for mechanical looms.
Hi! I just wanted to drop a comment to thank you for this interesting, well researched, and excellently presented piece. So many presenters try to make topics (particularly history) interesting by becoming over-hyped in their narration. It's refreshing to find someone who just has a conversation and tells the story- without boring you to tears. No doubt that is a fine line to walk, and you seem to have danced your way along, effortlessly. Quality content is hard to find, and takes so much work to produce. Thank you for sharing your gift.
I'd be very interested on your take of the paisley shawl. Another South Asia creation, found by the British, and 'acquired' to be made more cheaply and in mass quantity in UK factories.
Wow. Thank you. As someone who comes from generations of women that work with fabrics, I really appreciate this history lesson. I wish more people would understand what this art means to our world today in order to build their clothing selection on quality not quantity. Even repurposing their clothes before they just discard them would be wonderful for our mother earth. Sewing, and, working with fabrics has brought the women of my family joy and creative expression. Thank You very much.
5:15 Not to mention that one acre of land will yield exponentially more cotton than wool or silk. Cotton isn't dependent on one specific animal, needs less care (no feeding, no herding, no constant protection, etc.), and can produce multiple harvests in the right climate. You know... Like the American south... In the 1750's... I can imagine that plantation-grown cotton was another huge industry disruptor in textiles. British merchants vested in wool and silk must have been especially frustrated to have TWO major, high-quality cotton producing colonies coming at them from both ends of the empire, lol.
@@TaLeng2023 Depends on where you grow it. In wet climates, it doesn't. But a lot of cotton is grown in quite dry climates where it can use disastrous amounts of irrigation, destroying the entire area it is grown in. Read about the area around the Aral Sea, made into a toxic desert by cotton.
The British in fact supported the cotton cultivation in both the South and India, they took the raw materials and manufactured them in England. This almost caused them to back the South in the civil war but anti-slavery sentiments ran too high with the British public. What happened in this case like many was simple short sighted greed by a corporate body. The internal policy of the British Empire itself was a bit all over the place as the free traders and protectionists were fighting within the political system for quite a while over which approach would balance the books of an extremely expensive empire better, of course both sides were thinking of it in terms of the Empire paying for itself rather than the fact that it made England rich and thus able to cover it. The assumption in giving it up was that outgoings would be got rid of but income would remain the same. Basically they just proved why great empires either don't remain great or don't remain democratic, as they don't last when run by fools.
As someone who likes eastern fashion history, I’ve always seen recreations of clothing like hanfu and get kinda stuck up and snobby whenever I see sheer fabric being used, but then seeing Tang Dynasty paintings having sheer fabric and wondering why doesn’t it look “correct” in the online recreations. I’ve stepped off my high horse, but this explains why. The sheer fabrics of now don’t quite measure up to the ones of the older days, and even modern muslin falls short.
Mystery solved! I've always been confused by the references of "fine" muslin in historical books, unable to reconcile the description with muslin as I know it today. It's so wonderful that this tradition is being revived. Thank you for sharing!
So fascinating a subject. Thank you so much. As a fabric junkie you have fueled my dreams of visiting various exhibits. I hope that Mr. Islam continues his work and resurrects Dakka muslin.
What civilization and who destroys it ???? Read the history the destruction of cultures and civilizations was only caused by the most uncivilized unruly colonialism of Europeans
@@MuradKhan-bh6pt We are saying the same in different ways. Let's separate this into religion, just for an example. Historically speaking, Christians conquerors killed and erased other cultures. Muslim conquerors accepted the culture and traditions of the places they conquered. They allowed life to go back to "normal", as long as it didn't represent a threat to their ruling the area
I’ve had an interest in Indian textiles for years. There is nothing more beautiful than these handlooms. Nothing can compare to the variety of weaves and the imagination of the weavers who have created these superb textiles.
I hope the man can somehow manage it! Good luck to him, the fabric he is already making is gorgeous! Maybe get ahold of some silk weavers and spinners, especially those making it out of silk cocoons that the moths have hatched from...
Indian cloths - of all varieties - had always been the most sought after and valuable in the world. It is even reflected in languages such as Turkish. Where, when you ask someone if they believe themselves to be anything special you say: "What do you think you are? An Indian fabric?" ❤
I love seeing these traditional arts come back. Our modern world has tried so vary hard to stop out artisans and craftsman in the name of progress and efficiency throughout the modern age.
This is still the most fascinating fashion history ever. It's like somethingbour if a fairy tale... and I'm not surprised how many want to recreate it. I believe it will eventually be fully recreated and we can all dream of such beautiful things 😍
I read once in a book about "Kos silk". It was supposed to be the sheer fabric worn in those statues like the Nike of Samothrace. However I can't find more info about the fabric. All I know is that it's sheer and that they allow the moth to emerge from the cocoon. Can you look into it?
Loved this video, and I also found it from tiktok. But please take the music out or make it lower. All I can hear is the music, not the speaking! Makes it less enjoyable.
I am from 🇧🇩...thank you so much for your labours work to make a video on this topic. my grandmother had a " Dacai Moslin Saree". My grandfather gave that Saree to my grandmother in the name of love. We heard Lots of story about it 😊. I wish my grandmother could protect it... A riot destroyed everything 😢
This story is so sad, but I feel that there has been a Renaissance of sorts going on into bringing back the lost arts. I wated a video where the Indians were able to spin clith so fine that a whole sari was said to be able to fit through the eye of a needle. No machine has ever been able to reproduce theads so fine. I don't know if its true, I hope it is, but guess its proof that human can do better than machines. I sincerely hope to see the Doca Muslin come back from the dead in my lifetime. That would be so awesome.
As a person who loves to sew when possible I was clearly born TOO late. Thank you for a very fascinating, interesting video with great content!!! 😘❤❤❤❤
At the age of 77 I am growing more interested lately in the idea that we have given up a lot in losing old materials, crafts, skills, hobbies, etc. I used to laugh at or deride people who live "off the grid" or intentionally simply, but now realize that at least they are actually making things with their own hands. For example fifty years from now no one will embroider.
@@juliejohnson497 I think you're quite right. I feel the same about visual art, the historical techniques and overall understanding of the principles of "everything". I remember when I first saw those "art" , photo-shop, online design programs and immediately saw that honest art was going out the window. The worst thing is that there are "heads" of high school art departments who clearly know nothing about visual art and LIE to the students.........not only are certain subjects being lost, but information is now diluted and dumbed down. And crafts???? That's a disgrace. Locally people think their making "Pottery" when they purchase an already made out of the mould piece and get to "glaze it!" ooooh-wee........................sad.
My Mom always told me that the cloth was so thin that it could be folded an put into a matchbox. I found it unbelievable at the time. Just glad that they are trying to reinvent it.
Ancient Egyptians in their tomb paintings and carvings are sometimes depicted wearing very sheer fabrics as well - maybe they also produced something like this.
Bangladesh scientist restored the technology of Dhakai muslin. In 2022 . Only few copies are made but I am proud of bangaldeshi scientist and all the workers who worked hard for it.
A very interesting video. I sure wish the music wasn't so loud. I had to turn the sound down and turn closed captioning on because I could barely hear you over the music.
wow this is such an interesting story and I'm glad that people research onto this to recreate it again! As someone who sews as a hobby I've always wondered what kind of sheer fabrics they used on their garments in those old paintings!
As a seamstress and indologist, I really appreciate your video 🤩 thank you for bringing this fascinating story to life with your beautifully made video 👌❤️
the cotton gauze is still made in India sometimes a lining for an indian cotton dress. Martha Washington liked it and then could not get it anymore. Glad to hear of the sheer silk. Also I had the block print Tree of Life bedspread that smells like incense and the same family made for centuries I donated it to a historic house in Richmond for the single bed they had in the maid's room, it is unchanged for centuries as a block print and fabric. The historians were delighted. Not and expensive item but hard to find here!
I'm Bangladeshi, and since childhood, I've been fascinated by stories from my mother and grandmother about a saree so fine it could fit into a matchbox and pass through a finger ring. I once thought it was just a myth, but through my studies, I discovered the reality of Dhakai muslin. It was not just a fabric; it represented a remarkable feat of craftsmanship. The British, threatened by its superiority, resorted to brutal tactics to maintain their dominance in the textile market. They imposed heavy tariffs, exploited local weavers, and even went as far as cutting off the fingertips of skilled artisans to suppress production. These actions aimed to stifle the competition posed by Dhaka muslin, which was unmatched in its delicacy and quality. Learning about this history fills me with a renewed sense of anger and appreciation for our cultural heritage.
When the world breaks, and I don't mean the end of the world, just when we've had enough or can't get enough anymore, I hope we are all blessed to know someone with these skills. Save your pedal sewing machines and learn how to use them. I've always thought that if push came to shove, I could dress my family because I know how to sew. They might not look great, but they'd have clothes. Knowing how to create the fabric is a whole other thing.
Knowing how to sew isn't much use without fabric to be sewn. I recommend learning how to grow, spin, and weave your own fibre - depending where you are, that could be linen or hemp or wool or cotton or any number of other materials. And yes, the end of a civilisation doesn't mean the end of the world. After the fall of the Roman civilisation, for instance, most of the survivors were better off than their families had been in the time of the empire - especially those whose ancestors had been slaves! The trick is to be one of the survivors, because a lot of people don't survive the fall of a civilisation.
If you control the machines after a collapse, even better. Tractors dating from the 1960s are in very high demand from farmers, as they work well enough, and are trivial to repair in a shed. If they run diesel, even better.
@@Demopans5990 Assume that fossil fuels will be one of the first things off the table in a collapse. The effort required to grow enough of any type of plant oil to fuel a tractor really isn't worth it. Heavy horses for farm work also use so much grain that they only became economic in Europe after the conquest of America made feed grain a cheap resource. The last truly self-sufficient farmers were ploughing with oxen. This is actually a good thing for us, because there are a lot more big cattle in the world than there are big horses, and a lot more work has gone into breeding them for feed conversion efficiency, so getting hold of good breeding stock will be a breeze.
Yes, retail has an obsession with the lowest price. A significant part of the population would be willing to pay moderately more if the item was made in their Nation or had much better quality or was grown locally, etc.
Beautifully done. Done for the beauty of the art. Beautifully done honoring the Dhaka Fabric and the people who crafted it. Beautifully done for the history. Beautifully done with the truth. Thx for filming this and sharing it with us.
Always a pity when an otherwise interesting subject gets ruined by loud music. You might consider lowering the volume of your "background" music; it would make it a more enjoyable experience for the viewer.
Thank you for this very interesting video. Could you please do one on chintz? I am fromI ndonesia and Indonesians loved hand painted chintz from India. I heard that the hand painted chintz industri was destroyed by the British with their industrialcloth mills. When this happened in the 19th centruy, the disappearance of Indian hand painted chintz left a great vacum in Indonesia and to full the need we began creating had made batiks that looked like chintz both in colour as well as design. It changed the whole batik industry inIndonesia.
The obsession about lower-cost clothing is driven by corporate greed and we Americans’ insistence on finding the cheapest possible apparel. TH-cam abounds with hauls featuring Walmart, Shein, etc. We have lost touch with the actual cost of quality materials and construction, and ethical and environmentally safe practices. So long as Americans buy $5 polyester tops and $10 jeans, the market will continue to provide such things. By number of dollars, not present value, clothes cost the same as they did when I was a teenager fifty years ago. That is, a light jacket was about $30-40, a woman’s top $10-20, etc., and they are still the same number of dollars today. But the dollar is worth so much less now, they shpuld cost 4 to 5 times as much (as many dollars). The only way to accomplish what is essentially cutting the actual cost to one-fifth or so is to cheapen production, sacrificing quality, people’s freedom and well-being and our environment. Don’t buy this cheap crap, we consumers are part of the problem. I just bought two very high-quality Euro-grown and -made linen summer dresses for $225 each. That reflects the true cost of making these responsible, quality clothes. I know I will wear and treasure them for the rest of my life, so I didn’t mind the high cost. I realize not everyone can afford that price point, but it’s better to buy fewer, natural-fiber, responsibly-made clothing items, or secondhand. (Linen grows wild in its natural environment, most of Europe, and needs no irrigation, fertilizers or pesticides. European labor laws protect all workers from exploitation).
It's even more astonishing because muslin is a light, airy translucent fabric that drapes softy. So whilst you can get 1000 threads per square inch cotton, it is smooth and soft to touch, but drapes stiff and papery.
I random clicked, and what a reward! I found this so very interesting, although also very sad. Worldwide, we have destroyed so much. So many crafts, so much independence and human creativity of the most beautiful kind.
I am shocked this isn’t a massive channel. Really informative and love the pace. One thing that annoyed me though was the slide transition sound, I was looking for what’s causing that before I realized that it happens when the image changes. I eventually got more used to it, but I could never stop hearing it
Wow. do keep us updated of the advances in this topic. I would love to hear the news that they have succeeded at the production again. Specially, if they find the model to make it sustainable and beneficial for the local population.
Originally this fabric was refined by little girls who worked special looms that was proprietary of that village the EOC literally broke the fingers of the weavers burned the looms and the cotton fields. This was an act deemed necessary by the British because of the loss of the American cotton industry so the British moved swiftly to stop India and America who were the top cotton producers by starting there own industry establishing egyptian cotton farms in British controled Nile delta and industrialized British looms and thus cornered the cotton market. A great tragedy hopefully this fabric can be resurrected.
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I’m sure the rulers of India NEVER exploited their own people for their (the ruler’s) greed.
Thanks for your hard work on this video. Though the background musoc was unbearable and loud. Please remove it and ho for natural sounds
and what we are buying in modern fabric store as muslin or batiste? Cambric or batiste is a fine dense cloth.[1] It is a lightweight plain-weave fabric, originally from the commune of Cambrai (in present-day northern France), woven greige (neither bleached nor dyed), then bleached, piece-dyed, and often glazed or calendered. Initially it was made of linen; from the 18th and 19th centuries the term came to apply to cotton fabrics as well.
Chambray is a similar fabric,[2] with a coloured (often blue or grey) warp and white filling; the name "chambray" replaced "cambric" in the United States in the early 19th century.[3]
Cambric is used as fabric for linens, shirts, handkerchiefs, ruffs,[4] lace, and in cutwork and other needlework.[5][6] Dyed black, it is also commonly used as the dustcover on the underside of upholstered furniture.[7]
@@MINI-ME666 I first thought this video was about sea silk. That was another extremely expensive fine silk-like fabric, that was taken from the seashell Pinna nobilis (byssus fibres those attached them to the sea ground), and almost as difficult to harvest as cob silk. It had a special orange tint and could not be dyed in the era it was in use (so everybody could see that it was no normal silk).
I first thought this video was about sea silk. That was another extremely expensive fine silk-like fabric, that was taken from the seashell Pinna nobilis (byssus fibres those attached them to the sea ground), and almost as difficult to harvest as cob silk. It had a special orange tint and could not be dyed in the era it was in use (so everybody could see that it was no normal silk).
😊A good quality chemise could reportedly be drawn through a wedding ring. That is incredibly fine fabric.
The exact same thing is said about warm shawls from Orenburg 😄 why do people all over the world evaluate the quality of clothing items with the help of rings? 😂
It is sad only about Orenburg shawls !!! People sometimes hear things and don’t know the origin and it’s not the quality,but how delicate the shawls 🤦🏻♂️ chemise is definitely a myth ! Although the chemises was made from linen ,but not that delicate ! It is a protective garment ,it has to be sturdy , doable and washable .no way such a delicate fabric can stand it 🤷🏻♂️
I spent two months in Orenburg in the late nineties, and a lady visited my host family with a shawl she was making to sell. I've thought nothing of it since till reading your comment.
Large wool shawl through the wedding ring.
@@jant4741 only skillfully knitted shawls from special goat wool can do the trick. They are almost like lace, very airy.
I'm from Dhaka and have been fascinated with Muslin all my life. The sad thing is there are ancient fabrics disappearing every day. Rajshahi silk is gone, as is real Tussore and even proper khadi.
One thing you perhaps skipped either for the sake of time or to avoid sensation is that in line with the Calico Acts the production of fabric was outlawed in India. Raw cotton was grown, harvested and shipped to Manchester where it was spun into very crude industrial cloth and shipped back to be sold to natives who initially had no interest in buying it. The solution was to ban spinning and weaving, a ban enforced by removing the thumbs of anyone caught with a wheel or a loom in their posession. You may recall that one of Mahatma Gandhi's first acts of rebellion was to spin cloth at a wheel. This was an urbane chap, a trained lawyer who wore suits but when he became a freedom activist he learned first to spin and weave his own cloth and for the rest of his life that was all he would ever wear. Today the spinning wheel is at the centre of India's flag. All because the Calico Acts were so emblematic of (greater) India's subjugation.
Secondly cultivation of carpas was replaced by the British with jute and in some places indigo. They had no use for carpas cotton because their mills couldn't use it and its continued cultivation posed a threat to their monopoly. These two reasons, banning the local manufacture of cloth and destroying the plant are the main reasons why Muslin disappeared and as for the 16 steps, Saiful Islam's team eventually concluded that there was something missing. Perhaps as some small act of resistance, the workers had not revealed all of their secrets to their overlords.
Want to know what I consider poetic justice? Bangladesh has come back today as the world's largest manufacturer of clothing (bar China of course, the anomalous outlier in every industry).
Yes I had all of this in the original video, but it got too long and had to simplify it. You’re right though !
Yes everything you said is true although wheel in indias flag Ashokas dhamma chakra (wheel of righteousness/moral) on his rock edict. It symbolizes eternal nature of bharat as civilization.
Thank you . Historical facts are very important
Only one source so far has brought it to my attention that, at the first presidential inauguration of George Washington, he meaningfully selected a simple brown tailcoat of American make as his attire. Maybe it's not usually seen as an interesting detail against the exciting bits like crossing a river in the dark in December, but it caught my attention when it was explained that among the other, more famously enumerated oppressions by the British against their own people in the colonies was the outlawing of producing their own fabrics. Sound like they knew what that whole industry was worth to any given community, and that's why apparently nobody was allowed to have it. 🤔
I've been blessed to actually make some cool friends in rural New York, despite me being from over 2,000 miles away born in Arizona, who have been showing me around the northeast, and the old footprint of the megalithic industrial scene that USED to be there until the 1970s (when Democrat mayors decided to renovate their communities, tore down everything from the 1800s, and stopped halfway except for installing some crummy Modern Art sculptures 🙄); haven't been there yet, but I'm told there are still a few old textile milles to see, and I can't wait! 🤩 Supposedly that's what Tarry Town USED to be named for-its tarry cloth-although I guess it's been changed, probably at the same time as those "urban renewal" history-bleaching demolition projects. Damn commies... 😝
My source for the tailcoat story was "George Washington: Dealmaker and Chief", although I do expect to find more as I continue my self-education, particularly seeking out "primary" documents.
I've always known that Americans still refer to our money as "bucks" because back in colonial days trade in deer hides with the native tribes was so extensive that leather was actually used as a cash currency before our revolution. I never actually appreciated the immense significance of this detail until I found a tutorial about how to make moccasins hosted on the TH-cam channel of the Cherokee nation; their own expert historian generally explains the scope of the leather trade with colonists and other Europeans. According to him, the native hunters themselves almost drove deer to extinction in the North American East. (The species has long recovered, though, to greater numbers than it's ever been-presumably because few modern Americans still eat deer as a primary food source.)
I never actually put these two data points together before, but it makes absolutely sense to me now that if the British outlawed fabrics manufacture in the colonies, but just wanted the colonies to grow raw materials for foreign manufacture and to be sold back to the colonists in a completed state, that OF COURSE the colonists just started dealing more in leather goods with the freer locals much more. Oops! 😄
@@eutytoalbaAs an aside, Tarrytown was named after either the Dutch word for wheat or one of the early settlers, John Tarry. It’s not certain which one for sure. Many parts of lower NY/Hudson valley were Dutch settlements. 😊
my bengali mother told me that the dhaka muslin was so fine that the whole saree could fit into a matchbox! its crazy to me how this fabric sounds like a myth when in reality it was apart of my history and we cannot even fathom these kinds of arts exist because of the over saturation of our current industries and art.
Thanks for sharing what your mother told you! How precious those family memories are. A lot of people have this misconception that ancient humans were ignorant and only the modern ones are intelligent. Lots of ancient crafts were far more eco-friendly and exquisite than the modern tech actually, including textiles.
Because colonialism
Exactly d same information I received from my Mother as well that it was such a fine fabric that the whole saree made of this fabric could fit in a matchbox.
I am from Karnataka, in my young age, I heard the same thing about Daka muslin , it can fold and put it inside the match box,English people spoil the life of weavers
Hi, I got the same info from my mom. Actually, a few ladies in my family including my grandmothers had such fabrics (traditionally passed on from their elders). Initially, I thought that my grandmothers had provided exaggerated info to my mom. But after research, I got to know it was all real.
The fact that the plant still exists is astounding. Greed has destroyed so very much that is beautiful in this world
Why Must So Many Good Things Go Out because Of Spite or Envy ❤️🩹
Greedy are the Europeans namely the english
Exact plant does not exist. Its more like grand-grand son of such plant. there are more documentary regarding this
Thank the nazi brits
I knew the story, but not with the happier ending. How great is it that someone actually took it upon himself to bring this fabric and cotton plant back? In my opinion he’s a hero. Loved this video. Very well put together. Thank you for sharing this.
The pessimist in me wonders how long it will be before this revival of Dhaka Muslin will be used commercially and greed will come for it once more? =\
It's not true that longer fibers were more appropriate for industrially produced fabric, across the board. Flax plants were actually bred to have shorter fibers, because the fine, long, thin fibers would break in the machines, so that the linen we have today is coarser than linen that was available pre-industrialization. (Kristine Vike has a good video on that.) Good video, though!
There is distinct difference between linen o flax fibers and cotton fibers.linen and flax fibers are stiffer and more brittle,cotton is much more flexible,so yes you are right about linen,but it’s only for linen in general the mass production do prefer the longer fibers !
Very good video! I thoroughly enjoyed it. I weave, knit, crochet, sew, spin, die yarn and do embroidery. So I have great interest in this. I hope you do more videos on this subject. But, unfortunately, you are right, I never get paid what my work is really worth. My family even takes it for granted.
Ancient Egyptian linen was also this sheer.
@crystalperry6370 - not everyone is knit/sew/spin worthy! Most people have very little clue how many hours to take to create something by hand.
but those are totall different fiber lengths. cotton fibers are the length of the distance of the outside of the fruiting body fluffball to its center, which is in the 1-2 inch range. flax and hemp fibers are made from the plants' stalks, and a single fiber in those is typically over a foot long. however with an appropriately mechanized beating process that doesn't need a minimum stalk length, you could very easily limit the maximum fiber length by cutting the stalks to that length before extracting the fiber.
Fun fact from a Bangladeshi, cotton clothes were so oppressive to British wool that the East India Company resorted to destroying looms & cutting of the thumbs of the weavers which were used to operate the looms.
Nope the british cutting the thumbs of weavers and destroying looms is a myth that has been denunked by historians many times
Fun fact: british destroying looms and cutting of the tumbs of the weavers in india is hindu propaganda refuted by academics, never ocurred
@@ArmancioW yup William Bolts was a hindu propagandist in 18th century.
@@ArmancioW Fun fact: Many "credible" historians are running a PR campaign for the Empire, last thing they have to hold on to for national pride I guess.
😮😮😮
It’s not just the fashion industry that is obsessed with cost cutting. Greed and stupidity abound across all industries. Boeing springs to mind.
Greed and stupidity are everywhere, one engenders the other and they are expressions of human nature at its worst. Shining a light on it, like in this video, is the best antidote.
As in boing boing springs?
It's not "human" nature to be greedy - it is the hybrid swine that reveal their ancestral bloodline.
True enough, but the fashion
industry is obsessive about
fast fashion and profits.
Have you seen the videos
about the mountains of
donated used clothing that
was dumped on Africa.
Capitalism comes to mind.
I work in textile manufacturing; this is absolutely fascinating. The thread count gives you that real sense of how difficult that could have been just to simply engineer it.
@cristinar4033 - I am curious . . . would a fabric with a 1,200 thread count be very strong or would it be fragile??
@@GaiaCarney I think depending on what the yarn is made from. Poly or nylon yarn would create something sheer/thin and would tear easy. I'm no engineer though.
@@Siriusly4033might be sheer and thin, but it doesn't breathe properly and feels cold in winter and hot in summer. Natural fibers cool you off in the heat of summer and warm up in the cold of winter
@@tlvance3973 yes, so in my industry, we don't make fabric for clothing. our styles go into making medical products, fish nets, sun shade etc. multiple different products.
@@GaiaCarney That's the beauty of it. It was very strong and could be folded and inserted in a match box. Also it was a luxurious item that was mostly worn by nobles.
We were taught in fashion design that the Romans would take imported Chinese silk, unweave it and reweave it into a more sheer version, to increase profit on the rare product. Then someone snuck silk worms out and the silk industry spread.
wow, where did you study fashion design?
Yes, the middle men used the Roman re-worked silk to convince Chinese merchants that the west had its own silk as a way to bargain the Chinese into selling the silk cloth to them for cheaper. Brilliant deceptive bargainers, they also convinced the Chinese to deal with them by convincing them the journey was too dangerous to make it worth doing on their own without the middle men. Apologies, as the name of them escapes my memory at the moment.
During the renaissance, my city Bologna (Italy) was a major center of silk manufacturing. Underground in the city pass several rivers that powered the weaving and spinning machines for silk production. This all happened in basements, to keep the machines secret. Eventually industrial espionage led to the spinning machines to be reproduced in france, where it became major competition and eroded Bologna's dominance in silk production.
As one who spins fine yarns/thread (and does a lot of fiber based arts/crafts) the shorter fibers would be easier for traditional hand spinning of cotton. The crimp or physical twisty structure of the fiber may also be a contributing factor in how fine the cotton can be spun and remained strong. The smoother the fiber the more likely it will be to not create a strong thread - you'll need more fibers or a mix to keep things together while spinning. I do hope that the plant gets stable and widespread enough for folks like me to get fiber to spin for ourselves.
There are many of us out there all over the world that keep traditional fiber arts alive and well. There are other threads and fibers that were used in lacemaking and clothing that have also been lost or can't be reproduced as fine as they were hundreds of years ago.
This gives me hope.
Have you heard of the very rare Golden fabric made from snail spit or something like that. There's only a few artisans left that know the craft. It was pretty interesting. Thought might enjoy the info. 😊
I love this video so interesting
As a fibre artist I was just thinking sometimes shorter fibres are what you want to work with, with felting sometimes the structure if the fibre is what makes it possible or impossible to felt by itself. Every fibre is different and creates such different end results. I spin, weave, crochet, sew and felt. I mostly do pictures and 3d wool sculpture.
@@kslolohoku2665Actually, The fabric you're thinking of is made of spider silk.
It's still made today, But on a very small scale.
@@TheDowntownHermit-xj6rq nope. It's from a clam.
Watch "spinning silk from the sea"
But spider silk sounds neat too.
Yes I can't remember the name of the clam. I know it's from the Mediterranean Sea and attaches itself to rocks with fine gold coloured threads. The natural gold colour is what makes it so valuable, because apparently it looks like actual gold.
This was a culmination of atleast 5000 years of cotton weaving, IVC was trading cotton with Mesopotamia, Muslin export started around the silk route from Gujarat then it was absolutely perfected by the guilds in Dhaka. If only the British weren't so hellbent on their trash Manchester cotton shoving it down everyone's throats.
A similar thing happened to Scandinavian linen , some artefact clothing has thread count of 1000 but such high quality items are expensive and time consuming to make. Wool however was far cheaper and faster to work so northern Europe relied heavily on wool until the industrial revolution allowed mass processing of flax into linen fibres.
Linen is the bomb, I've just rediscovered it and now handmake most of our clothes from it. Once you've stopped wearing crap fast fashion, you can never go back.
Hemp or raime has a longer staple fiber, and can be woven into finer cloth than flax.
All three would be considered linens, and share similar properties.
Just FYI
@@msmltvcktl nice. Thanks for the information
Thank you! I got over 2 metres of italian flax muslin, almost equivalent to this vanished Decca? Muslin. Pricey, yet exquisite thin floating material. Everybody believes it is silk but it aint. It resembles of ancient egyptian royal fabric with its thin, dense, sheer quality. This fabric was used by Valentino studios couple of years ago for a haute couture collection. I also purchased some linen fabric from 1600- century, this Tudor time flax has a golden lustre, and lignin the modern flax lacks. I sew a shirt/ blouse of the linen muslin ( can be pulled through a ring!) and line my ancestral folklore costume with 1600- century flax. I sample textiles when traveling, maybe my blood heritage from my mom. I am chef and artist, when I dont paint, I sew. I am definately going to follow you!
A s a spinner and weaver, having researched and applied that research, most of the cotton used today is Upland cotton. It is a very short staple cotton. The longer staples are Egyptian. Sea Island and Supima. The story goes that since the longer stapled cottons were susceptible to the bol weavil and did not fit into the cotton gin, Upland became favored. The Industrial Revolution caused eradication of many varieties, and not just cotton. There was also naturally colored cottons, which Sally Fox tried to bring back, like she did with the tan colored Levi jeans, but having been sued by other cotton growers for contaminating their cotton fields, she finally decided to call it quits.
Their was also a variety of linen which wove sheer fabric. Lost to us now.
I had 3 Sea Island cotton shirts with a claimed thread count of 1000. They were like silk and after 20 years of pretty regular wear were still like new. They cost from memory £115 each in about 1995.
Sadly they got lost in a house move - all my shirts and ties somehow vanished in this house move... IDK
@piccalillipit9211 Very hard to find sea island these days. Too bad you lost them in your move.
@@stayinthelight Sunspel
That fabric sounds so lovely - what an interesting story. I hope they will be able to re-create it. I'm not at all surprised that the fabric disappeared because of greed. Time and time again, corporate greed has resulted in substantially inferior products and services for consumers -- and massive suffering for their underpaid, overworked, expendable employees.
Wait till private equity takes over everything including housing
@@binder946 Muslin reborn. th-cam.com/video/VhIzcIiwZo4/w-d-xo.html
The brits and theri colonial destruction on India entirely pure evil
Love learning about different fibers. As someone allergic to polyester and synthetic materials I’ve gained more of an appreciation of different fibers and knowing the history really puts more into perspective thank you.
I am the same! I now have many sheer warm natural fabrics made entirely of sheeps wool, and I knit and crochet alpaca. I have cheap cotton muslin, only for making patterns. My grandmother has real muslin and it was how the Southeastern US could support milkwhite European skin. Covering up in muslin layers - yes Layers - kept people dry and pale. Hats too, of course. She complains that cotton doesn't breathe anymore. I had to point her towards pure linens.
I feel like this would be very interesting to the historical costuming community, thank you for sharing!
Historical costumer here: I’m absolutely obsessed with Dhaka muslin and extinct textiles in general. I have a small collection of antique fabrics and it’s amazing to see the detail and craftsmanship they achieved. Holding something in your hands that was so difficult to make that it often demanded a lifetime of devotion and resulted in the disability of the craftsperson is a mind blowing experience and a powerful reminder as to how different the world is post Industrial Revolution. There’s something about the quality and feel of these fabrics that is completely alien when compared to modern textiles. They’re simultaneously very human and yet almost supernatural in their unbelievable fineness. You can’t help but wonder about the human who made it and how they made something so beautiful and useful it’s outlived them by hundreds of years.
It's fairly well known in historical costuming
You articulate the beauty of this fabric so well that I see my fingers touching it. I see light passing though.
What I don’t see is the evilness one could inflict to another to stop the ability to create such a delicate fabric.
What a horrid and violent memory the craftsman , family and village forever lived with.
Beauty and peace does exist but not here on earth,
may we all pray for His return soon.
@@terrimercer374yes! On THIS Earth there is goodness and peace is absolutely possible 💯
@@hummingbirdhappy1628 someone call Bernadette Banner, Cathy Hay, and Karolina Zebrowska!
As a quilter, I love learning about other textiles. I don’t participate in fast fashion, and I think it’s a real shame that ancient threads, fabrics and sewing techniques are disappearing. Thank you for making this video; bringing it back to life!
Fun fact
It's actually available in Bangladesh now
They have recreated it from scraps and old instructions
Loved this so much! I fell down a South Asian craftmenship rabbit hole after discovering the peacock dress and everything that was stolen from South Asia. Btw Bengali traditional saree house Aarong has been trying to replicate this style of muslin saree for years. It's not the same since Dhaka muslin is not available so they use other types of muslin, but they work closely with local artisans and weavers to create their sarees and other handicraft pieces. Their most popular sarees are their jamdani sarees (visually similar to muslin), nakshi kantha sarees and katan sarees. They have a website and if you live in the US, they have a shop in NY.
jamdani cloth is one type of Muslin or Cotton Silk from Bangle
I have read those chintzy rose prints british people pretend are so very british were in fact stoIen from indian textile makers.
The fine ancient fabric contrasts with the common modern perception of our ancestors running around in dirty rags.
The fabrics may have started fine, but washing probably wasn’t.
They knew how to wash things, how much they did depended on culture and economic status.
That said poor people tended not to buy such things in the first place, like now, you saw the estimated price. Though in England at least clothes were one of the things handed down to servants once they had seen their use, many of which would have had the fabrics repurposed into newer styles if possible and were carefully tended to, to only be worn on special occasions like Sunday's and weddings.
@@oakmaiden2133 I think you'd be surprised at how little washing natural fibers like cotton and wool can actually need.
extremely expensive fabrics are generally washed very little to not damage them. something like muslin could probably hardly be washed or not even washed at all without visible deterioration, becoming uneven. the modern "dry cleaning" industry was invented to clean fabrics without water and with other solvents like volatile hydrocarbons (historically particularly turpentine and naphtha, I think) because most other solvents don't have that effect of water that it softens various fibers, especially cellulose and ceratin (cotton, hemp, linen, and animal hair). that softening makes a water-based washing process, in the process of even the lightest possible agitation to loosen and rinse off dirt (for an expensive fabric, you would agitate as little as possible and instead soak it for longer and of course with effective soaps and such), inevitably shift or even fray fibers, potentially change their length, and when the fabric dries, it inevitably sets in a slightly hardened state in the drying position, which for special fabrics may end up looking identifiably different than a cloth that has never been wet since before the yarn was spun. for example the never washed fabric may have fewer fibers loosely sticking out of its threads, and the preserved smooth roundness of the threads may make them flow more smoothly in the weave, with a previously wet fabric having its threads flatten against each other at the crossing points. there's no putting that toothpaste back in the tube.
@@Ass_of_Amalek i foun d it easy to hand wash fine silk, linen and thin rayon, by soaking a long time like overnight and then not much handling needed , some dipping and swishing and squeezing, the final rinse , dip and let the water run of f it. hang to dry. i think using enzymes in the water like biokleen, i might try next for a long soak. Should work even better. Long soaking made my life easier when i had no washer for a while. Only really dirty clothes need scrubbed.
Fun facts, 'calico' is derived from the old name of Kolkata/Calcutta. In the English cotton mills, there was a constant cloud of cotton fibers floating in the air which made management expressly forbid smoking, lighting a match or a candle. An open flame would explode across the entire floor of the factory. That's why most mills had those giant windows, for light. Many of the workers developed fatal lung disease from inhaling the fine floating fibers. If it's not Dhaka muslin, it's just cheap cotton??
sure, but it's still muslin, just not dhaka muslin.
calico means Calicut, northern Kerala port city
❤🎉😮
There is a small swath of Medieval linen in the Cluny Museum on the Left Bank of Paris, and it is the most exquisite linen I have ever seen. If is * extremely * fine, unbelievably fine (more so than any contemporary fabric Ive seen), and from the Middle Ages.
In Queen Elizabeth I court, the lowliest courtier, you know, the guy who was forced to stand behind the door of the receiving chamber to make way for the important people, a single doublet worn by this modest courtier cost the equivalent of $50,000 US today.
King Henry VIII had wall tapestries made as a wedding present for Anne Bolyn, which cost the equivalent of one of his battleships.
People in the past respected beauty. People today aren't usually capable of even recognizing it, as shown in the tasteless extravagant of architecture, fashion, and everything else.
The nouveaux riches.
You say that like medieval people didn't have their boors galore (just look at their gaudy costume or their crude, clunky jewelry festooned with gems without regard for how the colors go together), and like we don't have objects of wonder and beauty that far surpass what the people of the Middle Ages dreamt of.
Brutalism and modern art is designed to depress people already gutted by the rat race caused by interest rates. Inspiring induces nationalism which breaks the hold of the current elites in power. This is why they brand anything that gives people inspiration as being racist, supremacist, fascist etc.
*SWATCH* not swath.
The majority of the population could not afford fine fabrics. Appreciation of fine things was limited to an extremely small number of people, the rest were serfs.
Swatch, a small sample.
Swathe, a length of material. Maybe..!
Being a little bit interested in historical fashion and classic literature, I always vaguely wondered, why the famed 'fine muslin' of ye olde times wasn't a thing anymore. Yet another tale from history, that makes you sigh in despair.
@raraavis7782 Good thing is that some people and organization are working here in Bangladesh to restore the great "Dhaka Muslin". Significant results have come but it may take some time to get to the original "Dhaka Muslin". I guess that is a relief for you.
I'll sum up: the British took over production (despite not having the know-how) and chopped off the hands of or killed the craftspeople who were making it in India, thus removing all knowledge of how to produce such fine linens.
that is quite evil
It was cotton, not linen.
Total BS
Its not BS but simply something that has been sterilised and attenuated in the west (especially the colonising nations). The atrocities committed by the British and other European colonisers on Asia, Africa and Native Americans are truly horrible. People living in the UK mightn’t remember or even ever have been truly exposed to it, but trust me people here, living in the very areas which have been “colonised,” remember fully and truly the extent of injustices conducted against their grandparents and great grandparents.
@@BoggWeasel Says who? There are written edicts of the East India Company which declares that any weaver weaving fine muslin will have their thumbs chopped off. Some weavers did have their thumbs chopped off to show that the Brits were serious about the threat.
A few months back, Indian women took out a parade in London, showcasing most of India's traditional handloom woven sarees. Why do you think they did that? 😁
Dhaka Muslin is making its comeback here in Bangladesh and hopefully soon around the world.
Fascinating! Thank you!
So exciting!
Wow! Thanks for sharing!!
Wow!
I hope so. It's about time that we reinstate attractive clothing.
I always wondered about the prolific use of muslin. In 19th c literature, references are made to “my good muslin” which I interpreted as a very special garment. Thank you for detailing the mystery behind this fashion history!
My mind cannot fathom how fine a 1,200 thread count of a fabric is! This ancient fabric really put me into an absolute awe.
What's more amazing, is that somebody trying to rediscover this treasure. I wish these people all the best that one day we will see this fabric again.
What an amazing story. I work in manufacturing goods from a variety of different fabrics, and one thing that became evident in the one year I've been in the industry is how enormously underpaid the crafters are.
Thank you for this insight and knowledge! The criminal activity of the East India Co has robbed this world of so much history and culture in the name of blind profit. It feels good to watch this short video 🤍✨🌈 Thank you 🙏
There were "bad guys" other than the British
@ right, but the Dutch and Germans weren’t quite as good at “it” as the golly old East India Co. The English had a gift at getting small kingdoms in Barat to turn on their neighbors and forge alliances with this foreign power. They were darn good at working with greed and manipulation. They took what they had learned “dealing with” the Scottish and Irish and set about dividing up the subcontinent in order to control the resources for profit.
@@deanmoriarty1148
You are being anachronic
Back then, conquering others was the norm and they were surely not the worst
Thank you for telling this story. My whole life, I heard about how ppl from my village lost their hands to the british and heard my elders tell stories about how the beautiful and fine this fabric was. My great grandmother had a Muslin saree she cherished so much that was so fine that you could fold it into the size of a match box! Such a shame we lost such important work and history
Still, the losing one thumb story is a myth
@@varoonnone7159not really they did that to some people not all of them, their motive was to create fear.
As a spinner, hearing your description of the fibers of the other cotton type drives home just how skilled these artisans were. Spinning cotton by hand is much harder than wool or other animal fibers because it is SO slippery by comparison. I genuinely can't even imagine spinning with short cotton fibers by hand. I'm sure it would have taken YEARS to master this craft and the production of this thread. It's sad to think how greed destroyed such an amazing tradition.
I've speak the last 2 years learning to spin and weave, knit and crochet my own home produced fiber. Mainly because I don't want to be dependent on industrialists for anything, but also natural curiosity. I can't imagine stringing a loom for 1,000 threads per inch. I'm amazed by that. Wow!
I haven’t watched to the end yet, however, I have often wondered where such fine, gossamer like fabrics came from. The skills of our ancestors in spinning and weaving are fascinating. Thank you for sharing - now I will watch the rest.
Im so glad some still put artisanship and beauty ahead of profiteering. What beautiful fabric. Has huge potential.❤
You don't mention that many of the Indian artisans were actually put out of work by cutting off their fingers in order for the English manufacturing to get ahead. It was a horrible, cruel time.
Nope the british cutting the fingers of indian artisans is a myth that has been debunked by historians multiple times 🤦🤡
He doesn't mention it bc he knows that's indian fake knews which have been refutted by historians. No historical evidence the english chopped fingers of indian manufacturers and it would make no sense bc the east india company was in competition with the enlglish textile manufacturers
Oh my God, now why doesn't that surprise me😢😢
😮 My God, I've never heard of this??? They were actually crippled and mutilated???
So evil! I didn't know this😭
I come from a family from Dhaka which used to deal in muslin. Please refer to the pages of history, the main reason of death of Dhaka muslin was entirely different. When the Britishers found that their British textile was unable to compete with Dhaka muslin, one day all the master muslin weavers of Dhaka were assembled and their thumbs were chopped off. Since the muslin weavers' finesse depended on their ability to feel the threads with their thumbs, this gory 'operation' by the British ensured that these ' master weavers could no longer create their master pieces. This actually brought an end to the famous Dhaka muslin.
That’s horrible. I can’t imagine the horror that caused.
Believable, sadly.
And that is just one of many Christian massacres
We have suffered a lot because of the British rule
Christianity
A similar effort has been started in West Bengal, India. A Government enterprise, Bishwa Bangla, has started recreating the muslin fabric (although not yet at the 1000 threads per square inch) and producing ready made garments made with the fabric. I have purchased several- they are the best shirts I own for both comfort and appearance. If it was good enough for Moghuls and Mary Antoinette, I am not complaining.
This is first time I found someone except me talking about Dhakai Moslin. Thank you ❤
Wow! I'm a costume historian and had never heard that story. That is simply incredible. Maybe even more incredible is that humans have, working under sometimes primitive conditions, made items of such incredible beauty and quality. I think not only of the silks and this muslin, but also of some of the laces. It's incredible.
I understand that you'd be amazed, given what the white colonizers have taught you. We were far from primitive when the colonizers came and used a traitor to take over bengal. We were, at that point in time, the documented richest land of the whole globe.
Yeah , hardships of colonised people are not told out in the open
@@tanhanunna6815perhaps he is not form the indian subcontinent but a westerner to. Why you always polarizing.
That's the tenacity and resourcefulness of the brown skin.
The greed and jealousy of White skinned colonizers forced such knowledge to disappear. Not that the Brits could ever create something as fine as Dhaka Muslin.
Tf is a costume historian? Sounds super niche
When I initially heard about this in a textiles course in design school they had taught us that variety of cotton was extinct. I'm so thrilled to hear someone was able to do the legwork and find it again. This is a triumph for artisans everywhere.
You are so right in saying that progress always causes lost and hardship wherever it strikes…….. bravo !
not true. if so then progress is simply a misnomer for that thing.
I'm just happy that someone is trying to revive it !
I make bobbin lace - actually my grandmother made lace too (not sure about earlier ancestors). This story of the loss of fineness in thread is interesting because there's a similar trajectory in hand-made lace. I wonder if it has the same kind of history.
The stuff made 150 or more years ago could be so much finer than what we can make today even with the finest threads. Old fine laces can be incredibly beautiful. Mind you, the fine stuff takes an age to make - even with today's finest threads
I love lace. The closest thing I ever see to handmade lace is crocheted doily. So pretty! I can't imagine a finer handmade lace, must be gorgeous!!
It's a shame not many online content creators talk about handmade lace😢
@@MA-2020 OK perhaps I should make some videos - I'm hardly an expert though
I suspect you can get very close with essentially engineered spider silk. That's probably the only fiber thin enough that still possess enough tensile strength for mechanical looms.
@@Demopans5990 Except handmade lace is not made on a loom
@@JenMaxon
More generally.
As a costumer, I always wondered about that fabric.
Hi!
I just wanted to drop a comment to thank you for this interesting, well researched, and excellently presented piece.
So many presenters try to make topics (particularly history) interesting by becoming over-hyped in their narration. It's refreshing to find someone who just has a conversation and tells the story- without boring you to tears.
No doubt that is a fine line to walk, and you seem to have danced your way along, effortlessly.
Quality content is hard to find, and takes so much work to produce. Thank you for sharing your gift.
Greed destroys everything and everyone it touches. I love this story and appreciate how you’ve presented it. Thank You! Great history lesson! 👍👍
I'd be very interested on your take of the paisley shawl. Another South Asia creation, found by the British, and 'acquired' to be made more cheaply and in mass quantity in UK factories.
Wow. Thank you. As someone who comes from generations of women that work with fabrics, I really appreciate this history lesson. I wish more people would understand what this art means to our world today in order to build their clothing selection on quality not quantity. Even repurposing their clothes before they just discard them would be wonderful for our mother earth.
Sewing, and, working with fabrics has brought the women of my family joy and creative expression.
Thank You very much.
5:15 Not to mention that one acre of land will yield exponentially more cotton than wool or silk. Cotton isn't dependent on one specific animal, needs less care (no feeding, no herding, no constant protection, etc.), and can produce multiple harvests in the right climate. You know... Like the American south... In the 1750's... I can imagine that plantation-grown cotton was another huge industry disruptor in textiles. British merchants vested in wool and silk must have been especially frustrated to have TWO major, high-quality cotton producing colonies coming at them from both ends of the empire, lol.
Don't cotton consume a lot of water?
@@TaLeng2023 Depends on where you grow it. In wet climates, it doesn't. But a lot of cotton is grown in quite dry climates where it can use disastrous amounts of irrigation, destroying the entire area it is grown in. Read about the area around the Aral Sea, made into a toxic desert by cotton.
Cotton did not become the cash crop of the American South until the early 1800’s, post-Revolution.
Bamboo is better, so is hemp.
The British in fact supported the cotton cultivation in both the South and India, they took the raw materials and manufactured them in England. This almost caused them to back the South in the civil war but anti-slavery sentiments ran too high with the British public. What happened in this case like many was simple short sighted greed by a corporate body.
The internal policy of the British Empire itself was a bit all over the place as the free traders and protectionists were fighting within the political system for quite a while over which approach would balance the books of an extremely expensive empire better, of course both sides were thinking of it in terms of the Empire paying for itself rather than the fact that it made England rich and thus able to cover it. The assumption in giving it up was that outgoings would be got rid of but income would remain the same. Basically they just proved why great empires either don't remain great or don't remain democratic, as they don't last when run by fools.
As someone who likes eastern fashion history, I’ve always seen recreations of clothing like hanfu and get kinda stuck up and snobby whenever I see sheer fabric being used, but then seeing Tang Dynasty paintings having sheer fabric and wondering why doesn’t it look “correct” in the online recreations. I’ve stepped off my high horse, but this explains why. The sheer fabrics of now don’t quite measure up to the ones of the older days, and even modern muslin falls short.
Mystery solved! I've always been confused by the references of "fine" muslin in historical books, unable to reconcile the description with muslin as I know it today. It's so wonderful that this tradition is being revived. Thank you for sharing!
Yes, me too - I thought all muslin was like what is found at hobby stores now !!
So fascinating a subject. Thank you so much. As a fabric junkie you have fueled my dreams of visiting various exhibits. I hope that Mr. Islam continues his work and resurrects Dakka muslin.
It's interesting how "civilization" always tries to take possession of anything that is truly unique. And then proceed to destroy it somehow.
What civilization and who destroys it ????
Read the history the destruction of cultures and civilizations was only caused by the most uncivilized unruly colonialism of Europeans
@@MuradKhan-bh6pt We are saying the same in different ways. Let's separate this into religion, just for an example.
Historically speaking, Christians conquerors killed and erased other cultures.
Muslim conquerors accepted the culture and traditions of the places they conquered. They allowed life to go back to "normal", as long as it didn't represent a threat to their ruling the area
@@ambarroseLmao, that is the best propaganda I have ever read.
@@LalaDepala_00 in what sense?
It's not civilisation, it's greed. Blame capitalism for destroying the arts that civilisation has created.
This is rare. I subscribed after watching one video. Please keep creating content like this.
I’ve had an interest in Indian textiles for years. There is nothing more beautiful than these handlooms. Nothing can compare to the variety of weaves and the imagination of the weavers who have created these superb textiles.
I hope the man can somehow manage it! Good luck to him, the fabric he is already making is gorgeous! Maybe get ahold of some silk weavers and spinners, especially those making it out of silk cocoons that the moths have hatched from...
It's see-through, not very practical.
@@zyxw2000 You say that like there aren't entire industries devoted towards impractical things of little real substance.
Indian cloths - of all varieties - had always been the most sought after and valuable in the world.
It is even reflected in languages such as Turkish. Where, when you ask someone if they believe themselves to be anything special you say: "What do you think you are? An Indian fabric?" ❤
People still use the term in turkish. Thank you mentioning it here.
Dhaka muslin fabric is from Bangladesh not India 😂
are you dumb?? @@sayemmollah5238
Bangladesh didn't exist prior to 1971, India is eternal
@@varoonnone7159 Bangladesh is Bengal And muslin fabric is from independent Bengal
I love seeing these traditional arts come back. Our modern world has tried so vary hard to stop out artisans and craftsman in the name of progress and efficiency throughout the modern age.
Ultimate capitalism: Unfettered greed destroys everything it values. The snake devours its tail. That is the lesson all industry needs to learn.
How many graphic tees do you own?
@@carissstewart3211 not many are decorative enough
Unfettered greed values money. When the product is gone, the greedy just move on to the next thing to exploit.
Greed ruins everything it touches.
Unfortunately, very True . and Most People Never take Accountability
This is still the most fascinating fashion history ever. It's like somethingbour if a fairy tale... and I'm not surprised how many want to recreate it. I believe it will eventually be fully recreated and we can all dream of such beautiful things 😍
I read once in a book about "Kos silk". It was supposed to be the sheer fabric worn in those statues like the Nike of Samothrace. However I can't find more info about the fabric. All I know is that it's sheer and that they allow the moth to emerge from the cocoon. Can you look into it?
Omg this brings me soooo much joy!! To see that it is being brought back 😍❤️
Loved this video, and I also found it from tiktok. But please take the music out or make it lower. All I can hear is the music, not the speaking! Makes it less enjoyable.
Ok thanks! Will do that going forward.
Exactly
I am from 🇧🇩...thank you so much for your labours work to make a video on this topic. my grandmother had a " Dacai Moslin Saree". My grandfather gave that Saree to my grandmother in the name of love. We heard Lots of story about it 😊. I wish my grandmother could protect it... A riot destroyed everything 😢
thank you. I never knew all this. I feel so sad, again, at how artisans and profit clashed. Also today, fewer but better should be our motto always.
some people need cheap, but your statement is also important for some.
This story is so sad, but I feel that there has been a Renaissance of sorts going on into bringing back the lost arts. I wated a video where the Indians were able to spin clith so fine that a whole sari was said to be able to fit through the eye of a needle. No machine has ever been able to reproduce theads so fine. I don't know if its true, I hope it is, but guess its proof that human can do better than machines. I sincerely hope to see the Doca Muslin come back from the dead in my lifetime. That would be so awesome.
As a person who loves to sew when possible I was clearly born TOO late. Thank you for a very fascinating, interesting video with great content!!! 😘❤❤❤❤
there's still PLENTY out there to choose from !
At the age of 77 I am growing more interested lately in the idea that we have given up a lot in losing old materials, crafts, skills, hobbies, etc. I used to laugh at or deride people who live "off the grid" or intentionally simply, but now realize that at least they are actually making things with their own hands. For example fifty years from now no one will embroider.
@@juliejohnson497 I think you're quite right. I feel the same about visual art, the historical techniques and overall understanding of the principles of "everything". I remember when I first saw those "art" , photo-shop, online design programs and immediately saw that honest art was going out the window. The worst thing is that there are "heads" of high school art departments who clearly know nothing about visual art and LIE to the students.........not only are certain subjects being lost, but information is now diluted and dumbed down. And crafts???? That's a disgrace. Locally people think their making "Pottery" when they purchase an already made out of the mould piece and get to "glaze it!" ooooh-wee........................sad.
My Mom always told me that the cloth was so thin that it could be folded an put into a matchbox. I found it unbelievable at the time. Just glad that they are trying to reinvent it.
Ancient Egyptians in their tomb paintings and carvings are sometimes depicted wearing very sheer fabrics as well - maybe they also produced something like this.
Some information get lost in time hope they will find some information
Good news is our hard working people now able to make in again few years ago with the government's initiative. (From Bangladesh)
Bangladesh scientist restored the technology of Dhakai muslin. In 2022 . Only few copies are made but I am proud of bangaldeshi scientist and all the workers who worked hard for it.
I heard from my mother , about this beautiful cloth, so glad it's being reproduced again, bravo the team who made it possible
A very interesting video. I sure wish the music wasn't so loud. I had to turn the sound down and turn closed captioning on because I could barely hear you over the music.
wow this is such an interesting story and I'm glad that people research onto this to recreate it again! As someone who sews as a hobby I've always wondered what kind of sheer fabrics they used on their garments in those old paintings!
As a seamstress and indologist, I really appreciate your video 🤩 thank you for bringing this fascinating story to life with your beautifully made video 👌❤️
Thank you! :) -- Just subscribed to your channel
@@AhmedZaidi how nice of you! I subscribed from my private account, will do from this one too!😊❤ I am looking forward to your next video!
the cotton gauze is still made in India sometimes a lining for an indian cotton dress. Martha Washington liked it and then could not get it anymore. Glad to hear of the sheer silk. Also I had the block print Tree of Life bedspread that smells like incense and the same family made for centuries I donated it to a historic house in Richmond for the single bed they had in the maid's room, it is unchanged for centuries as a block print and fabric. The historians were delighted. Not and expensive item but hard to find here!
That is so interesting! The fabric is so translucent even though the thread count is high. Thank you for sharing!!
I'm Bangladeshi, and since childhood, I've been fascinated by stories from my mother and grandmother about a saree so fine it could fit into a matchbox and pass through a finger ring. I once thought it was just a myth, but through my studies, I discovered the reality of Dhakai muslin. It was not just a fabric; it represented a remarkable feat of craftsmanship. The British, threatened by its superiority, resorted to brutal tactics to maintain their dominance in the textile market. They imposed heavy tariffs, exploited local weavers, and even went as far as cutting off the fingertips of skilled artisans to suppress production. These actions aimed to stifle the competition posed by Dhaka muslin, which was unmatched in its delicacy and quality. Learning about this history fills me with a renewed sense of anger and appreciation for our cultural heritage.
Fascinating!! Thank you for making this video.
When the world breaks, and I don't mean the end of the world, just when we've had enough or can't get enough anymore, I hope we are all blessed to know someone with these skills. Save your pedal sewing machines and learn how to use them. I've always thought that if push came to shove, I could dress my family because I know how to sew. They might not look great, but they'd have clothes. Knowing how to create the fabric is a whole other thing.
Knowing how to sew isn't much use without fabric to be sewn. I recommend learning how to grow, spin, and weave your own fibre - depending where you are, that could be linen or hemp or wool or cotton or any number of other materials.
And yes, the end of a civilisation doesn't mean the end of the world. After the fall of the Roman civilisation, for instance, most of the survivors were better off than their families had been in the time of the empire - especially those whose ancestors had been slaves! The trick is to be one of the survivors, because a lot of people don't survive the fall of a civilisation.
If you control the machines after a collapse, even better. Tractors dating from the 1960s are in very high demand from farmers, as they work well enough, and are trivial to repair in a shed. If they run diesel, even better.
@@Demopans5990 Assume that fossil fuels will be one of the first things off the table in a collapse. The effort required to grow enough of any type of plant oil to fuel a tractor really isn't worth it. Heavy horses for farm work also use so much grain that they only became economic in Europe after the conquest of America made feed grain a cheap resource. The last truly self-sufficient farmers were ploughing with oxen. This is actually a good thing for us, because there are a lot more big cattle in the world than there are big horses, and a lot more work has gone into breeding them for feed conversion efficiency, so getting hold of good breeding stock will be a breeze.
Found this through tiktok, thank you for the super interesting and well made video! 👌
Oh this was so interesting, I love fabric and so enjoyed this story. thank you
Yes, retail has an obsession with the lowest price. A significant part of the population would be willing to pay moderately more if the item was made in their Nation or had much better quality or was grown locally, etc.
Or if it was of better quality.
Thank you, this is amazing! So beautiful and it is wonderful to be making such items again!
Well done and well said!!! Very knowledgeable and insightful presentation.
Beautifully done. Done for the beauty of the art. Beautifully done honoring the Dhaka Fabric and the people who crafted it. Beautifully done for the history. Beautifully done with the truth. Thx for filming this and sharing it with us.
Always a pity when an otherwise interesting subject gets ruined by loud music. You might consider lowering the volume of your "background" music; it would make it a more enjoyable experience for the viewer.
Thank you for this very interesting video. Could you please do one on chintz? I am fromI ndonesia and Indonesians loved hand painted chintz from India. I heard that the hand painted chintz industri was destroyed by the British with their industrialcloth mills. When this happened in the 19th centruy, the disappearance of Indian hand painted chintz left a great vacum in Indonesia and to full the need we began creating had made batiks that looked like chintz both in colour as well as design. It changed the whole batik industry inIndonesia.
The obsession about lower-cost clothing is driven by corporate greed and we Americans’ insistence on finding the cheapest possible apparel. TH-cam abounds with hauls featuring Walmart, Shein, etc. We have lost touch with the actual cost of quality materials and construction, and ethical and environmentally safe practices. So long as Americans buy $5 polyester tops and $10 jeans, the market will continue to provide such things. By number of dollars, not present value, clothes cost the same as they did when I was a teenager fifty years ago. That is, a light jacket was about $30-40, a woman’s top $10-20, etc., and they are still the same number of dollars today. But the dollar is worth so much less now, they shpuld cost 4 to 5 times as much (as many dollars). The only way to accomplish what is essentially cutting the actual cost to one-fifth or so is to cheapen production, sacrificing quality, people’s freedom and well-being and our environment. Don’t buy this cheap crap, we consumers are part of the problem. I just bought two very high-quality Euro-grown and -made linen summer dresses for $225 each. That reflects the true cost of making these responsible, quality clothes. I know I will wear and treasure them for the rest of my life, so I didn’t mind the high cost. I realize not everyone can afford that price point, but it’s better to buy fewer, natural-fiber, responsibly-made clothing items, or secondhand. (Linen grows wild in its natural environment, most of Europe, and needs no irrigation, fertilizers or pesticides. European labor laws protect all workers from exploitation).
I can’t possibly afford $500 in dresses, be it 2 or 10
I can afford a $10 pr of jeans
So that’s what I wear
It's even more astonishing because muslin is a light, airy translucent fabric that drapes softy. So whilst you can get 1000 threads per square inch cotton, it is smooth and soft to touch, but drapes stiff and papery.
Loved the video! Super informative. I found the music a little distracting--might be good to lower the volume, vs your voice, for the next video.
I random clicked, and what a reward! I found this so very interesting, although also very sad. Worldwide, we have destroyed so much. So many crafts, so much independence and human creativity of the most beautiful kind.
I am shocked this isn’t a massive channel. Really informative and love the pace. One thing that annoyed me though was the slide transition sound, I was looking for what’s causing that before I realized that it happens when the image changes. I eventually got more used to it, but I could never stop hearing it
Sorry about that haha! Won’t include it in the future
Beautiful, sentimental and glorious. Should be written for record. Congratulations
Excellent video thank you for sharing ❤️
Thanks for watching!
Wow. do keep us updated of the advances in this topic. I would love to hear the news that they have succeeded at the production again. Specially, if they find the model to make it sustainable and beneficial for the local population.
Originally this fabric was refined by little girls who worked special looms that was proprietary of that village the EOC literally broke the fingers of the weavers burned the looms and the cotton fields. This was an act deemed necessary by the British because of the loss of the American cotton industry so the British moved swiftly to stop India and America who were the top cotton producers by starting there own industry establishing egyptian cotton farms in British controled Nile delta and industrialized British looms and thus cornered the cotton market. A great tragedy hopefully this fabric can be resurrected.