What seems like half a lifetime ago, a short paper presented at the Early Textiles Study Group conference on the subject of making replicas of historical fabrics was subsequently published in Archaeological Textiles Newsletter 40.1 This chapter is based on the flow diagram of decision making produced for that article, and although much has been learned since then, the basic questions remain the same. These are: why – the purpose of the reconstruction; what – can one establish enough about the source material and are adequate materials and techniques available to produce a reasonable reconstruction; and how – is the method important or can modern tools be used? An additional question that now seems important is ‘who is doing the work?’ because the level of skill and experience will affect the outcome. These questions will be reviewed first, and then, in order to examine all of the choices made and the reasoning behind them a specific job, the re-creation of a piece of tenth-century woollen cloth from York, will be discussed with reference to the châine opératoire for cloth production.

WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?

The first and most important question is why the work is being undertaken. There are many reasons for reproducing textile artefacts and the concern of this chapter is with the finished product rather than the process. Experimental archaeology has long been a part of the study of textiles and there has been much good work done on the use of specific tools and the working methods of the past. Replicas for wear and display appear to have taken longer to become established, although improved understanding among museums and costumed interpreters that modern cloth does not adequately demonstrate the properties of pre-industrial fabrics has produced a small but increasing demand for evidence-based reconstructions that do not necessarily have to be produced in a historically accurate way.

It would appear that the work done by Elizabeth Peacock between 1949 and 1951 for the ‘People of Britain’ display at the Festival of Britain was the first such project, even though Britain lagged behind the Scandinavian countries in the recording and analysis of archaeological textiles.