Textile Technicals Trivia Quiz

Answer: Men only

The Guild of St Fiacra was founded in Paris in 1527 and was for men only. This established knitting as a male dominated industry, which situation continued for many years to come. Knitting was primarily a home occupation fuelled by the popularity of knitted stockings. By the end of the 1600s these were so popular that Britain alone exported around one million pairs to Europe.

Answer: 1726

Dated 1726 this Canadian quilt is on display at the McCord Museum of Canadian History. It is made of silk, damask, velvet, linen and cotton. Most quilts were made out of old dresses, coats, any scraps of left over materials available. Materials in those days were too scarce and too valuable to waste.

However, the fact that quilts were made from scraps does not mean that they were not things of beauty. Many of them are worked in intricate patterns and are beautifully stitched. Early North American quilts are highly prized by collectors of textiles.

Answer: Terrier dogs

Many of the large textile mills in Yorkshire used terriers to keep down the rat and mouse populations. These evolved into the Yorkshire Terriers that we know today. They were, however, bigger than their modern counterparts, and far more aggressive. None of them would ever be seen with a pink bow tying back their top-knot!

Answer: Salivary glands

Silk thread makes up the cocoon of the silk worm and is produced by the salivary glands. The raw silk thread is so fine that around two to three thousand cocoons are needed to make one pound of silk. To ensure that the cocoon is not damaged it is boiled to kill the animal inside. If it were allowed to survive it would make a hole in the cocoon for the moth to emerge when ready, and this would damage the thread.

Answer: 13

The first sheep in New Zealand were landed by Captain Cook, probably in 1773. They are believed to have been Merinos. The main breed farmed in New Zealand today are Romney sheep, which are good for both wool and food. From those humble beginnings New Zealand has about 12 sheep for every person and exports wool and lamb all over the world.

They contribute around 25% of the total wool used in the world.

Answer: Thomas Saint

Thomas Saint patented the first workable sewing machine in 1790. It was designed primarily for sewing leather and canvas and produced only a simple chain stitch. It was not until 1851 that Isaac Singer patented a sewing machine that we would recognise today.

By the 1860s he had the world's largest sewing machine company, and was selling in stores all over America. Although the prices were quite high he also invented the instalment plan, and sold thousands of machines to ordinary housewives.

Answer: Grace Mowat

Those three rugs started a business that rapidly expanded. Grace Mowat recruited local women to weave and knit garments and other craft items. They used local yarns and featured New Brunswick scenes as their theme. It was so successful that by 1921 she was paying her workers around $12,000 a year.

In 1946 she sold the business to William Ross, and it remained a family run business selling hand knitted and hand woven goods.

Answer: Ladies' stockings

Nylon was patented in 1937, a New York and London invention. It was first used in 1938 in a toothbrush with nylon bristles, but was introduced to the public at the New York World's Fair in 1939 with ladies' stockings. Women instantly wanted them, and over five million pairs were sold in one single day. For many years it was the most readily available and cheapest man made fibre and was used in shirts, blouses, skirts, curtains, soft furnishings. Easy to dye, it soon had an impact on male office wear in particular, where brightly coloured nylon shirts became popular with the younger generation, replacing the traditional white cotton shirt worn by their older colleagues.

Answer: Crimplene

Invented in the 1950s, Crimplene, named for Crimple Valley, was everywhere in the 1960s. Male and female clothing, household soft furnishings, it seemed as though its uses were endless. Part of its popularity was due to the fact that it could be washed and worn time and time again without loosing shape or colour, and without ironing.

Its drawback was that it was a quite heavy fabric, and towards the end of the 1960s it fell out of favour, being replaced by lighter polyester fabric.

Answer: China

China, Egypt, India and America all grow and produce cotton in great quantities. It is popular for hot weather clothing, bedding and soft furnishings all over the world. A very versatile material, it can be woven to a very thin or quite thick fabric in a variety of patterns and dyed to virtually any colour you like.

As with all natural fabrics it "breathes" so allows heat to escape, rather than keeping it in, which can be an unpleasant effect of materials such as nylon.