Fancy Yarns in the Fabrics of Lithuanian Folk Skirts

Abstract

When manufacturing a fabric, it is very important to obtain a fabric with decorative, aesthetical and also functional characteristics. All these requirements can be satisfied when using different fancy yarns. Another important aspect – it is important for the history of textile art and technology to disclose a variety and evolution of this decorative principle in Lithuanian ethnographic textile and define rules and traditions in coordinating fancy yarns with different fabric structure properties, also to show peculiarities of chronological and territorial prevalence. After analyzing 258 Lithuanian folk skirts from the National M. K. Čiurlionis Art Museum (NČDM) folk art collection, it was determined that in 14 % of the skirts, woven in the XIX – the 1st half of XX century, various fancy yarns with optical, structural and mixed type effects were used to make fabrics more decorative, based on which 8 categories of fabrics were picked out. While examining dependence of fancy yarns on fabric weave, it was determined that fancy yarns mostly were coordinated with plain weave. Analysis of the dependence of fancy yarns on fabric pattern shows, that fancy yarns are common in 4 types of pattern. It was determined, that most fabrics with fancy yarns (21 % of all fabrics weaved in this region) were made in Aukštaitija, and least (10 %) were made in Dzūkija, while there were no such fabrics in Klaipėda region. From the chronological point of view the investigation showed, that the earliest samples of Lithuanian ethnographical skirts woven with fancy yarns were dated in the middle of XIX century. In later periods the use of fancy yarns in the skirt fabrics increased and became more varied, yarns with more variations became widespread. Fancy yarns of this type can be manufactured with different modern machines, and it enables reconstruction of fabrics, for which fancy yarns were used.