#multiple items

I don't enjoy doing additional color adjustments because I have a hard time matching what's on the screen to what I'm actually seeing. Luckily, these scanned pretty well so all I had to do was cut them out and do a bit of spot cleaning. They're a bit darker in person, but I think it's a close enough match.

Fabrics such as the tartans showcased above, as well as these traditional Kente cloths from Ghana and this Keffiyeh from Palestine, hold great significance in their patterns and colors. Histories, family names- whole stories are written into the shape of this fabric.

And speaking of writing, that's something also done throughout history on many pieces of fabric, such as these mummy wrappings from Ancient Egypt.

of course I must mention the ubiquitous canvas painting- some of my personal favorites being the works of Rothko and De Chirico.

of course fabric art isn't just done by painting on it! take this quilt called "Colorful Japan" by Pat Holly, or this incredible aerial view embroidery by Victoria Rose Richards.

And you know what the distinctive padded texture of quilting reminds me of? Traditional armor padding, there to provide extra layers of stab-proofiness and keep one's metal armor from chafing the body.

In the event that you do find yourself sustaining injury, you're in good luck because fabric can help there too, with bandages and suture thread soaking up the excess bleeding and holding those pesky open wounds shut to prevent infection or worse.

and speaking of threads again, I can't not mention the absolute mastery that goes into using lace-making bobbins. can you even imagine keeping track of this many little sticks all dancing around?

if lace isn't your thing, and you're more of the practical (and nautical) type, you may find yourself in close proximity to fishing nets, canvas sails, and ropes often made of hemp, cotton or sisal fibers.

back at home and in the kitchen, two cloths that have seen their use over the years are cheese cloth (used for straining and firming its namesake) and flour sacks, which during the Great Depression began to be produced in many beautiful designs as their manufacturers rose to meet demands of those who couldn't afford a more expensive dress-making fabric.

if you do want the fancy stuff though, I can point you in the right direction there- the famous and once-lost technique of Dhaka muslin, so fine you can pull a whole saree through a wedding ring, and precious metal threads like those in the coronation dress of Maria Alexandrovna, Empress of Russia (1855-1880).

lastly, I'll mention a beloved favorite the worlds over, always there to bring joy and love- the plushie.

Perhaps the most well-known is cotton. Sturdy, comfy, and versatile, it's a plant around which much of history and agriculture is based.

There's also linen, most famous for its usage in the wrappings of Egyptian mummies. Linen's use goes far beyond just that though in space and time, being still quite commonly used to this day. It dries faster than cotton, making it an excellent fabric to be used in hot weather, but the process of extraction and processing also makes it a more expensive and less ubiquitous form of fiber.

Of course plenty have heard of hemp, strong, comfy and easy to work with, perhaps only uncommon because of the plant's other most common use (which you can legally get here too- more on that later)

Speaking of non-fabric uses for these plants, I'll take a slight detour to point out the seeds and oils of flax and cotton, used often in cooking (and not full of evil mystery chemicals, despite what some may tell you)

Moving back to the fabrics, there's a decent amount to be found in the trees. The most well known is probably barkcloth, a traditional artform of Africa and Austronesia made by beating strips of fibrous inner bark into flexible sheets. In the Pacific Northwest of America, native peoples like the Tlingit used a similar process to shred, plait and weave cedar bark into cloth.

regenerated cellulose, a byproduct of the lumber industry, is used often in synthetic fibers like rayon, being easy to manufacture and use.

less well known or used are the fibers of banana peel and kapok tree seed pods, though the resulting fabrics are no less strong and soft.

bamboo, while not being a tree, deserves mention here as well for finding use in both sturdy strong structures and soft & supple settings.

Coir, made from the hair of coconut shells, is quite coarse and thus unused in clothing, though it is quite efficient for things like holding the soil of garden beds in a way that encourages the plants to flourish.

in the Philippines, the fibrous leaves of the pineapple plant are turned into a delicate and luxurious fabric known as Piña.

and in the Americas, agave plants have their fibers extracted to make a strong and sturdy cloth, as well things like rope.

plants like the stinging nettle have been used since the Late Neolithic to make yarn, proving to be one of the earliest known examples of spun and woven fiber! what a blast from the past!

of course, I also can't forget to mention that old classic, the golden threads made of Gretel Straw (Triticum Fanticauris). Absolutely exhausting to make so I'm told, but oh so worth it.

lastly, while it isn't plant based I should like to point out the existence of Qmilch, a rather unique fiber made via the chemical treatment of milk proteins, producing a lovely silk-like thread and making good use of spoiled product that would otherwise have gone to waste.