how do you spin and make cloth?

Question

okay i know that spinning has something to do with flax and you use a loom to make cloth but i need to know the steps for a fantasy story
a website would give me great visuals i need to know the old fashion way of doing it like before colonial times, maybe even the elizabethan era, but it has to be old
oh and what role does a spindle play in spinning, i remember it in a book i read months ago but i can't remember it
how long would it take to spin a certain amount of string i guess you call it and how long would it take to make it to cloth using a loom?
how would they dye it and how would they embroider it?
thanks!

Answer 1

To give you an answer that does justice to your question is imposible, unless you have spun and woven yourself no crafts person will believe what you write about it.

Each of the questions above will need a book to answer it properly.

But for a beginner using a drop spindle it will take weeks to spin enough for one jersey, to spin fine enough to weave is going to take a few months to learn.
Spinningwheels were invented much later, and while spining on them is faster, it is not easier to learn.
Making a full set of clothes cost a person a full year, I believe, that is why clothes were so extremely expensive in the time before spining, weaving and sewing was mechanised.


Some words to google for are:
Drop spindle
hand weaving
loom
yarn
Dyeing
SCA