THE MAKING OF THE CHITON

Northland Age, Volume 1, Issue 10, 11 December 1931, Page 9

THE MAKING OF THE CHITON

We may oe sure that the Greek woman, with a roof over her head, after she had fed her family, turned her attention to clothes. Here she was not so much worried as the English mother of today, by the number and complexity of the garments still required by her boys. Taking her own garments first she wove on her loom what we should call a dress-length, about six feet wide by eleven feet long. This she made into her principal garment the chiton, without any cutting or waste of material; and this is a very important detail to note in the drawings. Herodotus has told us of the two types of chiton, the Dorian and lonian. The Dorian was made very simply, by taking the length of material and folding over about a quarter of its width. It was then arranged and fastened to the shoulders by brooches, and fell into the familiar folds. In the earlier styles the open sides were not sewn up, but it was secured by a girdle at the waist, and the material was pulled out and pouched over the girdle. The turnedover piece which hung down at back and front, looks, in some vase drawings, as if it were a separate tunic, but this is not the case. The later chitons were sewn up at the sides. The Dorian chiton was fastened, at first, on the shoulders.... The earliest garments were woven in fine wool, and here is a point to be noted by anyone who makes Greek dresses —they will look much “bunchier” than the vase drawings. Even a fine woollen material, like Viyella, does not hang in quite the desired way, and we get our best results .with crepe-de-chine. The lonian chiton was introduced early in the sixth century. This was much more like a dress, and did not have the turned-over piece, so it was more economical so far as the material was concerned. The width was about four feet six inches, and the length twice the span of the arms, say eleven feet. The material was folded and sewnj leaving holes for the head and arms, and it then fell into folds. Finely crinkled linen, like crepe, was used, and sometimes

muslin. The chiton was girdled and pouched. Sometimes the material was striped, and had fringes added. Saffron and red seem to have been favourite colours.—Marjorie and C. H. B. Quennel, in “Everyday Things in Archaic Greece.”