The Caste of Cloth Workers

Melanie - Assassin

We clasped hands.
Of the two hundred remaining double tarns from the victory in the Ubar's race I gave all but one to free Melanie, who had served in the kitchens of Cernus, and arrange a livelihood for her. With the money remaining over from her purchase price, which was negligible, she, who had been of the Cloth Workers, could open a shop in Ar, purchase materials, and hire men of her caste to aid her in the work.
Assassin

Clitus - Mercenaries
“She belongs to Clitus, the Cloth Worker, on the floor above,” said the proprietor.
Mercenaries

Unknown

Rug Makers
Carders
Dyers
Weavers

...The carders and the dyers, incidentally, are subcastes separate from the weavers. All are subcastes of the rug makers, which itself, interestingly, perhaps surprisingly, is accounted generally as a subcaste of the cloth workers. Rug makers themselves, however usually regard themselves in their various subcastes, as being independent of the cloth workers. A rug maker would not care to be confused with a maker of kaftans, turbans or djellabas.
Tribesmen

Each knot, by a girl, a free woman, is tied individually by hand. There are many varieties of such rugs. Almost all are incredibly beautiful.
Tribesmen

I had taken a large. room on the ground floor, behind a cloth-worker’s shop, just off the Street of Tapestries.
Explorers

SEE ALSO Wool on Gor

Wool of the Hurt
"I wore a white robe, woven of the wool of the Hurt, imported from distant Ar, trimmed with golden cloth, from Tor, the colors of the Merchant."
Hunters

...The wool of the hurt is usually used for male slave garments; it absorbs perspiration well; and rep-cloth is commonly used for female slave garments; it is quite thin and clings well to the curves of the female body.
Explorers

Silk and Rep Cloth
SEE ALSO Rep cloth, fiber and plants

There were sellers of scarves and sashes, veils and haiks, chalwars and robes, and slippers and katans, and cording for agals. Too, there were cloth merchants, with their silks and rolls of rep cloth.
Tribesmen

At the oasis, because of the warm climate, the farmers can grow two or more crops a year. Larma and tospits are also grown at the oases, in small orchards. Some rep is grown, for cloth, but most cloth come to the oases from caravans.
Tribesmen

I would allow Vika to share the great stone couch, it's sleeping pelts, and silken sheets. This was unusual, however, for normally the Gorean Slave Girl sleeps at the foot of her Masters couch, often on a straw mat with only a thin, cotton-like blanket, woven from the soft fibers of the Rep plant, to protect her from the cold.
Priest Kings

Her hair was tied behind her head with a strip of purple cloth, dyed rep-cloth. I knew then that she came of a community that had contact to some degree, direct or indirect, with civilized Goreans. Rep is a whitish fibrous matter found in the seed pods of a small, reddish, woody bush, commercially grown in several areas, but particularly below Ar and above the equator; the cheap rep-cloth is woven in mills, commonly, in various cities; it takes dyes well and, being cheap and strong, is popular, particularly among the lower castes.
Raiders

Satin
The most common Gorean garment for a slave is a brief slave tunic. This tunic is invariably sleeveless and, usually, has a deep, plunging neckline. It may be of a great variety of materials, from rich satins and silks to thin, form-revealing, clinging rep-cloth.
Guardsman

The musicians then began to play, softly. The girl emerged from the kitchen.
There were sounds of pleasure, and surprise, from those about the table.
The dark-haired girl, exquisite and lovely, stood in the light, on the tiles, back from the foot of the table, that we might well see her. Her hair was drawn severely back on her head. She wore what seemed to be a svelte, satin, off-the-shoulder, white sheath gown.
....
I saw then that a rectangle of white cloth, cleverly tucked and sewn, had been used to simulate the off-the-shoulder, white sheath gown on Earth. Such an actual gown, of course, had not been available to her on Gor.
Guardsman

Muslin and brocade
and Elizabeth spun her about, peeling off layers of robes of concealment until, in a heavy pile of silk, brocade, satin, and starched muslin the girl stood in a sleeveless, rather brief orange tunic, attractive, of a sort sometimes worn by free women in the privacy of their own quarters.
Assassin

Linen
The blond slave of Aemilianus then re-entered. She placed a large, folded square of sparkling white linen at the bottom of the table. She then lit a wide, large, low candle and placed this candle, on a plate, on the soft, wide square of folded linen. She then withdrew to the side.
Guardsmen

Rence Cloth - though likely only produced by Rencers in the Vosk Delta
The plant has many uses besides serving as a raw product in the manufacture of rence paper. The root, which is woody and heavy, is used for dertain wooden tools and utensils, which can be carved from it; also, when dried, it makes a good fuel; from the stem the rence growers can make reed boats, sails, mats, cords and a kind of fibrous cloth;
Raiders

Wool of verr
The finest wool, however, is sheared in the spring from the bellies of the verr and hurt, and would, accordingly, not be available until later in the season. The wool market, as was to be expected, was now slow.
Tribesman

Kaiila hair cloth
Bent over, carrying a grossly woven bag of kaiila-hair cloth, filled with accouterments, I set foot on the cracked boards of the Kurtzal dock.
Tribesmen

The kaiila, unlike the verr and hurt, is never sheared. When it sheds its hair, however, the hair may be gathered, and, depending on the hair, various cloths can be made from it. There is a soft, fine hair, the most prized, which grows on the belly of the animal; there is an undercoating of hair, soft but coarser, which is used for most cloth; and there are the long, outer hairs. These, though still soft and pliant, are, comparatively, the most coarse. The hairs of this coat are used primarily for rope and tent cloth.
Tribesmen Velvet
I reached out, timidly, toward her throat. I touched the object there.
"What is this?" I asked.
"The silk?" she asked. "That is a collar stocking, or a collar sleeve. They may be made of many different materials. In a cooler climate they are sometimes of velvet. in most cities they are not used."
Kajira

Loom
They are made on simple looms and the pile is knotted onto the warp and weft. Some of these rugs have as many as four hundred knots per square hort.
Tribesmen

"I wore a white robe, woven of the wool of the Hurt, imported from distant Ar, trimmed with golden cloth, from Tor, the colors of the Merchant."
Hunters

Take five girls more than a year to make certain rugs
It takes five girls more than a year to make certain of these rugs. The patterns, memorized by the carders, some of them blind, are intricate, and passed down through families. They are made on simple looms and the pile is knotted onto the warp and weft. Some of these rugs have as many as four hundred knots per square hort. The hort is approximately an inch and a quarter in length. Each knot, by a girl, a free woman, is tied individually by hand. There are many varieties of such rugs. Almost all are incredibly beautiful.
Tribesmen

At various places in the bazaar, from a latticework laid between the buildings, numerous skeins of wool hung, dyed in various bright colors, drying.
....
I looked up at skeins of wool hanging from the wooden poles between the flat roofs. They were quite colorful.
Tribesmen

Ah-il
Ah-ral

Cloth is measured in the ah-il, which is the length from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger, and the ah-ral, which is ten ah-ils.
Tribesmen

Tor was, as Gorean cities went, a rich, trading city. It was headquarters for thousands of caravan Merchants. In it, too, were housed many craftsmen, practicing their industries, carvers, varnishers, table makers, gem cutters, jewelers, carders, dyers of cloth, weavers of rugs, tanners, makers of slippers, toolers of leather, potters, glaziers, makers of cups and kettles, weapon smiths, and many others. Much of the city, of course, was organized to support the caravan trade.
Tribesmen

the long line of wagons, each filled with its various goods, those mysterious metals and gems, rolls of cloth, foodstuffs, wines and Paga, weapons and harness, cosmetics and perfumes, medicines and slaves. Mintar’s caravan, like most, was harnessed long before dawn and traveled until the heat of the day."
Tarnsman

Telekint = Red Vegetable dyes
Bark & leaves
roots and flowers
Animal products
Crushed insects

The drover threw back the hood of his burnoose, and pulled down the veil about his face. Beneath the burnoose he wore a skullcap. The rep-cloth veil was red; it had been soaked in a primitive dye, mixed from water and the mashed roots of the telekint; when he perspired, it had run; his face was stained....
Tribesmen

The dyes used in the malting of these rugs are, on the whole, natural dyes, vegetable dyes, some made from barks and leaves, and roots and flowers, others from animal products, crushed insects, etc.
Tribesmen