Clothing Style Manual

Women's Clothing (Part 1)

Dresses of varying lengths from knee to floor length, blouses, long skirts, trous, vests, bodices, overalls, wool and cotton sweaters, fur lined cloth jackets (higher ranking), cloaks, lace gloves. Further south at Boll and Ista you'll find muumuus, sarongs, dashikis (African), and middle eastern styled garb. Veils and head scarves are also worn, at times, to block out the sun and wind.

Men's Clothing (Part 2)

Trous, overalls, shirts, tunics, wool or cotton sweaters, fur lined cloth jackets. In the south you may even see the odd turban.

Children's Clothing (Part 3)

Here, generally miniature versions of whatever the adults are wearing are dressed upon the children.

Fort Hold and Weyr (Part 4)

Fort Hold colors: Brown and Yellow

Fort Weyr colors: Brown and Black

Since Fortians are so close to the WeaverCrafthall, they are usually the first to get the news on what is hot for this season's fashion statements. The Hold lies in the temperate zones, so the style of dress may vary with the changing seasons. Although thermals heating keeps off most of the chill, fur-lined cloth garments are necessary in the stone corridors of the Hold and Weyr.

Through most of the Turn, holders wear floor-length dresses and pants and through the height of summer someone may dare to re invent the bikini or weave clothing out of grasses, dependent upon the amount of attraction one desires to attain.

Tastes in clothing tend towards the ornate in Fort Hold. In the evening, the holders design new clothes, using stones and hammered gold or silver leaf and interesting dyed designs for adornment. Famous for its complex brocades, knit or woven on multiple looms, the occasional brocade jacket cut to the ancient Chinese pattern turn up from time to time.

These knit brocades are done on needles as tin as sewing needles, using ordinary thread of sisal or cotton, but there's rarely anything ordinary about the results.

Here many patterns of weaving and embroidery are unique to Fort Hold. Weavers are able to produce cotton velvet, terry cloth, and other slubbed fabrics, including a cloth similar to denim (usually for work clothes).

There are no zippers on Pern; trousers close with button flaps, drawstrings, or a two-sided substance like Velcro.

Long-sleeved boat-necked sweaters and bush trousers are recommended wear for going outside the Hold, as there are many plants to beware of in the brush and neighboring areas.

Benden Hold and Weyr (Part 5)

Benden has carefully guarded treasured patterns for patchwork, which it uses for clothing as well as for quilts. Ornate sleeveless padded vests in patchwork worn over shirts are a trademark of the fashionable Bendonite. Embroidery is a skill many take up to pass the long evenings.

High Reaches Hold and Weyr (Part 6)

Weavers here shear the Ilamas that High Reaches uses as pack animals; the hair is woven into an unusually fine and soft, warm cloth. Knitters practice the art of felting, a Craft which they share with Southern Boll. As a rule, most of the holders use their skill for gloves, sweaters, heavy skirts, and trousers to go under weatherproof hide, but WeaverCraft skills are invited to be put to lighter work, such as felt hats and decorative slippers for ladies.

Felting obscures the careful knit stitches of the heavy fleece sweaters, but renders the fabric much warmer and less likely to catch hook or barb casually. Being less permeable, felted knits also last longer. In order that a High Reaches "gansie," or seaman's sweater, can be easily distinguished, the knitters use the old star-and-egg Fair Isle pattern derived from Earth.

The sweaters are often brilliantly colored, predominantly made in tan and blue, the Hold colors, but banded with bright gold and red dyes made from lichen for greater visibility.

Tillek Hold (Part 7)

Colors: White and dark Blue

Much of the knitting and stitching is done here by the men and women of the hold, generally for such things as nets. Fishermen use a specific stitch pattern to denote port of origin and seaholders wear a trellis stitch in which the Hold symbol can be easily rendered. Often, it is dyed to the Hold colors: white and blue from the fields of meadowsweet flowers that grow in the nearby mountain valleys. But this also shows up frequently in the distinctive single-colored raised knit pattern, combined with a traveling cable and double moss stitch.

Sturdy, nearly waterproof sweaters and jerseys serve to protect the man or woman wearing them from the elements, but also to identify them if their body is washed ashore.

Nalbinding mittens, incredibly warm, harder-wearing than knit, and more flexible in cold and wet than hide, are highly sought after and usually bring in a handsome price. Some brocade knitting is done here as well, but it generally cannot compete with the delicate brocades of Fort Hold.

Southern Boll Hold (Part 8)

Color: Bright Red and White

This Hold boasts hot, balmy weather in all seasons and unfortunately hats will not stay on in the constant wind, so those who live here tend towards veils, head scarves, and turbans. For those who do not mind the sun, muumuus, sarongs, bikinis, and dashikis are not uncommon wear; there is even the occasional grass skirt.

Telgar Hold (Part 9)

Color: Bright Red, White, and medium Blue

Famous for many things, Telgar as been considered highly skilled in the production of printed fabric, silk screen and batik.

Ista Hold (Part 10)

Bright Orange and White

Because of the constant heat, Istans prefer to sleep on hammocks instead of rope beds, and wear either many layers of thin fabric or very little at all, depending on how each person chooses to deal with the heat.

Igen Hold (Part 11)

Bright Red and golden Yellow

The hot, dry climate of Igen as once again sparked the holders into adopting styles of dress unique to their homestead. Burnoose robes are common, as are broad brimmed hats, height-crowned to provide plenty of room to cool the scalp underneath during the long days. Under the wide hats protecting their faces from the sun, Igen women wear veils and snoods over their hair to keep out the dust. They favor bright colors and resemble fantastic insects in the shimmering landscape of the desert.

Other concessions to comfort include the use of hammocks, as rush bags and furs are too warm in any season.

Knitting Patterns (Part 12)

By tradition, each hold has an exclusive knit pattern. The styles vary considerably between Holds. Also by tradition, the patterns are knit with plain yarn, or dyed in each Hold's dominant color. The dyes are made from plants, roots, mosses, fish, or whatever is most available. Ista's color, bright orange, comes from a shellfish that lives in the tropical waters.

Lewis Hold: Crossover rib

Half Circle: Twisted V stitch, which looks like endless rows of half circles, alternating with cable stitch and bobbles

Ruatha and Ruatha River Hold: A very distinctive smocked rib pattern

Big Bay (Igen Sea Hold): Cable alternating with double cable

Sea Cliff: Moire Stitch

Misty Hold: Lattice Cable

Tillek: Raised knit pattern combined with traveling cable and double moss stitch.

Sattle: Chain and moss cable

Rocky Hold: Star stitch

Hold Gar: Shell stitch

Fort Sea Hold: Triple twisted rib

Valley Hold: Reversed arrowhead cable, in deference to their hold badge.

Greystones: Twisted columns, for the sarsenlike rock spurs that appear here.

Bay Head: Twisted diamond

Nerat: Scallop shell stitch.