Travel guide

tiaggias (‘tablecloths’), nentsolos (‘bed linen’), all rigorously woven by hand
with wool, cotton or flax yarn, either in white or coloured with plant-based
dyes. Before the 1920s, the rug and the tapestry were not part of the range
of Sardinian textiles. The increase in their production is a result of the
requirements by modern furnishing, which has progressively introduced
them into the houses thus increasing their serial manufacture to the
detriment of the handmade ones. The term “burras” refers to the bed
blankets, both in flax and Sardinian wool. The maximum length allowed by
the small traditional loom is about 70–80 centimetres. Therefore, following
their weaving blankets were made by sewing together two or three sheets.
The coberibangos served as covers for the top of blanket chests. Their
colours were usually quite lively. Starting from the 1930s, chest covers have
lost their original function to serve instead as furnishing tapestry: famous
and sophisticated is the production in Mogoro, a town which has become
the site for the largest and most popular annual exhibition of Sardinian
craft. The collanas are ribbon-like necklaces, meant for the adornment of
oxen and horses. They are usually embroidered in lively colours and often
end with small bells. The “bertulas” are haversacks made by sewing two
pockets to a strip of fabric. They were used for loading items on pack
animals, although they could also be carried on the shoulder, keeping the
same function. Those of everyday use feature sober colours and patterns,
whereas the festive ones stand out for their bright colours and the
exuberant geometrical or floral decorations.
… There is a great crowd of peasants at the little station. And almost every
man has a pair of woven saddle-bags a great flat strip of coarse-woven
wool, with flat pockets at either end, stuffed with purchases. These are
almost the only carrying bags.The men sling them over their shoulder, so
that one great pocket hangs in front, one behind. These saddle-bags are
most fascinating. They are coarsely woven in bands of raw black-rusty
wool, with varying bands of raw white wool or hemp or cotton – the
bands and stripes of varying width going crosswise. And on the pale bands
are woven sometimes flowers in most lively colours, rose-red and blue and
green, peasant patterns; and sometimes fantastic animals, beasts, in dark
wool again. So that these striped zebra bags, some wonderful gay with
flowery colours on their stripes, some weird with fantastic, griffin-like
animals, are a whole landscape in themselves…
(David Herbert Lawrence, Sea and Sardinia, 1925)
72