Cloth: More than meets the eye

Have you ever considered the hard work involved in making your own clothes from scratch? Here's a quick summary of the process from Laura Ingalls Wilder's Farmer Boy.
1. Raise sheep.
2. Shear their wool. Chapter 14 "Sheep-Shearing" has one of my favorite funny Little House stories.
3. Weave it into fabric. Chapter 5 "Birthday", toward the end of the chapter.
4. Cut up the fabric you've woven and sew it into clothes in the proper size and shape. Chapter 23 "Cobbler"

A placemat or stuffed animal blanket made on a small loom. 

I envy Mother Wilder's skill at making clothes. Can you imagine the amount of work it must have taken just to make one pair of pants? No wonder people were so frugal in olden days - if they ruined their outfit, they had to MAKE a new one. Thank goodness for modern conveniences!
Elizabeth