Nettle Fibers

For all the menace of the plant that guards them, nettle fibers are astonishingly gentle in the hand — long, fine, and faintly lustrous, closer to silk than to the coarse bast they are stripped from. They are strong, too, belying their softness.

A tailor who works nettle is trusted with the finest natural cloth the realm grows, the material that marks the boundary between everyday weaving and the luxury of true silk. Few forage it well, and fewer still without regret for their fingers.