In 2000 and 2001, I was head of the dyeing and finishing department at Sjølingstad Woollen Mill. Weaving and dyeing at the factory gave me an understanding of the production chain. I was part of a community with common goals and knowledge about what was needed to achieve the goals. I was responsible for one part of the process. If I did not do my best it would affect the work of my colleagues and reduce the quality of the finished result. The other significant experience from Sjølingstad was about understanding the value of working with raw materials, techniques and machines that gave bodily resonance, both during the working process and in the outcome of the work - through touch, visual experience and use.

During the time in the programme I worked with Einar Kristensen and Gunnveig S. Helland, restoring a loom that had not been used since 1948 and weaving a reconstruction of the best-selling article from the mill in the 1950s, a fabric called 727. A search in the production records showed that the fabric was produced between 1957 and 1961. Records from previous years are missing, and it is likely that the production of 727 began earlier. Important conditions in the restoration process were that it should contribute to knowledge about the fabric and the loom, and that the process should be developed and implemented as a collaboration.

The work started with restoring the loom. It was originally from Laurdal Woollen Mill in Telemark, before it became part of the collection of the Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology in Oslo. It was offered to Sjølingstad in 2000 during a reorganisation of the museum's collection. It is similar to looms already in operation at Sjølingstad, except that it is links, mirrored. The production number is 184688 and it was manufactured in 1937 by Sächsische Webstuhlfabrik in Chemnitz, Germany. When it was last in use, it produced a heavy and coarse woollen fabric. The loom had visible traces of the yarn used, but was otherwise in relatively good condition.

We spent a lot of time on technical and mechanical work to prepare it for a new warp. This work was mainly carried out by Kristensen, with significant contributions from Helland and Paul Hasund. I participated in some parts of the process, but my focus was on the preparation of the new warp. We found an original weaving setup in the attic, with shafts, warp threads, reed and a small piece of the woven material. This setup gave me part of the information I needed. I found additional information in records in the workshop office.

The original quality was woven with a worsted yarn imported from foreign manufacturers. The spinning workshop at Sjølingstad is equipped for spinning woollen yarns specially used for blankets and cloth. For the new warp, we used a 30/2 ecru yarn in wool from the Flasa spinning mill in Switzerland. It was a leftover yarn we received from Mandal Veveri on cones too small for production there. Mandal Veveri was a mill near to Sjølingstad that closed in 2016.

The weave pattern is a four-shafted twill, woven on eight shafts. There are 19.5 threads per centimetre in the reed, and approximately 110 threads per five centimetres in weft density. The total number of threads in the warp is 3,168. The reed used was a 65/10, with three threads per dent.

For a long time, we were not sure if we would get a satisfactory result. However, after long periods of adjustment and fine tuning of the loom it was possible to weave lengths of fabric of an acceptable quality. The original fabric was woven with the same yarn as weft as in the warp. I also tested weft yarns in other materials and thicknesses. After weaving, the fabric was checked for mistakes that could be repaired before washing, dyeing and finishing. I piece-dyed the fabric in a navy blue and clear dark green after a long period of sample dyeing at KHiO using Lanaset dyestuff, manufactured by Huntsman.

To get as good a quality as possible in the finishing, I took three lengths of the dyed fabric to Gudbrandsdalens Woollen Mill, where they have modern versions of the machines that were previously in use at Sjølingstad. The fabric was washed lightly, straightened, cut and decatised. It was finished in December 2014.

The advantage of weaving the fabric in raw white when it is a small production like this is that it is possible to develop a variety of colours by dyeing the fabric after it is woven. But dyeing fabrics in wool at Sjølingstad involves boiling the fabric while it is in constant motion, which is a rough treatment. This is not a problem for thick and loosely woven fabrics in woollen yarns, but it is not suitable for densely woven fabrics in worsted yarns.

Weaving using yarn already dyed in the desired colour secures a better result. This would have prevented both the colour from becoming slightly uneven, and traces in the fabric from the washing machine and the dyeing equipment at Sjølingstad. Another adjustment giving a better result would have been to use a thicker yarn. The records show that 727 was woven with yarn from different suppliers, and with different yarn numbering, from 24/2 to 28/2. We used 30/2, which was the only yarn available, but even a degree thinner, which made the fabric slightly lighter than the original.

The navy fabric was handed to the tailor Liv Guri Østrem. Østrem has several years of work experience and education from the tailoring house Huntsman of Savile Row in London, and she makes suits and coats according to British tailoring traditions. She made a classic three-piece suit for me. The intention was that it should appear timeless, using the plain, solid and heavy fabric, suggesting that this would be the only suit a person would need - an investment for life. The suit would be used for special occasions and on Sundays, after a long week in workwear.