SNIPPET: A 19th-century mainland Irish farmer, when heading for church in his Sunday best (perhaps only a cleaner version of his everyday garb) could be seen clad in top hat, tweed jacket, wool waistcoat, and knee-length breeches - his wife dressed in a bulky skirt called a drugget with petticoat underneath, a flourbag apron, her head and shoulders covered with a plaid shawl. Olive SHARKEY is the authoress of several interesting books including "Old Days, Old Ways" published in 1996. In an article in "Irish Roots" periodical, published in Cork, she tells us that early shoes were fashioned from a single piece of leather or rawhide, and were known as "pampooties." Moreover, they were in use on the Aran Islands off the coast of Galway until quite recently. Composite shoes with a separate heel appeared during the late 16th century and were known as brogues. They were generally fairly crudely fashioned for the native Irish, and were made by the local shoemaker at his "last." For many people, children in particular, shoes were reserved for Sunday wear and winter use only. "Hobnail boots," worn from the middle of 19th century, were introduced from America and proved popular with the farmers, being strong with excellent grip. Children's sizes were made, but it was much more common to find children running about barefoot, the hard soles of their feet seemingly immune to the sharp corners of pebbles and stones. An add-on to one's shoes was a pair of wooden pattens. These were pulled on over the shoes to protect the feet on wet or muddy ground by lifting them up as if on mini stilts and mainly used in the wintertime. Wool was the most commonly used natural fibre, with linen and cotton sharing second place. In poor areas the wool was collected from hedges and brought to the spinner who then teased, carded and spun it ready for the weaver or knitter. The weaver wove tweed which was dyed in suitably sombre colours - bottle green, navy, brown and black. Finely woven tweed was reserved for men's suits, while the rougher, more open tweed was fashioned into drugget skirts, greatcoats, etc. The knitters made shawls, sweaters, hats, and "leggings" (footless stockings sometimes known as "Paddy Martins"). Leggings were worn by Irish women to prevent the damp ends of their long skirts from causing scalding of the calves. Originally frieze hose was used for the fashioning of footwear, but they tended to keep slipping on poorly shaped legs. It wasn't until the early 1600s that Irish women began knitting stockings. For a time their early knitted stockings were known as "Jersey" socks. Women generally wore hats as well as shawls during the day. They weren't very warm hats; fashioned from cotton, they were bonnet-shaped and had pleated or lacy edging which had to be ironed with a special iron known as a "tallon iron" (a corruption of the world 'Italian', as this type of iron originated in Italy). Both little boys and little girls were dressed up in bonnets and dresses when they were young, but as they grew older the boys wore knee-length breeches like their fathers and happily discarded the bonnets. Young man generally preferred some kind of cap to hats but older men were often seen about town in their hard top hats, the length of which grew shorter as the 19th century came to a close. Tweed caps were the norm by the turn of the century. In parts of the west, and on the Aran Islands in particular, the "bainin cap," knitted by hand to match the sweaters, and in more recent times popularised by the singing group, the Clancy Brothers, was and still is preferred. Tweed peaked caps were also used. Breeches were kept secure with the help of braces or a strong leather belt, a useful accessory when a youngster required corporal punishment! Strap belts were common on the mainland, but the colourful hand-woven woolen "crios" strip was the norm on the Aran Islands. Women did not often wear coats, except perhaps in wintertime. When encountering an unexpected shower they had a knack of hoisting their skirt up over their head to form a makeshift shawl. In addition to the petticoat, or sometimes a few layers of petticoats, an apron was worn. This was a useful accessory, providing them with a receptacle for sticks for the fire, apples from the orchards, eggs from the hens' nests, and when the crops were being sown, grain or even potatoes. The Aran Islands are known for their pampooties, colourful shawls and crios -- all of which are virtually museum pieces these days. Only the "Aran sweater" has survived into modern fashion, and has changed little in the transition. The complicated stitches have survived, and in "authentic" versions the plain creamy white is preferred. Most are hand-knitted, and some contain some lanolin which renders them as useful as the oil-rich originals.