"Weavers found native flax and sisals among the fibrous plants...Some textile makers experimented with weaving thread made of a pounded fiber produced from the inner sheath of a triangular native bamboo grass." (DLG, p11)
It is this leaf which is put through the process of decortication. The leaves are crushed, and the resulting pulp is scraped from the fibre, which is washed and dried. The lustrous fibre strands are usually creamy white.
Sisal fibre is fairly corase and inflexible. It is very difficult to make smooth, but when beaten and pulped to a high degree, it produces a silky fabric easy to print or dye, and light enough to be worn in the hottest weather. It can also be woven into nearly invisible sheers. Usually however, the material is valued for cordage use because of its strength, durability, ability to stretch, and resistance to deterioration in salt water. The fibre is also made into twine, mattings, rugs, millinery and brushes.
When used as a fabric for clothes rather than practical use, the weavers of Pern generally use sisal as a replacement for silk, which they have lost the technique of making. However, to make sisal as smooth and pliable as silk requires a great deal of work beating and pulping the fibres. Therefore, despite sisal's general availability, its value as a fine fabric is very high, and is often used in the making of fine Gather gowns and suits.