Oh that looks v interesting flavia (adds book to reading list). I know - having read the process of making nettle fibre it really does show the fairy tale up as written either by someone clueless or someone almost hiding / making the process they know appear magical.
The story also possibly ignores the simple fact that even noble women would have engaged to some degree in making fabric using fleece, given how many pictures of women shown with a distaff etc. So the princess may have already had skills relating to fleece, or plant fibre.
I thought maybe she’d sack off making shirts for her brothers and make a lovely dress for herself instead!
I also went down th historic rabbit hole and read some really interesting papers on Penelope’s weaving in the Odyssey which just didn’t go quite as deep as I wished into the authors linking it to weaving and Athena, given Athena’s connection to weaving.
Going to sound really wanky (nothing new there) but re-engaging with knitting etc made me think about women’s work and the amount of sheer art that women achieve eg in making clothes, cooking, etc and how fleeting that can be- the meal is eaten, the clothes are out grown or worn out and as if by magic another eg fair isle jumper appears to keep a loved one warm.