This is my entry for the Minedeas - Minecraft idea contest.

Needle and Thread

Have you made a spider exp farm, and never had use for all the string you have?

Have you wished armor was easier to obtain, and recieved by killing the mobs they were intentially designs to reduce damage from?

Then this idea is for you.

Origin

It is an origional idea, and origion was when I was playing minecraft, I was on a multiplayer server, which I have a cave spider exp farm, I had literally a single chest of string. While I was killing them, I had a day dream that ended up as an idea, string armor. But just crafting string into armor ruins the challenges of minecraft. Instead you will need to do a teency bit of crafting.

Crafting

To obtain string armor, thy must get string from either killing spiders, finding it in dungeon chests, or using a mod/inventory editor. You will also need iron, for making a needle and thread as shown in illustration 3 up the top.

Needle and Thread

This is the gateway to anything sewing, to craft it you must craft a needle, which is 3 iron in a diagonal line, and 2 string. You then craft more needle and threads, until you have the amount you wanted.

Wool armor

This is a new type of armor, you have to craft this by crafting a series of needle and threads and then craft armor as usual. You can also dye the armor with the dye you wish, but to dye it white again, you need to place 2 bonemeal in the crafting table instead, to make it more realistic, for example, if you dye your shirt in real life black, white dye wont do the job the first time.

Wool armor has the ability to increase your walking spead. If you have 2 or more pieces of the armor, it will be equivalent of drinking a speed 1 potion, having a full set has no extra functions to having 2 pieces of armor, but having 1 piece has no effect at all. If you go in water, your armor will get wet, and then be called "Wet wool armor", this armor has no added speed effect any more, you will have to hang it on a clothes line to dry. This added speed effect is due to the "Comfort" of wearing the armor, as its more comforable wearing cotton clothes, than heavy iron armor, and it is easier to run in cotton that carrying heavy armor twice your weight.

You cannot enchant wool armor with respiration or aqua-affinity, as the physics of real life, the water would soak through.

To repair this armor in an anvil, you would need to use a thread and needle in the second slot, or you can combine them.

Clothes line

A clothes line is the ability to make wet armor dry again, you craft the hook in figure 5, and the line in figure 7. You place 2 hooks at each end of the line, and place "line" between them. You can then right click the line with your wet armor, and in the best conditions, it can take 1 minecraft day to dry, and this drying information will be explained in more detail below. If you wish to obtain the item by breaking it, you will have to use shears

Other ideas:

There is also the possibilty of making a cross-bow with thread, as it is stronger, and less likely to break the thread, and as there is more than 1 strand of string, it will increase the elasticity of the bow. This would be crafted like a normal bow, but using a needle and thread in the 3 places where string goes. This crossbow will still fire arrows like usual, but will be the equivalent to a power 10 bow, greatly improving the distance and damage of the bow, and you can still enchant it with a maximum of power 5, being equivalent to a power 15 bow. This crossbow will also reload faster, as it is more elasticy than a normal bow, meaning you don't need to pull it back as far.

Jumping on a bed will make it rip, which becomes unsleepable on unless you fix it, it will also remove any spawnpoints accociated to that bed, meaning you would need to fix it urgently. It is easy to repair, right click the bed with a thread and needle, and it has a 40% chance of repairing (due to the severity of the rip).

Clothes line "Dry" physics

For a good clothes line, you need a gentle breeze, and a hot, sunny day. If it begins to rain, you will have 30 seconds, or armor will get wet, and if it is wet, the process or drying will start over. The best conditions for drying armor is to have your clothes line over the layer of 64, with no blocks in a 5x5 cylendar of the line, and direct exposure to the sun. This would then require 12 block ticks, and it will be all dry.

Factors or the line:

Wind disturbance. The wind needs to be able to move freely about the clothes, worst you can do is have the line enclosed with no way for the wind to flow.

Sunshine. Artificial lightning does not help in this case. If there is no direct exposure to the sun (including if it is night) from directly above it, it will take longer to dry.

Altitude. Place it under layer 64, and it will dry very slowly, as the wind is unlikely to find its way through a cave to get to you. Place it too high, and the air will be too thin, and will also dry slow, ideal layer would be 65 to place this clothesline.

The end

Hope you enjoyed reading my entery to the competion, and wish all other contestants the best of luck, who knows, your suggestion might be added to real minecraft.