Anser autem texunt

06/17/2024

Getting the warp ready for more norse apron panels

Working on a new warp

06/05/2024

pulled these off the loom last week
woven with Harrisville Shetland at 12 EPI in a 2/2 broken point twill
Would "norse" textiles have looked like this?
Not really
I am using a much heavier wool (not norse but the Sutton hoo cloth in a similar weave was 35 ends per inch, the Birka finds were also very fine)
And I am using strong contrasting colours
The weave structure is accurate -the broken point and broken diamond draft I use is based on the Birka find (grave 508) but the aesthetic is for the modern recreational reenactor

06/05/2024

And now, even more yarn

05/27/2024

This is my other page. By your weave is a combo of modern weaving and my selling profile.
This page is more for research, learning and historical type projects

Coming soon. More norse apron panels

05/06/2024

BIt of a goofy project but a fun one
My sca barony was doing an event on May 4th and decided to add a Star Wars flavour to it
Preferring Star Trek to Star Wars I decided to make an outfit inspired by Una Chin Riley in Strange New Worlds

03/20/2024

Never scrimp on the last step - wet finish!
Wet finishing isn’t just “shrinking” the band, it entirely changes it
Air, trapped in the twisting, will be released (you can see it bubble out) tension is eased and the hand of the band changed from stiff to soft
And yes, it shrinks
I use the hottest water appropriate for the fibre and then pull the band along it’s length between my fingers and hang dry

This band was 4.75m and is now 4.45
2/8 cotton

03/15/2024

Benchmarking the new tablet loom

03/06/2024

Learning something new today
Weft faced weaving on my 4 harness loom
The warp (linen) is set very open allowing the weft (wool) to pack down and cover it up
This is a project from the online weaving school/guild I am in
I’m just a few inches in and it’s fun!

03/01/2024

New warp
4/8 linen, time to try weft faced weaving

02/29/2024

Research day

02/14/2024

02/12/2024

Somedays I think I should have a blog not this page - but a blog would stagnate and I have no idea how to mange one

But today instead of works in progress I want to talk about weaving cloth

I weave in two main types - plain weave (also called tabby weave) and 2/2 twill

I will talk about twills another day.

Plainweave is the simplest of woven structures where one warp thread goes under one weft thread, just like those paper placemats you made in elementary school.

While the structure is straight forward what you can do with it is anything but plain - by alternating dark and light threads you can create a multitude of designs.
You can weave it in a open fashion to create gauze or light weight fabrics, you can open up your set (the warp ends per inch) and pack the weft in to make rugs or do the opposite and make the warp very dense to make very sturdy cloth for placemats

We tend to think of twills as the ideal fabric for SCA use but if you look at the fabric samples documented in London in the 14th century (MOL Clothing and Textiles) wool plain weave was the most common type of cloth found and almost all of the few linen samples recovered were plain weave.

See the images for a few more notes

02/12/2024

The linen warp I have on my loom is beyond vexing
On to the next project
This will be a warp in yellow, 6.5m long, 170 ends
Should make 5 apron panels

02/02/2024

A modern project
But twill is twill right?
2/8 unmercerized cotton in a design intended to help illustrate the way dark and light in straight draw twill can create patterns

01/29/2024

Pattern #25 from tablet woven treasures
Original was in wool with a possible plant fibre weft
Mine is 2/8 un mercerized cotton, and 10mm wide
If I was doing the tubular selvedge found in the original I’d get closer to the originals width of 8mm

I should work with wool more but I am trying to use up a lot of left over cotton