The Next Steps

Here I am, back with the next step in the on-going tablet weaving project(s) I’m working on.  This post was supposed to happen while at Pennsic, but the heat and humidity really sapped any ambition for creative writing from me.  I will keep the posts short and sweet, instead of trying to cram it all into one long slog.

Step One: Warp the Loom

I used my inkle loom to create the warp for the second project. 

As you can see in the picture, I just pushed the previous project inwards and warped the second alongside it.  I chose to do a continuous warp with enough length to have at least 18-inches of actual project to show off and extra length to practice a finishing technique I want to use on my apprentice belt.  I have a large safety pin through one set of holes to keep the cards aligned properly.  I also have a clip across all the threads between the cards and the knots to keep the cards on the project when I cut the knots.

Here is the box loom all set to begin weaving. 
The shed is to the left.  The cards may look like they’re backwards, but they’re not.  I’m left-handed, so I read them better if they are facing left instead of to the right.

What you cannot see are the modifications I had to make to the loom so it could be warped.  The vendor’s helper said all I had to do is knot the warp around the dowel and then tighten it.  As Ellisif Gydasdottir states in her Youtube video, Warping up a box loom for tablet weaving (minute 5:27) this doesn’t work.  I recommend everyone watch this before warping up your box loom for the first time. 

With a trip to Town and the help of a friend who seems to bring all-the-tools, in miniature form, to Pennsic, we added two screws to each rotating dowel and cut a ¼” dowel into two pieces which fits between the uprights of the loom on each end.  The warp then is tied to this smaller dowel, which is then placed against the screws to create tension on the warp as the larger dowel is turned.

As mentioned in my previous post, I am using wool yarn.  When wool threads are rubbed together, they will catch and hold onto each other.  This is not a desirable thing when winding a long length of wool yarn on a loom.  To alleviate this problem, strips of paper are placed between the warp as it is wound.  You can see the white paper sticking out on the right side in the above photo.  As one strip gets short, you just add another strip, overlapping the previous paper so none of the yarns touches those already wrapped.  

Once your loom is warped, you can begin weaving.

More on that next time.

~ Marjorie

Crafting During Peace

I am writing from Pennsic LIII, which I’m tempted to call ‘Wind-sic’ just because of the strong breezes here on the Serengeti. We’ve doubly batten the hatches on our shade tarp, anchoring the legs and the roof too.  I really don't want it sailing into our neighbors, or even out to the highway.

The merchants have been open three days and I have already overspent my budget. That’s mostly because I went into the clothing store I swore I was going to stay away from this year… Sigh.   I do wear their clothes year round, not just at events. The other budget-breaker is a box loom patterned after historic images. It’s gorgeous. And I already have a use for it.

  

I am representing my barony at the Runningmede A&S Challenge this year. As our Excellencies’ Champion, the honor fell first to me. I’m quite excited about this. I will be entering the tablet weaving project from my last post. The box loom will be warped with the same pattern as the first loom, but this time I will use the tubular edging the original pattern had.

There will be more later, after I warp the loom and start on the pattern.

Posting from Pennsic LIII,

~ Marjorie

I'm a Tablet Weaving newbie

 Greetings!

I have finally succeeded at tablet weaving after failing at it multiple times.  This pleases me because I will be able to make a new apprentice belt.  I need one that better matches my apron dresses than does my 12th-century Norman belt.

My first project is a test of pattern type and material.  I saw a pattern that was all texture, modernly recreated with only one color. (See this blog post)  It is created using cards with only two holes threaded instead of the usual four.  It was my plan to make the actual belt using modern wool, so I'm working this project in a similar yarn.

 

Things I am learning with this project:

 1) My hands work better with the larger cards.  I find it much easier to turn the cards when there is a greater distance from the hole to the edge of the card.  These cards have about 3/4 of an inch from the center of the hole to the edge.

2) Modern yarn really s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-s.  The tension doesn't seem to be even from one section of the loom to the other.  It is tightest by the shed, though, so the weave is looking even at that point.  We shall see.

3) I am using a pattern from Tablet-Woven Treasures: Archaeological Bands from the Finnish Iron Age by Maikki Karisto & Mervi Pasanen, found on page 121.  In this book they talk about flipping the cards to alleviate the twist that results from only turning the cards forward (page 56).  I have done this twice so far and I find it much easier than using fishing swivels and pushing the twist along the threads to the swivel to unwind them.  Flipping the cards does create a slight variance in the pattern at that point, but if you are consistent with when you flip the cards, it looks like it is all part of the pattern.

I shall continue the band and keep you updated with my progress.

I will be less of a Newbie when next we meet.

~Marjorie

New Project

 Ceilidh is behind us and the Holidays loom near on the horizon, and I have a new project to plan and execute.  It focuses on that dreaded word...Research.  Thankfully not the dusty tome type--Hermione Granger, I'm not.  

This is a trip down a side road off of my St. Eligius display in 2023, where I introduced the research of Cary Karp and Anne Marie Decker into three items in the  Museum der Kulturen, Basel. (Initial trip mentioned in Anne Marie's blog here.  A Copy of Archaeological Textiles Review No. 64 in which their paper on their findings is here.)

My current question comes from:

 - Given: Nalbinding is a marvelous craft. Unlike knitting or crochet, an item made this way will not unravel if cut or develops a hole.

 - Given: Based on Cary Karp's and Anne Marie Decker's research, some nalbinding stitches look exactly like front-loop slip-stitch crochet.  It is only by examining the final project can one determine how the item was made.

 - Question: If they are similar in structure, then does front-loop crochet also not unravel?

 - Corollary Question: Does the nalbinding stitch that slip-stitch resembles also not unravel?

To test this question I will need to use 100% wool that is not Superwash.  As I don't have any at home I will be making a trip to the yarn store (Gasp! Not the dreaded yarn store!, says my wallet.)  I will probably get two colors to more easily identify each technique.

Then I will have to:

  > Create multiple samples of each technique

 > Cut one sample each and see what happens

But should I somehow give the samples some 'wear and tear' before cutting?  The assumption is that nalbinding which has developed a hole is, by definition, being used.  Does a newly created object not unravel.  Do all nalbinding stitches not unravel?  Is this nalbinding voodoo just hearsay?  Who first came up with this idea?  (Warning! Book Research ahead!)

I need to stop the flow of questions before I drown in them.

~ Marjorie

Bjorn's Ceilidh 2024

 Alternate title: The Dress Seven Years in the Making

Back in Jan of 2017 I posted about the Laurel's Prize Tourney and beginning thoughts about what I would do.  Too many years later I have finally finished the dress!

The background of this blog's banner head is the neckline of said dress. After the Laurel's Tourney, I entered it in a "gentle" A&S competition my barony hosted for those newer to A&S who wanted the experience of competing without the pressure to be perfect.  There was a four-inch strip at the hem that I was thinking to embroider later.  But embroidery is not my passion and the fancy stitching never happened.  What did eventually happen is a thing of beauty.

The inspiration for the finalized version of the dress is a series of illustrations from the Fecamp Psalter.  It is held at Koninklijke Biblioteek in The Hague, Netherlands, and the website is in Dutch (found online here).  There they call it "The Eleanor of Aquitaine Psalter", but the psalter's original patron is not named in the psalter itself.  It is from around 1180, so the clothing is quite contemporary for my persona.

You notice the hem in the overdress
has geometric shapes on it.

Looking closer at it, you can see that they seem 
to be gems and pearls, or perhaps glass beads.

The full outfit with silk veil.

    

Close-up of hem.

 

I used a stem stitch with two strands of DMC cotton floss (color #3822) to recreate the lines in the original.  The blue and yellow glass beads were made by fellow Scadian Irene von Lassen.  Her love of all things glass and her devotion to perfection was demonstrated by her making double the required number of blue beads needed, just so I would have a set all the same size. The blue are 3/4" in diameter, the yellow rectangles are 1' x 3/4".  The white glass beads are 6mm and from a 36" strand I bought from Joann's (bead landing tm).

In order to support the weight of all that glass, I sewed a 3" strip of cloak-weight wool between the layers of the turned-up hem.  The white and yellow beads are sewn on with beeswax coated silk thread.   The blue beads are held with a mesh or netting made with two strands of silk embroidery floss.  The mesh was created by sewing rounds of blanket stitch, decreasing the number of stitches with each round.

The beads cover only the front around to the back edge of the side gores.  Honestly, I didn't feel an imbalance of the weight of the dress because the back hem was beadless.  I'm working on a new reliquary bag to replace the peach one I made ever so long ago.  The new one will be a yellow that fairly closely matches the rectangle beads.

~ Marjorie

Pantelone shirt pt.2

Continuing with the shirt for my husband's Pantelone part in Commedia All-Stars this Pennsic.

I created the sleeve pattern by attaching the front and back at the shoulders.  I overlapped them at the seam line and taped them together with scotch tape.  (That's one of the beauties of using the plastic cloths.  Tape will hold pieces together yet come off easily when done.)   I then overlaid another piece of plastic table cloth and traced the curve of the armhole created by the front and back.

It looked wrong.  Totally not like any modern sleeve pattern.  Yet...it worked.

Muslin mock-up before sewing together. Note shape of sleeve.

I cut the plastic pattern along the seam lines and transferred it onto the muslin to make the first mock-up.  The muslin was cut with an 1-inch seam allowance.  I hand-sewed it together, especially the sleeve because of the curves.

My husband was able to put it on!  

But adjustments are needed.

Add 4-inches to the bottom

Adjust placement of both shoulder/sleeve seams.

Also, the side seams fall towards the back, making the back pattern not wide enough.  Initially, I increased the width of the front pieces, not realizing the issue was with the back.  On the second version I will increase the back by one-inch on each side and decrease each front side-seam by one-inch.

I'll repeat the process for the second version.  Redraw the new patterns with adjustments on the plastic tablecloth before cutting the pieces out of muslin.  I'll be back with the new version.

~ Marjorie

Pantelone Shirt Pattern - pt 1

 My husband loves Improv.  He participates in classes and shows with a local Improv group when he can. It is no surprise, therefore, that his favorite part of the SCA is Commedia dell'arte.  He has participate in multiple Iron Commedias and a couple of Commedia All-Stars at past Pennsics.  

About ten days ago he was asked to play Pantelone in a Commedia del'Arte show at this year's Pennsic.  (It is a small part that will take only a minimal amount of practice time to learn.)  

He needs to bring his own red garb if possible.  I made him pants 5-ish years ago, so after ordering more material, paying extra for earlier delivery, laundering and ironing it, I am whipping up a red shirt for him in the next eight days before we leave for Land Grab.  😵

The short turn-around time necessitates a few concessions to historical accuracy.

• This will fit the 10-foot rule.  It looks good from 10' away, because...
• I'll be using the sewing machine.
• The item is actually a jacket.  This will be a shirt because...Time constraints.
• Modern Buttons.  They'll probably be ball-shaped metal or plastic shank buttons "dyed" black with a Sharpie.

This is the painting I am using as a design model:

Giovanni Grevembroch: "Pantalone"
pen, ink & watercolor (18th century)
Museo Correr - Venezia

The painting itself is out of Period, but this looked like on of the easier designs to recreate, and poses at least one opportunity for Experimental Archeology, as you will see.

Step one is to make a pattern.  I did this using my favorite pattern "paper", part of a disposable plastic tablecloth taken from a roll like you would use at a birthday party.  I like using table cloth plastic because of it's flexibility and light color.  It is easy to mold into the shape you need.

I had my husband wear a close-fitting t-shirt inside out so I could easily find the shoulder seams.

I pinned the plastic at the shoulder seam and front neckline.  I had to trim it close the the neck so it would lay without bunching up.  I drew the pattern's basic lines, following the shirt's neckline and shoulder seam.  For the center front, I just followed my husband's breastbone down to his naval, ending at the waistline of his pants.

I repeated the procedure for the left front.  The back was done in one piece.

The armhole seams are a guestimate.  They'll be finalized at the first fitting, after I draft the sleeves based on the measurements I took.

That will be the next post.

~ Marjorie