String Skirt 4 – Those darn loops
This is a continuation of these preceding posts:
String Skirt 1 – Thinking about various accessories, the books to read
String Skirt 2 – The metal bits
Tag: weaving
String Skirt 3 – The size of the thing
More gratitude to the Danish National Museum, and their citizens who pay more than 50% in taxes to provide hobbyists like me with cool eye candy, among other good things. So, this page and lots of other places describe the arrangement of Egtved Girl's string skirt thus: The Egtved Girl was dressed in a striking cord skirt. It went down to her knees, was wound twice around her waist and was 38 cm long. This kind of skirt was in use throughout the Bronze Age. Some small female figures of bronze from Grevensvænge, Zealand, are also dressed in cord skirts. … Continue reading String Skirt 3 – The size of the thing
String Skirt 2 – The metal bits
I do love the internet. We get wrapped up in "academic quality comes from peer-reviewed books" and then a wonderful museum posts good photos of some of their most popular exhibits. (photo from the National Museum, Denmark.) Here's the fragments of the Hagendrup skirt that I wanted yesterday, with both cord remains and metal embellishment. The metal is much longer than I expected, but the tubes are located in a different place, too. Re: what the metal is: I've found descriptions saying both copper and bronze. I don't know what bronze was, in more detail than "copper + tin", but … Continue reading String Skirt 2 – The metal bits
Bronze Age String Skirt
I find it interesting that nearly all of my European interests center around one little bit of geography. There's something about the southern North Sea shores that draws me. My name is from 15thc Zeeland, I'm enchanted by the 5thc brooch-closed Kentish dresses (heavily influenced by the Franks, who occupied Zeeland), I like the tablet-woven edges particular to the Jutes who lived in that peninsula, and my current favorite summer event wear is this outfit, which our extant pieces document to Bronze Age Denmark. (Same place.) (I won't talk about my love for Danish modern furniture just now.) Concept: Zealand … Continue reading Bronze Age String Skirt
Second Yardage – Diamond 2/2 twill, 5th c – Warping, Part 1
Basic notes: Warp Yarn: Medium Lilac, Mandarin Petit, 100% Egyptian cotton, produced in Norway. 50g skeins ~180m/skein. Wash cold, air dry. Iron 150dC max. 18 wraps/inch. Z plied, S twist. 7-ply. Color lot: 5226 5926. Weft Yarn: Light Lilac, Wildflower DK, Plymouth, 51% cotton, 49% acrylic, made in Holland. 50g skeins ~137 yds/skein. Other stats same. Color lot 50 105. Ends: 276, selvedges sleyed double. Sett: 12 epi, in #6 reed. Weave type: Diamond 2/2 twill, variation as shown in Dixon, page 85, top variant. Historical reference: Fine worsted diamond twill of the Birka type from Vinjum, Sogn and Fjordane, … Continue reading Second Yardage – Diamond 2/2 twill, 5th c – Warping, Part 1
No tiny gauge, please
Okay, so now I'm definitely in love with yardage, and started to wrap another warp with this stuff, thinking I'd try out a fine gauge: Fail. I didn't even empty one of those little spools. I didn't like the way the thread cut into my fingers…I just felt like a slave to it, with no sensual return. Gave it away, and cut the wrapped warp off my warping board. Onto cushy colorful DK cotton, for playing in unbalanced twill structures! Continue reading No tiny gauge, please
First big weaving project done
Began with 5.5 yards of warp (that's the max length of my warping board), ended up with 4 yards, 30" total length, so that's 24" of loom waste. The finished piece averages about 32" wide. Yarns: All of the dark brown weft is alpaca that I spun myself. This is about two pounds-worth. I learned that I don't really like spinning, and have just sold my spinning wheel, so I'll be forced to do the medieval thing and actually buy my yarn henceforth. The blue warp is also alpaca, but commercial. The orange warp is handspun, but sheep, and not by … Continue reading First big weaving project done
Jenny Dean’s Anglo-Saxon Dye Experiments
Part 3 – Blues, Greens, Purple, Brown and Black Part 2 – Reds, Yellows, and Browns Part 1 – Introduction Continue reading Jenny Dean’s Anglo-Saxon Dye Experiments
Weaving my own yardage
Ann commented: …you really need to weave your own fabric. If you do it with rectangles and triangle gores in the side, you'll need about 8 yards, but narrow–just a little over the width of your shoulders. Yup, this is definitely on my list. Thanks for the numbers! I've been reading about 6thc North Sea cultures, and the shreds of weaves imprinted on the metal bling show diamond twills and linen repp…so that's my next loomweaving move, after I get the 5 yards of spin-to-doubleweave off the loom that's been there way too long. A bit of a problem with … Continue reading Weaving my own yardage
Results of Midwinter A&S for Coptic Embellishment entry
[This entry is feeling hard to write, because the project did really well, and good things happened to me, and I don't know how to say it without the results seeming like I am blowing my own horn. But I want to share with you all, so suffice to say that I feel really really validated and humbled. At the same time. Which is pretty awesome, from my side of the line.]
Onward.
As promised, here's the PDF of my documentation. Download Coptic Embellishment-A Simple Method for Picky and Patient Re-enactors2
I didn't take a picture of the setup (stupid!), but I'll reassemble it and blog it soon.
I got really great encouragement, comments, suggestions, and prodding as to "where to take this next." Even better, I find I've still got enough interest in the topic to keep going in those directions, some of which are Very Ambitious. So this isn't the end of Coptic tapestry weaving…not by a long shot.
I also got a terrific score: 19/20.
And I won my level, which was Beginner. I felt odd registering as Beginner, since I know I'm very different from most beginners, but the criteria is "have you been awarded a Meridian Cross?" Since that answer was a fact, and a "no", then it was out of my hands.
Continue reading “Results of Midwinter A&S for Coptic Embellishment entry”