The items to be presented are a pair of tablet woven garters, the embellishment will be text woven into the bands and a handsewn fur lined wool hood.
Garters were used in the Middle Ages to keep hose in place (since elastic hadn’t been invented, yet), typically worn around the leg just below the knee (see figure 8.1).
The techniques of tabletweaving (also known as cardweaving) have been around since the early Celtic Iron Age (Spies 1). The single greatest difference between tabletweaving and out usual image of weaving is that rather than using a large frame with rigid or cord heddles* to create the shed** small tablets with multiple threads running through holes in the corners are turned to create the shed. There are extant examples of these cards dating back to the Viking age. The turning of these cards causes a twist in the weave which creates a very strong durable fabric (a similar technology is used to create the straps for modern seatbelts) (see figure 8.2).
In the Twelfth Century the two most likely methods for creating an inscription in a tablet woven was either by brocading or creating a double faced weave.
Brocaded tablet woven bands became very popular in the twelfth century; the majority of these bands existing today are from the clothes of royalty and high churchmen. Even though there isn’t much in the way of documentation that anyone else decorated their clothing in this manner, I am sure that they did simply because throughout history royalty set the fashion and the lesser nobility did their best to copy it. The existing samples of tablet weaving that we have are in wool and silk, there also isn’t a lot of evidence that anyone wove with linen, but given the few samples that still exist, and the commonness of linen I find it likely that they did. To create the brocaded pattern a second weft thread was “floated” over a portion of the face “ducking’ under the primary weft threads to create the design (see figure 8.3).The threads used to create the brocaded pattern were usually silk or metal wrapped silk. Figure 8.4 to the left shows the metal wrapped gold threads used in garments.
Given the expense of using gold and silver threads a woman of Marguerite’s station would be judicious in her use of them, saving them for her court clothes or using them sparingly for proper effect.
The second method for creating a text design was by using the double face technique. Typically In a double face weave the tablets are turned in a two forward, two backward pattern so that the same two threads are always on the face of the band. A very subtle use of this method involves all of the threads in a four hole weave to be the same color. Then the tablets that are creating the pattern are turned in the opposite direction as the main body of the band. Good example of this is the Ailbecunda band (see figure 8.5) (Garver, Weaving Words in Silk: Women and Inscribed Bands in the Carolingian World 37) The Stole of St Donats is a Twelfth Century example of the other variation of doubleface this version two of the holes have one color thread and the other two have a second, contrasting color. In this case when the design cards are turned in the reverse direction the design appears in a contrasting color. (see figures 8.6 & 8.7).
It is this second method that I chose to use. There are several reasons that I didn’t brocade. The first is that I still haven’t found a brocading fiber that I like to work with. Second, is an issue of texture, a double face band is much smoother than a brocaded band and I don’t want the additional rubbing against the next layer of clothing. Finally there is an issue of time - it takes approximately 1 hour to complete an inch of brocaded tablet woven band, this is an acceptable investment of time for something that would show (such as trim for a court dress) but I don’t want to invest that kind of time in a pair of garters.
The garters that I did for Golden Swan are the Appledore shire colors of Argent and Gules. In the 12th century I would have used silk or a fine wool, however I couldn’t afford the silk as I would have had to buy much more than I needed and I couldn’t find a fine wool with enough strength not to pull apart (I like to use a fairly high tension when i weave) so i chose a very fine weight of pearl cotton. I have woven with silk before and the texture and appearance are quite close.
My second piece is a hand sewn fur lined hood. The hood was a ubiquitous article of clothing for many centuries worn by both men and women (see figure 7.3). The most common image of the hood is from later period with a liripipe*** however all of the images that I found of hood in the Twelfth Century have only a small peak and they slip on over the head (see figure 8.8).
For my hood I chose a chocolate brown wool, rabbit fur for the hood lining and muskrat fur for the cape portion.
First I sewed the outer hood together using a pattern similar to the reconstructed Greenland hood D10602 (E. L. Ostergard) lengthening the cape portion and omitting the liripipe to match the hood shown in the Fecamp Psalter (see figure 8.9).
Next I recreated the same hood in linen and sewed the fur pieces to the linen. The skin portion of the fur wasn’t strong enough to hold up to wear and tear so I used linen as a backing to take the strain (see figure 8.10). Finally I slid the lining into the outer shell and sewed them together. I used strips of muskrat fur to edge all of the openings (figure 8.11). The entire hood was handsewn with silk thread (I wanted the strength of silk - and the color matched very well).
*One of a set of parallel cords or wires in a loom used to separate and guide the warp threads and make a path (the shed) for the shuttle [Probably alliteration of Middle English hedle, from Old English hefeld; see kap- in Indo-European roots] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009
**Textiles. (on a loom) a triangular, transverse opening created between raised and lowered warp threads through which the shuttle passes in depositing the loose pick. Origin: bef. 950; ME s(c)hed(d)en (v.), OE scēadan, var. of sceādan; c. G scheiden to divide. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth EditionPublished by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved., © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company
*** A long tail hanging from the back of a hood, especially in medieval or academic dress. Origin:early 17th century: from medieval Latin liripipium 'tippet of a hood, cord', of unknown origin http://oxforddictionaries.com
Bibliography:
Collingwood, Peter. The Techniques of Tablet Weaving. New York: Watson-Guptill, 1982.
Crockett, Candace. Card Weaving. New York: Watson-Guptill, 1973.
Crowfoot, Elizabeth: Pritchard, Frances: Staniland, Kay. Textiles and Clothing c1150-c1450. Eoodbridge, NY: Museum of London, 2006.
Garver, Valerie L. "Weaving Words in Silk: Women and Inscribed Bands in the Carolingian World." Medieval Cloting and Textiles. Ed. Robin Netherton and Gale R Owen-Crocker. Vol. 6. Rochester: The Boydell Press, 2010. 33-56.
Goddard, Eunice Rathbone. Women's Costume in French Texts of the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1927.
Hooper, Luther. Weaving with Small Appliances - Book II - Tablet Weaving. Bath: Pitman Press, 1923.
Ostergard, Else. Woven into the Earth, Textiles from Norse Greenland. Oxford: Aarhus University Press, 2009.
Ostergard, Else, Lilli Fransen and Anna Norgaard. Medieval Garments Reconstructed: Norse Clothing Patterns. Langelandsgade: Aarhus University Press, 2011.
Scott, Margaret. Medieval Clothing and Costumes: Displaying Wealth and Class in Medieval Times. New York: Rosen Pub. Group, 2004.
Spies, Nancy. Ecclisiatical Pomp & Aristocratic Circumstance - A Thousand Years of Brocaded Tabletwoven bands. Jarrettsvile: Arelate Studio, 2000.
Tacker, Harold and Sylvia. Band Weaving, the Techniques, Looms and Uses for Woven bands. New York, New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co.,, 1974.
Collingwood, Peter. The Techniques of Tablet Weaving. New York: Watson-Guptill, 1982.
Crockett, Candace. Card Weaving. New York: Watson-Guptill, 1973.
Crowfoot, Elizabeth: Pritchard, Frances: Staniland, Kay. Textiles and Clothing c1150-c1450. Eoodbridge, NY: Museum of London, 2006.
Garver, Valerie L. "Weaving Words in Silk: Women and Inscribed Bands in the Carolingian World." Medieval Cloting and Textiles. Ed. Robin Netherton and Gale R Owen-Crocker. Vol. 6. Rochester: The Boydell Press, 2010. 33-56.
Goddard, Eunice Rathbone. Women's Costume in French Texts of the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1927.
Hooper, Luther. Weaving with Small Appliances - Book II - Tablet Weaving. Bath: Pitman Press, 1923.
Ostergard, Else. Woven into the Earth, Textiles from Norse Greenland. Oxford: Aarhus University Press, 2009.
Ostergard, Else, Lilli Fransen and Anna Norgaard. Medieval Garments Reconstructed: Norse Clothing Patterns. Langelandsgade: Aarhus University Press, 2011.
Scott, Margaret. Medieval Clothing and Costumes: Displaying Wealth and Class in Medieval Times. New York: Rosen Pub. Group, 2004.
Spies, Nancy. Ecclisiatical Pomp & Aristocratic Circumstance - A Thousand Years of Brocaded Tabletwoven bands. Jarrettsvile: Arelate Studio, 2000.
Tacker, Harold and Sylvia. Band Weaving, the Techniques, Looms and Uses for Woven bands. New York, New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co.,, 1974.