In September 2013, I made a felt hat for a friend. The hat is based on styles worn by turkic tribes in near Asia for several thousand years, with a crown similar to “Phrygian caps” with the back and sides worn long. I’ve collected a few images on this pinterest board.
One of the striking features of the iron age Finnish Mantle is its heavily ornamentated borders. They are a composite of two different textiles techniques; integrated tablet weaving and fingerloop braiding. Throw in some bling in the form of bronze wire coils and you have a rich, complex work of art. In order to recreate this effect, it was necessary to teach myself fingerloop braiding. The internet to the rescue! I taught myself fingerloop braiding…
Last summer I wove a pair of leg wraps in a color combination that particularly appeals to me, blue and orange, and, recently, I took the time to wet-finish the cloth and hand finish the ends. This is the result.
The Iron Age Finnish Mantle project, completed in July 2013, was a wonderful opportunity to learn a variety of new-to-me textile techniques. One of those new experiences was creating table woven bands integrated with the body of the mantle. These bands served a dual purpose in that they were both decorative and functional, keeping the cloth from raveling.
The iron age Finnish mantle is such an interesting project; rich in texture and steeped in history. The mantle is just one part of much larger effort to make a complete female Finnish costume. I am grateful to work with a group of passionate artists who really care about history and the quality of their work. In this post, I’m going to talk about the process of weaving the mantle cloth.
In my last post, I introduced you to my latest project, weaving a shawl inspired by an iron age Finnish mantle. Now that you have the background, its time to get down to some specifics. I am making changes to size, color, and fiber content, as well as making guesses to some of the construction details where they are not known. If I was hard core, I would be doing this on a warp weighted…
I am starting a new project with a hard deadline of the third weekend in July. This project, an iron-age Finnish mantle, combines cloth weaving, tablet weaving and coiled wire work. I fully expect the next six weeks to be filled with insanity, frustration, ah-ha moments and, hopefully, joyous triumph. I’m looking forward to it!
This weekend I wet-finished and hemmed the blue/yellow leg wraps I had recently taken off the loom. Very pleased with how they look.
Its been four months since I finished the cloth for the Rus kaftan and, this past Sunday, I finally made time to beam a new weaving project on my floor loom – a pair of leg wraps (wicklebanders or winningas) in dark blue and yellow for a viking reenactor friend.
In January of 2013, I decided to branch out from my usual early period research and crafts. I have several friends who do Landknecht really well and I though it would be interesting to give it a shot.
