Contains content related to projects.
In lieu of a real blog post, I thought I would be a photo gallery of some of my weaving projects. For some reason, I thought this would be easier. Not so much as it turns out. I went back through four years of pictures and project notes to put this together. I hope you enjoy this chronicle of my adventures in fabric weaving. I do a LOT of broken diamond twill. 😉
I’ve been wanting to make a short viking coat (sometimes called a Klappenrock) for my husband for some time. The jacket is loosely based on the cross over coat worn in some of the dancing man depictions as well as various other stone carving and artifacts. I started out making a couple of sketches. I’m terrible at drawing, but I like to get my ideas out on paper so I can work out some…
Recently, I was inspired to create a four panel hat. It’s something that I’ve been meaning to do forever and just never got around to it. A friend showed me a couple caps she made and another friend has been talking about the fabric she is weaving to make caps so that is probably where some of the motivation came from. Thanks, ladies, for getting me off my butt! That night the muse bit me hard…
Last autumn, I dyed some Lopi icelandic wool singles skeins with indigo as a test before dying the wool for the kaftan fabric. I was excited by the way the yarn turned out; the color was rich and saturated. I knew instantly what I wanted to make from them – naalbind socks. Because I had a lot of other projects going on at the time, I reluctantly set the yarn aside for another time. I…
We haven’t had to do a lot of repairs to the jurta since my husband and I build it in 2000 despite a near catastrophic accident several years ago when the tension band gave out after the yurt was fully set up. That resulted in a roof ring splitting out and a few broken ties on the jurta walls. We repaired the roof ring with strapping tape. Believe it or not, that repair held, ugly…
The purpose of this article is not to provide step-by-step instructions, rather, it is to document for you the process I used in prototyping a Magyar headdress of the Conquest Era. You may have a better and more authentic way to construct one. In that case, I really do hope that you’ll share. The completed project – a prototype headdress. This project came about because of my frustration with keeping a veil on my head. My…
These early 10th century Magyar earrings can be made quickly and easily using commercially available findings or you can fashion your own findings from raw materials. Supplies you’ll need: 8 – 5mm silver beads 2 ft – 20 gauge brass wire -or- 8 gold-colored coiled wire beads 2 hoop earwires 2 – 3 inch headpins For a more period approach, skip the earwires and headpins. Instead purchase: 1 ft – 20 gauge silver wire gold leaf (optional) gold…
Edited to add: The door described in this post is now mounted on the wall of my sewing room. After eight years, we built a new, new door in 2012. Tourney season is coming up and I really need to stop procrastinating. You see, in September of 2001, as we were coming back from a crown event, my jurta door, which was bungied to the roof rack of my SUV, came loose and went flying.…
This article was written around 2003. I’ve had my jurta for 13 years now. I’ve replaced the door a couple of times, the roof ring once and last year we redid the leather ties that bind the wall together for the first time. For a look at how my jurta looks now, go here. Being inside a yurt for the first time was a life altering experience for me. Previously, my husband and I had…
Weaving the kaftan cloth turned out to be so much more challenging than I anticipated due to underestimating how much time I would need to complete the project, but I also underestimated the physical toll that sitting at the loom for so many hours/days would take on me. There are so many “firsts” for me, though,and I learned so much, that I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. First time skeining yarn from a cone.…
