As archaeologists uncovered bog bodies in Northern Europe dating to the Bronze Age and Iron Age, there was quite a variety of clothing found on the bodies, often very well preserved. Evidence of woolen garments was widespread, along with animal hides and plant fibres such as linen. The acidic bog environment presents a preservation bias …
Category: Viking Weaving
Sprang
The word Sprang is originally from the Swedish language (meaning to spring or jump) and it refers to a unique kind of textile. It’s neither weaving nor netting - it’s more like a type of braid. Sprang is created when warp threads are systematically twisted around one another, and as a result looks a bit …
Nålbinding – learning to knit like a Viking
In Danish the word means ‘needle-binding’. And judging by some of the photos that you can find on Pinterest, there’s been quite a rediscovery of this technique by modern crafters. Nålbinding predates our modern knitting and crochet by more than a thousand years. It’s a method which requires the yarn to be threaded through the …
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Diamonds and Broken Diamonds
Diamond twill is an ancient weave which has been identified in textiles dating back thousands of years. I think it is a beautiful, symmetrical and versatile pattern that combines well with borders in a point twill, or with variations of beautiful 'bird's eye' designs. (It also works quite well with a stripey warp, as you can …
A warp-weighted Tablet Weaving Loom
I’m enjoying teaching myself about tablet weaving, through some reading and a lot of trial and error. Over the past few months I’ve spent quite a while experimenting with ways to make sure that I’ve got the right tension on the warp. And after a few false starts, the very ancient idea of using loom weights occurred …
Tablet Weaving
Tablet weaving (also known as card weaving) is an ingenious technique for taking long bundles of warp threads and passing them through perforated tablets, then manipulating these to make strong patterned bands. Historically this was done with either a back strap method or a structured loom. To weave with this technique, each card is normally …
The Warp Weighted Loom
The warp weighted loom has been found in European archaeology as far back as the Neolithic period, more than 6000 years ago, so in Northern Europe and Scandinavia this has been the dominant weaving technology for 5 of the past 6 millennia. The distinctive feature of this type of loom is the use of clay …
Broken Diamond Twill
I am weaving broken diamond twill this time - iconic weave of the Anglo Saxon and Viking periods. The loom is warped up with Shetland wool again with a sett of 12 ends per inch, but this time with black warp threaded in a 2/2 broken point twill. The first sample is woven with the …
Celtic Weaving 