Tag: weaving

Tapestry Bag for Spinning

For my third-ever tapestry project (the other two done before I joined the SCA), I went a little overboard: I wanted to weave a bag for my spinning wheel with my device on one side. After an entertaining discussion at my local shire meeting, I decided to add a motto on the other: tanta oves, paucas tempus (so many sheep, so little time).

Pattern & Design

For the pattern, I wanted to weave the bag in one piece so that I all I had to do was fold and sew it. I also gave it multiple straps to hang it from my wheel, plus straps with buttons to close it.

I created the designs on my computer, as I had already drawn a digital version of my device. I also had some good fonts to use as a jumping-off point for the text. I printed these out and used them as a cartoon behind the loom, though I did Sharpie some spots on the warp to assist in alignment.

Materials & Process

I used my vertical tapestry table loom for this project. Because of the bag layout, the pattern was woven so that the warp ran vertically in the final product, as opposed to horizontally (as in period). I was determined to weave from my yarn stash, so my warp was a midweight cotton and my weft was a worsted-weight knitting wool. Because the straps were woven in, so were the buttonholes. The buttons were leftover ones that I made out of Sculpey for a baby sweater; I sewed them on at the end.

Challenges

The choice of warp and weft led to the greatest issue with the tapestry, which could modernly be called “pixelization.” Because my gauge was large by my pattern had some finer details and many curves, the final product ended up less smooth than I wanted. This was also my most complicated tapestry so far (horses are notoriously hard in art!), so I learned a lot from these challenges! Also, I totally went overkill on straps.

Progress Photos & Final Project

Front of the bag with red sides on the loom. The cartoon is behind the warp and pinned to the fabric to keep it from falling.

“Tanta oves paucas tempus” in progress. Letter shapes were incredibly hard at this size, so I kept trying different shapes for the same letter as an experiment.

The finished bag all laid out flat.

The inside of the bag before weaving all the ends in (yes, I wove them all in).

The front of the bag before I sewed the longer slits up.

Finished bag hanging off the wheel (front)

Finished bag hanging off the wheel (back)

Overall, I’m happy with the bag. It fits on my wheel and holds all my bobbins plus my niddy-noddy, diz, and some wool. It doesn’t interfere with carrying the wheel, either! Finally, I learned so much from this project that I know my next tapestry will be leaps and bounds better.

A Bag for a Pilgrim

I made this bag for Lochmere Midwinters in January 2019 as part of their Pilgrim Bag competition. The picture shows the fabric a much darker blue than it is in real life.

Materials & Techniques

Outside Bag Body

    • Material: Wool, handwoven on a rigid heddle loom, fulled, and hand-dyed in indigo
    • Techniques: Handsewn with commercially-dyed wool

Bag Lining

    • Materials: Linen (commercially woven)
    • Techniques: Handsewn and felled with cotton thread

Strap

    • Materials: Commercially-dyed wool in Atlantian colors
    • Techniques: Inkle-woven and handsewn onto the bag’s back

Tassels

    • Fluffy fluffy goodness made of wool

Badge

    • Don’t worry! The badge hasn’t gone missing: this is the bag’s first “pilgrimage,” so it does not have a badge yet! After this event, I will sew a badge (perhaps a Spike?) to the front flap.

Pattern & Construction

Thanks to Mistress Karen Larsdatter’s links pages, I first found the pattern by Sabine Scholl, the pattern by Myriam Gateault, and the translation of Scholl’s pattern by Lord Coblaith Muimnech (Ansteorra). In several manuscript images on these pattern pages, there were blue bags with white tassels and details (Atlantian colors!). I then remembered the wool cloth that I had handwoven, fulled, and dyed in indigo—it would be perfect for this bag! Addendum 2019: I used a small rigid-heddle loom to weave the cloth out of a rough commercial wool; I then fulled wool by putting it in my home’s washer/dryer and forgetting about it!

While I prefer the look of the trapezoidal bag in these patterns and illuminations, I wanted to use every inch of my handwoven/hand-dyed fabric, so I settled on a rectangular bag (but still with tassels, because who doesn’t love tassels?). Because the final construction was simple folding and bag-lining (pun definitely intended), I did not use a pattern; I relied on the dyed fabric’s width and cut the lining to match.

Finally, while straps in illuminations are usually a single color, I wanted to reinforce the Atlantian colors of the bag body, so I patterned the inkle-woven strap with white and multi-toned, asymmetrical blue stripes. I wove a long enough piece to serve as a strap, then sewed it to the back of the bag to create the same visual, from the front, that I saw in the exemplars. Addendum 2019: I used a modern inkle loom to weave the strap. The asymmetrical blue stripes were a necessity, as I had a limited amount of match yarn remnants!

Period Exemplars

 

These three exemplars gave me confidence that a blue-and-white square bag with tassels could be possible across multiple centuries.

Sources

Lord Coblaith Muimnech, Lord. “Trapezoidal Shoulder Bag.” Coblaith, http://www.coblaith.net/Bags/TrapezoidalBag/default.html.

Karen Larsdatter, Mistress. “Pilgrims’ Bags.” Medieval & Renaissance Material Culture, http://www.larsdatter.com/pilgrims-bags.htm.

Myriam Gateault. “Schmuck und Accesoires – Pilgertasche.” Diu Minnezît, https://www.diu-minnezit.de/realie_details.php?sid=0&lid=0&rid=119&tid=1.

Sabine Scholl. “Mittelartliche Umhängetasche.” Tempora Nostra, http://www.tempora-nostra.de/mode_umhaengetasche.shtml.

2019 Twelfth Night Artisans’ Exchange

The Items

For Twelfth Night 2019, Vadoma organized an artisans’ exchange. I immediately signed up and was assigned Mistress Greer. Knowing her love for frogs and later-than-my-time persona, I was struck by inspiration: a frog on a lily-pad!

The “lily-pad” is a Tudor-style wool flat cap, knitted and fulled. The “frog” is a needle-felted wool pincushion; his spots are black-headed pins. The “flower” is two sets of inkle-woven trim, one purple-pink-white and one yellow-white with beads.

We were also requested to write a story about our objects!

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