Applications of Tablet Weaving
By Dagný Sveinsdóttir
Tablet weaving is a prehistoric technique used to create narrow bands, straps and ribbons without the aid of a loom. This method of narrow weaving has been practiced in many cultures since the Bronze Age, predominantly in areas of Europe and West Asia. Tablets, also known as boards or cards, are used to twist colourful yarns into beautiful and durable belts, straps, girdles, fillets, head bands, seal tags, ankle bindings, and garters. For the historical costumer, medieval reenactor, or experimental archaeologist, these kinds of applications are very straightforward: weave to the desired length, cut the tablets loose, and the band is ready to wear!
Already have a tablet woven belt? Want to add some decorative and historically accurate trim to your finest garment? Not sure where to cut or how to sew it to your garb? Here are some ideas for you!
Preparing tablet woven trim
Many historical costumers are under the impression that tablet weaving will immediately unravel if the ends are not woven or sewn into place. This is not the case. Apart from the obvious differences in appearance, tablet woven ribbons behave very similar to other woven textiles. You don’t need to finish the ends of tablet woven trim, but it is good practice to increase the longevity and reduce maintenance of your garb.
Wet finishing
If your band is woven with wool or linen thread, wet finishing in warm water will allow the fibres to settle into the band and prevent the ends from unraveling. Depending on the type of yarn used, you may also like to gently scour the band at this stage with a dash of simple soap. Fill your sink with warm water from the tap, slowly submerge the woven band, and leave to soak for a couple of hours. Do not scrub or agitate the band unless you hope to felt the fibres or nap the fabric. After soaking, flatten or stretch under tension in the shade.
Cutting into sections
Once you have summoned the courage to snip, make sure you have accurately measured the lengths you will need. Sometimes it is best to pad this measurement a little bit to afford yourself some room for error and planned unraveling. Measure twice, cut once, and always cut parallel to the weft.
Unraveling
Unraveling small sections of your tablet weaving is not necessary for every project. You may choose to unravel the raw edge of your tablet woven section if you wish to gather a tassel, add pom poms or other adornments, square braid the warp threads, or sew the individual warp threads into a seam of your garment (tedious, but does result in a pleasing finish).
Before cutting your band into sections, you will need to allow for unraveling with a 2 cm allowance at each end. Starting at the very end of your tablet woven band, use a darning needle to slowly unpick the weft from the twisted warp threads.
Once you have released a sufficient amount of weft (within the 3 cm allowance of woven band), you can choose to sew the weft thread back into the band to secure the end.
Or, you might choose to wrap the unravelled weft around the warp and tie the end into a tassel for use as a belt or headband.
Basic whip stitched hem
Don’t want to unravel a single centimeter of your tablet weaving? No problem!
Use fine yarn of a similar colour and quality of the tablet woven band to whip stitch the raw end. Insert your needle into the side of your band, parallel to the passage of the weft thread, approximately 3 picks (horizontal passes of the weft thread) from the end of your band. Whip stitch from one edge to the other edge.
Pay careful attention to your stitch length and position. Try not to split the warp threads with your stitches. Your stitch should be long enough to secure the last few passes of your weft thread into the band with your whip stitch. Once complete, sew the end of the thread back into the woven portion of the band and snip off the excess thread.
Sewing with tablet woven trim
Edge to edge
A surprising number of historical examples feature tablet woven ribbons sewn onto the edge of a garment, rather than sewn flat or woven into the fabric. There are many reasons that this treatment was so prevalent. Beyond decoration, the addition of braid to the edge of a garment may have provided reinforcement and rigidity to cuffs, necklines, or cloak borders.
With this method, the tablet woven trim is typically overcast stitched (whip) to the hemmed edge of the garment or selvedge of the cloth. Once you have hemmed the garment and finished the raw edges of the tablet woven trim, place the trim face down on the outer side of the fabric. Use a sturdy yarn to overcast stitch the border of your tablet woven trim to the edge of the fabric. Stitches should be diagonal and evenly spaced. This type of stitch is reversible, having the same appearance on either side, and will flatten to close the gap between the trim and cloth once sewn.
Some historical examples of this technique include:
- HallTex 123 (Hallstatt 2) attached along a single edge with an overcast stitch to twill cloth (Austria, Early Iron Age, 800 – 400 BC)
- Both bands from the Orkney Hood were sewn by their edge. The narrow band was sewn by one edge onto the skirt of the hood, and the wide band was sewn by the edge to the remaining edge of the narrow band (Orkney, AD 250 – 615).
- Rectangular cloak and wool tunic with tablet woven trim with animals sewn onto the edge from Evebø-Eide, Gloppen (Norway, Migration Period, 5th Century)
- Sewn at the edge to the selvedge of a twill fragment with an overcast stitch (whip stitch) from Kaupang, Norway (Viking Age, 840-940 CE)
- Elaborate bands woven in wool and sewn with linen along the finished selvedge of a rectangular mantle as found in Grave XXXVIII (38), Siksälä (Estonia, 14 – 15th Century)
Cloth to cloth
Ornate and elaborate designs created with tablets required a specialised set of skills. Treasured as heirlooms and recycled from generation to generation, many tablet woven bands outlived their original vestments and found new life with new garments. Brocaded silk bands, with patterns produced gold and silver supplemental wefts, were stitched onto garments as a sign of wealth and status.
Two different historically appropriate methods of sewing tablet woven trim onto cloth; overcast stitch (left) and running stitch (right). To attach your trim with an overcast stitch, be sure to select a yarn that will harmoniously blend with the tablet woven ribbon. Stitches should be diagonal and evenly spaced. The running stitch method is discreet, effective and will result in a pleasing finish. Be sure to select a fine sewing yarn (silk) and use the outermost warp threads as a guide for your stitches. Ideally, your running stitches should be placed to secure the weft (horizontal) within the woven band.
Some historical examples of this technique include:
- Brocaded tablet woven band sectioned and sewn flat onto a silk garment found at Birka (Sweden, Viking Age)
- Brocaded tablet bands sewn onto the cuffs of tunic from Mammen (Denmark, 10th Century)
- A woollen tablet woven band sewn onto twill fabric, presumed to be the neckline of an outer garment found at Reykjasel (Iceland, Viking Age, 800 – 1000 AD)
- Gaigovo-1 (Object No. I / 4.2) sewn with an overcast stitch onto a piece of herringbone twill cloth, perpendicular to the edge, with green woollen thread (Staraya Ladoga, Russia, 11th Century)
- Red tunic with tablet woven cuffs secured with silver gilt metal clasps sewn onto cloth from Evebø-Eide, Gloppen (Norway, Migration Period, 5th Century)
- Brocaded tablet woven band sectioned and sewn flat onto a damask chasuble found in Ösmo church, Stockholm (Sweden, 14 – 15th Century).
Woven in
A tablet woven header band creates a rigid, organised and well spaced starting point for weaving on a vertical, warp weighted loom. The header band, or starting border, is woven first and used to secure the warp threads on the cloth beam at the top of the loom. In this way, the weft thread of the header band is also the warp thread for the cloth.
This method is complicated. Unlike the “edge to edge” or “cloth to cloth” technique, a woven in trim will require some planning, preparation and skill to tablet weave a border into the cloth. Although this treatment is historically useful with a warp weighted loom, it can be reproduced using handwoven cloth or unfinished commercial fabric (cut and unravel the selvedge). A header band can be woven using the weft of the tablet woven band is the warp of the cloth (left). This can be achieved prior to weaving on a modern table loom. Or, a band can be woven using the unravelled or unwoven warp threads of the cloth resulting in trim with a weft fringe (right).
Some historical examples of this technique include:
- Tablet woven border woven into the edge of semi-circular mantle from an Etruscan grave (M1) in Verucchio (Italy, 725 – 650 BC)
- Wide blue and white tablet woven border woven along the selvedges of a checkered, wool cloak from Thorsberg (Northern Germany, Iron Age)
- The wide Orkney band features a long fringe created with the extension of the weft, similar to the technique used in a header band (Orkney, AD 250 – 615).
- An intact header band with warp recovered from Tegle, (Norway, Migration Period, AD 400 – 575)
- The ‘Lady in Blue’ wore a basic band woven into the top of her smokkr (Iceland, Late Viking Age, 10th Century).
- Simple woollen bands used as header bands for the construction of elaborate mantles from Siksälä (Estonia, 13-14th Century)
References
| Collingwood, P. (2015). The Techniques of Tablet Weaving (2nd ed.). Brattleboro, Vermont: Echo Point Books & Media. |
| Dedkam, H. (1925). To tekstilfund fra folkevandringstiden: Evebø og Snartemo. Bergens Museums Aarbok: ArKeloish Musum I Stravanger Biblioteket. Retrieved from https://www.nb.no/items/URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2015101306009 |
| Guckelsberger, M., & Mader, M. (2017). The Woman Dressed in Blue: a Textile Find from the 10th C. Icelandic grave and its reconstruction. Retrieved from https://northernwomen.org/2017/02/22/the-woman-dressed-in-blue-a-textile-find-from-the-10th-c-icelandic-grave-and-its-reconstruction-by-marianne-guckelsberger-and-marled-mader/ |
| Historiska Museet (SHM). (n.d.) Mässhake av textil. Retrieved from https://historiska.se/upptack-historien/object/95622-masshake-av-textil/ |
| Ingstad, A. S. (1979). To kvinnegraver med tekstiler fra Kaupang. Universitetets Oldsaksamling 150 år, Jubileumsårbok. Særtrykk, Oslo |
| Kochkurkina, S. I., & Orfinskaya, O. V. (2014). ПРИЛАДОЖСКАЯ КУРГАННАЯ КУЛЬТУРА:ТЕХНОЛОГИЧЕСКОЕ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЕ ТЕКСТИЛЯ [Ladoga Kurgan culture: Technological research of textiles]. Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/9669661/ |
| Ræder Knudsen, L. (n.d.). Tacit Knowledge and the Interpretation of Archaeological Tablet-Woven Textiles. Retrieved from http://tabletweaving.dk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/LBJ-festschrift-3.pdf |
| Sveinsdottir, D. & Saemundarson, B. (2020). A Simplified Guide to Historical Tablet Weaving. Sydney, Australia: Knarr Traders. |
| Wilberg Halvorsen, S. (2009). Dates and Dyes – New test results for the finds from Tegle and Helgeland, Norway. Archaeological Textiles Newsletter, 54. Retrieved from http://atnfriends.com/download/ATN49color.pdf |
| Vergberg, R. (2007). You too can warp and weave on a Warp-weighted Loom. Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/33710255/You_too_can_warp_and_weave_on_a_Warp-Weighted_Loom |