Last summer, during my stay in the Middelaldercentret in Nykøbing, I was approached by one of the other attendants to weave a narrow ribbon for a beautiful hanger she commissioned at a goldsmith. She wanted something very simple, but comfortable enough to support the weight of the hanger. A chain was not suitable because it would cut in her neck, and a simple string would do no justice to the beautiful hanger itself. Because we were there with about 80 people form the Company of St. George, the material for the ribbon was readily available. The dyers had a beautiful assortment of plant-dyed silk yarns, and she picked a lovely dark purple. The yarn wasn’t dyed perfectly even, small areas of slightly lighter red hues show up all through the yarn.
These small variations add an interesting effect to the finished ribbon. In tablet weaving, a thread shows up every 4th turn of the cards. This means that instead of larger patches, the lighter pieces of yarn show up as tiny specs all over the end product. The ribbon was woven with 9 cards in alternating SZ orientation, all threaded with 4 threads and continuously turned forward. When too much twist built up, I flipped the cards and continued weaving. The ribbon ended up about 7 mm wide.
This was my first time weaving with plant dyed yarn, and I immediately noticed one of its unintended side effects. The last dye bath must have been indigo, because my tablets, spool and even my fingers turned blue during weaving! I will make sure to tell this to the person I made it for, so she knows it might stain her skin also during wearing. Overall I liked this small project very much, it really shows that there’s beauty in simplicity.
Dutch Sewing Scientist 