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Egyptian Diamonds in Tablet Weaving
Aug. 20th, 2018 01:39 pm I've been tablet weaving again.
For some reason, I can't get the photo on Flickr to show here, but I've put a link for those who would like to see the design.
This particular pattern has an interesting history. Originally found by archaeologists, it was several years before anyone figured out how to reproduce it. Normal tablet weaving patterns change on horizontal lines (across the width of the piece), but this one changes on the diagonal.
The trick is to change one pair of cards on each side of the centre line, every two picks, working your way outwards (or inwards) until you reach the edge (or centre).
I started this pattern working on a backstrap loom as I've always done in the past, but I've been getting back ache from this kind of loom, so having found a cheap (but perfectly servicable) inkle loom at Sidmouth folk festival, I transferred the weaving to that.
You probably won't be able to spot the change in the photo, but the tension along the edges was noticeably better on the loom. and I found it easier to correct mistakes there as well (mistakes in tablet weaving are difficult to correct at the best of times, and virtually impossible at the worst)
I'd originally been intending to make a glasses case out of this band, but having found a case at another festival that did exactly what I needed, and did it better than the design I had in mind, I abandoned the project for some time. When I came back, it was very difficult to pick up the pattern again and I ended up doing and undoing the first inch several times over.
The moral turns out to be that you should leave yourself a note saying which side of the loom you were doing the pattern changes on....
The narrowing in at the end was done by turning warp threads into weft threads and then cutting them off at the edge. The loop at the top was there from the start - I used continuous warping to originally set up the pattern.
I eventually braided the end and finished it off with one of those useful things you learn in Guides. The whole band is now gracing the hat of Anonymous Morris's accordion player.
For some reason, I can't get the photo on Flickr to show here, but I've put a link for those who would like to see the design.
This particular pattern has an interesting history. Originally found by archaeologists, it was several years before anyone figured out how to reproduce it. Normal tablet weaving patterns change on horizontal lines (across the width of the piece), but this one changes on the diagonal.
The trick is to change one pair of cards on each side of the centre line, every two picks, working your way outwards (or inwards) until you reach the edge (or centre).
I started this pattern working on a backstrap loom as I've always done in the past, but I've been getting back ache from this kind of loom, so having found a cheap (but perfectly servicable) inkle loom at Sidmouth folk festival, I transferred the weaving to that.
You probably won't be able to spot the change in the photo, but the tension along the edges was noticeably better on the loom. and I found it easier to correct mistakes there as well (mistakes in tablet weaving are difficult to correct at the best of times, and virtually impossible at the worst)
I'd originally been intending to make a glasses case out of this band, but having found a case at another festival that did exactly what I needed, and did it better than the design I had in mind, I abandoned the project for some time. When I came back, it was very difficult to pick up the pattern again and I ended up doing and undoing the first inch several times over.
The moral turns out to be that you should leave yourself a note saying which side of the loom you were doing the pattern changes on....
The narrowing in at the end was done by turning warp threads into weft threads and then cutting them off at the edge. The loop at the top was there from the start - I used continuous warping to originally set up the pattern.
I eventually braided the end and finished it off with one of those useful things you learn in Guides. The whole band is now gracing the hat of Anonymous Morris's accordion player.
