Whew! This was an exercise in patience. The process of adding in all that extra fluff is very time consuming. This project was inspired by the great pile-woven trade cloaks - like this image: (sourced from https://www.ashford.co.nz/threads-of-history-an-icelandic-varafeldur-in-the-south-highlands/)
It's a magnificent piece. In the Valkyries' Loom, Hayeur Smith proposes that this was one way the people of the North Atlantic (especially in Iceland) grappled with a drop in temperature. Another adaptation was that they packed in their wefts more closely to create a more dense fabric. Adding in extra wool was another way to add warmth - this time by adding insulation. These cloaks were found across northern Europe, so either the process was widely shared, or they were a traded commodity.
I absolutely love how mine turned out, it is about 30" by 80". I initially was adding tufts of fiber every other pick, then after 10 inches added every third pick, increase back to every other pick for the last 10 inches. In hind sight, I should have added even more. Barber describes pile-woven cloaks in Women's Work and Pre-historic textiles. It is unclear if the locks of fiber were added in during the weaving or after. Having completed the during weaving process, I believe this is the easier way to make sure the fiber isn't just a tuft of fluff, but incorporated into the weave structure of the fabric added extra insultation there. Adding additional tufts after the fact would ensure all over coverage, but not the extra rows of fluff into the cloth - I think the difference here is aesthetic vs function.
At the end of the day, proof of concept was achieved. I learned a lot and would do things differently next time, if there is a next time. And I can almost ensure that winter is finally gone, because it will be too warm to wear this until next season!!
Comments
Post a Comment