ON DRESSING THE PART
This
& That
by Barbara Delory
Scrub
It!
In Handwoven Textiles in Early New England, Nancy Dick Bogdonoff mentions a knitted washcloth of tow linen. Knit these up in garter stitch any size, from handspun flax. Something to do as an interpreter and something very efficient and practical to add to your camp gear.
On
Cord and Lacing
Cords
and lacings served multiple purposes, some of the fancier varieties were used in
couched embroidery and the more practical sort provided all sorts of
drawstrings. They laced up stays,
suspended articles from the waist and closed many sacks etc.
The
simplest method consisted of twisting fibers as in ropemaking, or braiding or plaiting. A familiar tool for
producing a round cord, sometimes called pegging made use of a rounded piece of
wood or ivory with four or more nails around a center hole.
LUCETS
produce a square cord of linen,
wool or silk that was attractive and could be a bit stretchy.
The lucet is lyre-shaped and made of wood or tortoiseshell.
And a forked twig will also work!
It
is interesting to note that even the experts make mistakes.
In Gertrude Whiting's Old Time Tools & Toys of Needlework, page 23, is an illustration
with the following caption: "Old harp-shaped French tortoiseshell thread
winder with gilded dots". And yes, some dear soul has indeed wound her thread upon the
horns of a very lovely lucet. The shape is distinctive even to the hole in the
body of the 'lyre'.
This
may also be a good example of things unidentified that might be available in
antique and flea markets today. Look around - if you should find a lucet (and
don't want it yourself) please call me.
ABOUT
TAPE LOOMS
An
easily portable, interesting activity for
house or encampment is the use of the tape loom. Tapes, cords and fringes needed
to bind, gather, fasten and if time allows, decorate, were woven on a simple
handcarved wooden heddle. Box looms are bulkier to transport but easier to use.
A
balance weave occurs when there are just as many warp threads as there are weft
threads per square inch and both are visible. If the weft thread is drawn
extremely tight, only the warp threads show and this tape will be warp-faced. A
weft-faced tape is one in which the warp threads are extremely taut and the more
loosely woven weft threads are beaten so close together that only the weft and
none of the warp is visible. If the shuttle is inserted from the same side into
both the sheds and the weft drawn extremely tight a round string will result. If
a loop is left on the same side every other time a loop fringe can be made.
Patterns
are achieved by using more than one color and by varying the color placement in
warp and weft.
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Knotting
To
the best of my knowledge tatting as we know it today was not done until the
nineteenth century. Knotting was practiced in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries using a larger shuttle. Knots were made at quarter inch intervals in
linen, silk or wool threads. This might be used in making fringes, or it might
be couched onto fabric as a form or embroidery. Instructions for the latter may
be found in Embroidered Gardens
by Thomasina Beck.
A small drawstring knotting bag hangs from the left wrist and the motion of the hands with thread and shuttle is both pretty and elegant, 'Tis ladies work!
n.b. Conversation piece paintings, i.e. Capt. John Hervey & Family by Zoffany, also the Rooks-Leeds Family by Arthur Davis, frequently show a lady knotting.
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Knotting
Shuttles Described
In
size, the knotting shuttle is generally larger than the familiar 19th century
tatting shuttle - one to two inches wide and four to six inches in length.
Those made of ivory or tortoiseshell are sometimes ornamented with inlay of pearl, silver or different coloured golds. Cut steel and silver with filigree decoration were popular as well as rock crystal, amber, porcelain, verni martin, Chinese lacquer, and horn. French shuttles were often larger than the English and more ornate. Oftimes their practical use was of secondary importance, for a woman in fashionable society learned to wield her shuttle as she would her fan.
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