Tablet Weaving with Silk

Since I wasn't entirely happy with my last tablet weaving project, in linen, I got a wild hair and decided to try weaving with silk. Unfortunately, all I had on hand was silk thread, so what started off as a lark suddenly became the smallest, finest weave I've ever done.

Seriously, it's tiny!

I followed the same pattern as last time, so that it would be a more direct comparison based on fabric content. The final result is 3/16" (3mm) wide and 38-1/2" long. Just enough for a fabulous addition to a neckline!

Another reason it's so short is that I didn't want to go whole hog, because I wasn't sure how well it would work... and I wasn't sure how far my silk supply would go!

Here's the band with the three silks I used to create it. The wooden spool of green silk was almost exhausted, while the white spool just kept going and going - I'm surprised at how much it holds. Jake picked two of them up for me while we were in Milan.

For comparison's sake, here's the silk band with a penny.

And, finally, the progression of my tablet-weaving. From the left, my first project in 3/2 pearle cotton, my second project in linen, and my third in silk.






While it did take an obscenely long time to weave it this finely, I did really love working with the silk. It also held up better than cotton and linen to the wear and tear of the moving cards, and the slickness of the fibers made it much easier to work out the subsequent knots.

Moving forward, I may play my hand at dyeing some of the remaining white silk thread I have on hand... and some larger weaving silks are totally going on my wish list!

Bibliography:

Ewing, Thor. Viking Clothing. Gloucestershire: Tempus Publishing, Inc. 2006.

Glæsel, Nille. Viking Dress Garment Clothing. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. 2010.

Schweitzer, Robert. “Beginning Tablet Weaving.” Forward into the Past. 2 April 2011. <http://www.fitp.ca/articles/FITPXXI/beginning_tablet_weaving.pdf>