King's and Queen's A&S - Part 3

My third project for King's and Queen's A&S was an extension of my spinning study. After spinning large quantities of thread at many gauges, I had formed some ideas about what whorls might be appropriate for thread for particular textile artifacts. It was time to test the ideas. Two facts made the project difficult for me. First, I am not a weaver. I had no preconceived notions about how thread would react when woven (which perhaps was a good thing). Second, since I did not have access to the actual artifacts, I had to rely on photos and descriptions by other researchers (mostly Margrethe Hald).

My first attempt was a remnant from Ribe, woven at 10/12 threads per centimeter.  Warp threads are Z-spun; weft threads are S-spun. I spun Jacob roving using a 19 gram whorl similar to the whorls found in Ribe. I spun S and Z thread at 14 wraps per centimeter, then wove it on a small rigid heddle loom.

My version is 10/9 threads per centimeter. Fulling would draw the threads closer together. 

I then tackled the cushion cover from the Mammen find. This is also tabby woven, at a similar density to the Ribe artifact. Both warp and weft are Z-spun, and the thread count is 11/7.8 tpc. This time I spun Fin wool, and I was able to achieve a thread count of 11/8.

I felt I was ready to try a more complex weave. This was where trouble began. It was uncharted territory for me. I wanted to weave a piece similar to the Mammen "cloak" fabric. This is a very fine fabric, woven in a 3-shaft twill. Using a 6 gram spindle, I spun at 30 wraps per centimeter. I made several attempts, but was never able to weave such fine cloth.

I did not want to end on an unsuccessful note, so I attempted to reproduce a 2/2 twill cloth found at Jelling. This has a thread count of 9.5/5.5 tpc. My first attempts were much too bulky. I was surprised to discover that my best result came using the same 14wpc thread that I began the weaving study with.

I don't enjoy weaving as much as I enjoy spinning, but I really want to understand how the weave structure is related to the spun thread. Clearly I have a lot more experimenting to do!