White Wolf Fian Challenge

[matildalazouche]

At the SCA Event, Practicum (February 20, 2016), I made my challenge into the Order of the White Wolf Fian and was accepted. This order was first conceived as the Argent Wolf Fian by my mentor, Dame Eleanor Cadfan, and can only be entered through making a successful Arts & Sciences challenge. Once you have presented your project to the Queen, who is the head of the Order, you have one year in which to complete it. You must re-challenge every three years if you wish to remain in the Order.



Presenting my challenge to the Queen. Photograph: Kyle Andrews (Two Ravens).

I have been struck by what I will describe as a 14th-century slow fashion movement. I want to make my own clothes from the yarn up, slowly and deliberately. I have decided, having almost no weaving experience, to weave my own cloth for most of my clothing and accessories from this point onward.

My inspirations include:

• the video for the Reconstruction of the Hammerum Girl's Dress (produced by Museum Midtjylland, Denmark, (www.museummidtjylland.dk/). Although the entire video is amazing, it was the warp weighted weaving that I really enjoyed watching: the slow and deliberate placement of each weft thread, followed by skilled manipulation of the string heddles.

Images from Reconstruction of the Hammerum Girl’s Dress (Museum Midtjylland, Denmark). These details show the manipulation of the three string heddles in order to produce the 2/2 twill cloth for the gown. The fourth image show the loose placement of the weft in the warp shed in order to accommodate the over/under path of the weave.

• Riina Rammo’s PhD thesis on the TEXTILE FINDS FROM MEDIEVAL CESSPITS IN TARTU: TECHNOLOGY, TRADE AND CONSUMPTION (Rammo, 2015). The majority of these 13th and 14th century textiles from Tartu, Estonia were either tabby weave or 2/1 twill. There are really wonderful close up images of some of these textile fragments on the Hibernaatiopesäke blog (http://hibernaatio.blogspot.ca/2015/12/aarreaitta-tarton-keskiaikaiset.html). In her thesis, which is available for download in a Finnish and English version, Dr. Rammo talks about the differences in the coarseness of the fragments and whether it can be assumed that some of the more more coarsely woven examples were produced locally from rural home looms, as opposed to being imported. The discussion concerning the post weaving treatment of the cloth (fulling, teasling, and shearing) is also very interesting. And, Dr. Rammo provides thread counts for both fine and coarse fragments.

• I also became very interested in producing my own archaeological-type textiles in my home, using a simple loom. I found abstracts online from the NORTH EUROPEAN SYMPOSIUM FOR ARCHAEOLOGICAL TEXTILES, held in Copenhagen in 2008. At the conference, Riina Rammo gave a presentation on the Tartu textiles, and Barbara Klessig from Holmbold State University gave a poster on re-creating archaeological textiles using a rigid heddle loom:
  
  Barbara Klessig (Humboldt State University, USA)
  
  Re-creating archaeological textiles: a comparison of tools, techniques and structures
  
  “… By using techniques developed in weaving with multiple rigid heddles, archaeological textiles can not only be re-created but can also show the mechanics of how they could have been created on a warp weighted loom. This poster will show a comparison between a warp weight loom and the rigid heddle loom using multiple rigid heddles. Along with photographs and diagrams comparing the actions of the two types of looms, there will be samples of archaeological textiles re-created with multi rigid heddle techniques. Although the ends per inch or centimeter are limited, the use of this type of loom can give one insight into the workings and structures of archaeological textiles and how they could have been woven on early historical looms.”
  
  I became convinced that a rigid heddle loom, which can easily do 2- and 3-shaft weaving, would be the perfect instrument to reproduce the tabby weaves and 2/1 twills that were recovered from the Tartu archaeological site. My hope was to produce coarser cloth similar to what was made in the medieval household - slowly and deliberately purpose-crafted. As it is possible to buy up to 15 dent heddles, this means that tabby weaves with 30 ends/inch (EPI), and 2/1 twills with 22-23 EPI are possible if two heddles are used. This density can be increased further when the cloth is fulled.
  
  The Challenge: weaving the cloth
  
  The gown that I intend to make is based on the Herjolfsnes 42 dress (Accession no. D10584) (Ostegard, 2009; Fransen et al., 2011). This is a loose dress that can be pulled on over the head, yet it is relatively close-fitted to the waist. The long sleeves are close-fitting, but without lacing or buttons. Instead, there are short slits in the lower arms, which would allow the sleves to be foldes back during messy work. The centre front gores are inserted into a rounded slit shape. The fullness at the bottom is aided by two gores on each side which run from the underarm to the floor (one set of side gores on the original dress is actually one piece with a false seam running through the middle to make it appear as though it is two).
  
  
  
  Herjolfsnes 42, Accession no. D10584
  
  I calculated that I require (after washing) approximately 10.5 m of 40 cm wide cloth. I will be using Vuorelma Vippela yarn (100% wool) from Finland, single ply, tight z-twist in brown for the warp and mustard for the weft, 380 m/100 g. Requirements: approximately 1250 g. I have sketched the pattern cutting design based on my measurements and one that has the least waste of the woven fabric. I think that this is the perfect width of cloth to produce the pattern pieces I need, with minimal waste. After washing, the cloth shouldl be 40 cm wide.
  
  
  Here is a photograph of the fabric in progress:
  
  
  
  The Challenge: sewing the dress
  
  I have been practicing sewing seams, seam finishing and edge finishing as discussed by Ostegard (2009). My attempts to make tiny invisible stitches in linen thread for the seams have turned out very pleasing, although it takes a bit of time to get used to sewing the seams from the front of the cloth. I’ve also practiced my seams finishing and singling edge finishing. In this latter technique, small running stitches are made in a serpentine pattern on the inside surface of a cloth edge for reinforcement.
  
  As I weave the cloth for my challenge, I have decided to construct a hood from the brown and red 2/1 twill. This will give me a chance to practice these sewing techniques on home-woven coth and I hope to iron out all my inexperience before I move on to the dress!
  
  Fransen, L., Norgaard, A., and Ostergard, E., Medieval Garments Reconstructed: Norase Clothing Patterns, Aarhus Universtiy Press, 2011, 66-72.
  
  Ostergard, Else, Woven into the Earth: Textiles from Norse Greenland, 2nd Ed., Aarhus Universtiy Press, 2009, pp. 171-173.
  
  Rammo, Riina, Textile Finds from Medieval Cesspits in Tartu: Technology, Trade and Consumption, (Thesis) Tartu Ulikooli Kirjastus, 2015.