Viking Age Pattern Darning - A Plausible Viking Tablecloth

[ragnvaeig]

My table linens project ideas have come to fruition, and I have put together what I think is a really pretty linen tablecloth for use with our feast gear. This is going to be one of the projects I'm intending to show at Pennsic A&S, because I believe that some of the following stitches represent pattern darning, and they come from graves at

Comments

[kass_rants]

Amazing work! Amazing documentation! I stand in awe.

[ragnvaeig]

Thank you. :) I squeed my pants when I saw the description in Textilfunde. I'm sure you can relate to what I call my "professor mood swings", where one minute I'm cackling madly at how awesome the idea is, the next freaking out that I'm wrong, the next being paranoid someone would scoop me...I've had those for the past few months while I waited for the cojones to try some new embroidery (and the ILL delivery to be absolutely certain).

[kass_rants]

I can definitely relate! And I thought I was the only one who documents the piss out of something before she does it. Well, maybe not the only one... ;)

[ragnvaeig]

You are definitely not alone! It pays to be rigorous.

[pearl]

Wow!

[ragnvaeig]

We desperately needed more potential needlework motifs for Viking Age textiles! I was getting sick of the Mammen masks.

Excellent!

[ladymockingbird]

I think you've done fantastic work, both on the piece itself and on the research as well as the analysis.

Brava!

Re: Excellent!

[ragnvaeig]

Aw, thanks, LM.

[stitchwhich]

Wow. Very nicely put together. I will make a definate drive to get to the A&S display at Pennsic so I can see the work in person - I'll try not to drool over it, honest.

I've been driven to thinking about the soumak technique on the Welsh finds, just to escape, even for a brief while, Mammen, Mammen, Mammen...

[ragnvaeig]

Drool away. It's washable. ;)

Is Welsh soumak like the soumak that was found in the Oseberg ship burial?

[stitchwhich]

Yes - and no. The Welsh piece (well described here: http://heatherrosejones.com/llangorsembroidery/index.html) appears to be 'regular' embroidery that could be described as 'counted stem stitch' while the Oseberg tapestry pieces appear to be the same sort of technique but done over bare warp threads, creating the cloth itself with tabby-weaving done between the designs. I admit, it seems a little odd to me and I find the Llan Gors piece easier to wrap my mind around. I am especially intrigued with the patterning created by the change of stitching direction on the Welsh tunic.

[zafania]

blue and white is alwasy the classy choice for table linens.

the technique sounds deceptively simple, and I like how the patterns are so similar to european folk designs (in fact I'm certain i;ve seen the rosette in recent danish use). I would be encouraging people to serve meals sans gravy tho!

[ragnvaeig]

Guðjónsson has some more illustrations of medieval-period-dated pattern darning fragments, so I'll have to make sure more of these motifs make it out there for re-enactors to see. Some of them look really modern! (I'm really recommending Traditional Icelandic Embroidery; I was waiting for years for it to be available again on Amazon and I gave up and ordered it from the library.)

[zafania]

actually i think i might have a copy hidden somewhere - i dont do much viking era stuff these days

[ragnvaeig]

She doesn't have any Viking-era textiles listed in her book, but she talks about Scandinavian material from "medieval" on.

For some reason, people who use her book to talk about pattern darning in Scandinavia say that it can be dated to c. 1500, whereas the author clearly states that pattern-darned textiles are talked about in Icelandic inventories of the 14th century. It's stuff like that.

[m_nivalis]

Awesome! (and another project on the to-do list. sigh...)

[ragnvaeig]

It's shiny stuff!