A&S 50 - 5: Tablet Weave Monochrome Twill Band (Museum of London Braid 450)

The original band was woven in silk with four strands of silk threaded through each card hole and may have been used as a girdle or spur strap.   The band is a total of twelve cards wide, with the center eight cards creating the twill pattern. The original recipe for the pattern required that the cards be divided in packs, and each pack turned in alternate direction to achieve the twill effect. I quickly discovered that I could simplify this by alternating the threading of the center cards, which allowed me to turn them all in the same direction as a single pack, leaving only the border cards with a different turning pattern.

I elected to use linen, which produced a less soft, somewhat wider band, but will work well as a garters against linen hose.   The ends of the bands are finished in simple braids, held together at the end with wrapped threads.  Reproduction buckles from Ramond's Quiet Press  complete the garter.


Threading Pattern:
Cards 1,2 11 and 12 are the borders. These cards will always turn forward. The remaining cards will turn two turns forward, followed by two turns backward

A
B
C
D
	S	Z	S	Z	S	Z	S	Z	S	Z	Z	S
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12

Sources:
Crowfoot, Elizabeth. Textiles and Clothing, c.1150-1450 (Medieval Finds from Excavations in London). Boydell Press, 2001.

Carolyn Priest-Dorman. Three Recipes for Fourteenth- and Fifteenth-Century Tablet Weaving. (http://www.cs.vassar.edu/~capriest/3recipes.html) Last accessed Aug. 31 2010.