I saved a homestead: Day 19.... Weaving a Tale

Ceramic Sheep

I have missed 3 days! My special pot is still drying. Hope to fire it this week. Time is tight. I have orders to fill, pots to pack, kilns to repair, events to schedule, friends to talk to, gardens to plant and weed, grandchildren to play with, classes to teach and weaving to do.

After the end of the past few days, I have been working on my tape loom project. I am off to a Fiber Festival this weekend to try and sell some ceramic sheep, pottery cups with sheep, angora rabbits and llamas on them, mini pots with sheep, angora rabbits and llamas on them and tape looms.

When I moved back to this house at age 24, I found an old paddle style tape loom in the attic. My attic smells of old wood, mice and dust. It is really nice place to visit on a rainy day. There are things here that have been here for over 150 years. A spinning wheel, loom reeds, parts of chests and bed frames, house parts and a few books from the original family. A wicker sewing basket, Ladies Home Journals, National Geographic, sheet music, a dressmakers dummy and toys from my grandparents. More books, toys, baskets, records and furniture from my parents. Toys, keepsakes, albums, dollhouses, artwork and more books from my generation. Stuffed animals dolls, lamps, games and puzzles from my children. Christmas ornaments are there too. It is quite full.

This paddle loom is very primitive. Tape looms were very popular up to the mid 1800s here in New England as well as many countries in Europe. Before the days of zippers, Velcro and snaps, everyone used narrow tapes to bind off edges on skirts, aprons and hats. Ties for the hats aprons and pants were needed to. Cotton, linen and wool bags were used for carrying and storing. These all needed a band of cloth that was stronger than strips of fabric and more supple than twine, rope or string. And bands were often colorful and decorative. Girls and women would take the lightweight, portable looms to their friends houses to sit around and weave and talk like knitting that has become so popular lately. No TV or radio back then for entertainment.

Any person could weave a plain weave tape, about 1 yard an hour, and come home with yards of tape wound into balls of pretty and useful bands to be on hand when needed. Around here, wool and linen tapes were made, till cotton became cheaper in the mid 1800s.

The Old Attic Loom

When I first found this loom 20 years ago or so, I didn't know how to use it. I found information in a Yankee magazine around 1980, so I knew what it was. The old one is very warped. So I made a crude copy with my jig saw and a drill and a 12"x 30" pine plank from that chain of stores just before Home Depot took over our town. Before the Internet, I could find no one who would tell me how it was warped and how to work it. I first tried placing it between my knees (that was right) and moving my knees up and down to open the sheds (that was wrong). Eventually someone suggested just moving the shed with my left hand up, pass the shuttle, down, pass the shuttle. This worked fine. Soon I was weaving bands for... no real purpose just because they are pretty and I wanted to know how it worked. I did find uses for the bands. I go to Reenactments, where silly people dress up in old style outfits and live in canvas tents, cook out of cast iron pots on campfires, play banjos and fiddles and generally have a good time meeting interesting people. I use my bands for hat strings, apron strings, bag straps and shoe laces. I can make cording (just keep passing the weft from the right to the left, not back and forth and you get a round tape!) Cording for lacing fronts of jackets, bags and pockets.

Pockets were separate pockets that tied around your waist under your skirt. A side of your skirt was left with an opening so you could reach your hand in for your handkerchief, smelling salts or pocket coin.

A Reenactors jacket with cording

All this dressing up is great fun.

My boyfriend, Hello Roger!, has Norwegian and New England roots and either he or I mentioned a strap that could be made for his banjo. I had purchased a book called Band at an on line book store. The description said, " how to make tape loom bands with color illustrations". I was surprised to find out it is all in Swedish, but still it is a wonderful book and the illustrations are gorgeous.

Not My Tapes

A tape loom is a single, ridged heddle loom. Even so, you can make an infinite variety of tapes with color, stripes, checks and diamonds. However, the Norwegians, Swedes, Russians, Spanish, German and Africans figured out how to make elaborate patterns by manipulating the threads by hand or with a flat stick.

I have been thinking and trying to figure this out. I want Roger to have a pretty, Norwegian style banjo strap! By brain will just not wrap around it, I need someone to show me before my head bursts. I know once I see it, it will all make sense. My friend Jolene, is trying to learn Nalbinding. But that's another story.

Tomorrow.. What happened to Grampas dead horse and where did our cemetery go?

In the meantime, my special project is going out to the barn to get its first firing.