Woven Fabrics and Their Construction

148 MARGRETHE HALD: ANCIENT DANISH TEXTILES FROM BOGS AND BURIALS CHAPTER IV WOVEN FABRICS AND THEIR CONSTRUCTION TYPES OF WEAVE A woven fabric consists of two thread systems which cross each other at right angles. The lengthwise system in the loom is the warp and the other across the width of the loom is the weft. The two sets of threads are woven together according to various principles, and this produces the different weaves. It is only natural that a graphic form of expression should develop to signify the types of weave. In the same way as notes and paralle11ines express passages of music, weaving points marked in on graph paper give the draft of a pattern. The point where the two threads intersect with the warp thread uppermost on the right side of the fabric is given by a black square, when the square is unmarked it signifies that a warp thread is underneath. Tabby. The simplest weave is when the weft passes alternately over and under the warp. The system, called a weave unit, is with only two threads (Fig. 126), and if the warp and weft of tabby are of the same thickness and the distance between the threads is equal we call it quadra- tic. Repp is a variation of tabby. The analysis is the same but one thread system is closer set than the other, and may even cover the other entirely. If the warp dominates the weave is called warp ribbed repp, and if it is the weft the term is weft ribbed repp. Tabby is one of the three basic weaves and twill is another!). Twill is a weave with a tremendous amount of variations, therefore only the types which are relevant to prehistoric Danish textiles will be dealt with here. Twill is characteristic because of the diagonal lines in its texture caused by the point of intersection of each weft thread moving one pick forward and one pick sideways. 2/2 twill is the most usual form of twill (Fig. 128). A weft thread passes alternately over two and under two warp threads, with the result that the right side and the reverse side of the fabric is similar. The points of intersection are not as close as in tabby, therefore a twill fabric is softer and more comfortable - an advantage which probably contributed towards the change in the Bronze Age from tabby to twill fabrics. Pointed twill and waved twill. The simpler variations of twill are made by changing the di- rectionof the diagonals. Shifting the points of intersection so that horizontal zigzag lines are made produces the weave called pointed twill (Figs. 129-130), and if the zigzag lines run vertically the weave is called waved twill (Fig. 131). These zigzag patterns can be divided into two groups, those where the diagonals have an accurate meeting (e.g. Figs. 130-131), and those with an inaccurate meeting (e.g. Fig. 129). The latter kind is called broken chevron twill because the meeting of the diagonal lines is not preCIse. CHAPTER IV. WOVEN FABRICS AND THEIR CONSTRUCTION 149 _ ........_._- ..._--__ ......_----... ------------ _....___._--_....-.__ ..- .. .----------------------- _ .._-.-----_._- .. ------------------------ --.--------_._...-----------_.-_- ..__ _ .._ --.- . ------------------------ ------------21t Fig. 126. Tabby. ------------Fig. 127. twill or three-shaft. Toskaft. Treskaftkiper (venstrekiper). •• -- • _. • - - - - --- -- --• .---- .----.--- --- -------------------- -• --_.---_.-- ------ -• -•------ - ---------• •---- ---------- .-- - - ----- --- -- • --- ---_._. ---_. • -------------------- .-•--------------- - - -------- - -------- •----------- - ------- --------------------- --------.------------------- --- -Fig.-128.-21z twill.- - - - --Fig. 129. Broken- chevron -twill. Firskaftet dobbeltkiper (hl'ljrekiper). Brudt spidskiper (ulige tilslutning). - ------- ------ ------------------ • • • • -• • - - - - - ------- ------- -------------------- •- --•----• ---- - - - --- - - - -- ------------------- ---.- ---------------------- •- ---• - • - -• --------------,...- --------------------. •----------- --- •-- -- • --• -• ------------- - ----- ------ -- • -------- - --- -- •--- ----• --------- - --- ---------- Fig. -130. Pointed- - twill (accurate- - meeting).- - -Fig.-131.-Waved-twill-(accurate- -meeting).- Spidskiper med lige tilslutning. Siangekiper med lige tilslutning. --.------------------ -_._-_.---:. --.: --=---..•. --...;-...- -----.--- } -----._------------- --- ._.----- - - -- - - - .------------------------- - .-----------_._-------------- -. .-.---.---------------- _.-- ----_._---- - - -- - ---- -----------·--.:- .:. -----::. -=- .: .&.-----:. -=- ~ .: Fig. 132. Lozenge twill (accurate meeting). Fig. 133. Broken lozenge twill. GlIsel'ljekiper eller diamantkiper. Rudekiper eller krystalkiper. Figs. 126-133. Drafts for tabby and some typical varieties of twill weave. Analyser til toskaft og forskellige typiske kiperbindinger. 150 MARGRETHE HALO: ANCIENT DANISH TEXTILES FROM BOGS AND BURIALS M Hold Fig. 134. Diagram of lozenge twill. Skema, del' viser inddelingen af g1\se~jekiper. Lozenge twiLL. By combining pointed twill and waved twill a checked pattern is obtained. If zigzag patterns with an accurate meeting of the diagonals is chosen the result is lozenge twill (Fig. 132), but if broken twill is decided upon the result is called broken lozenge twill (Fig. 133). Three-shaft twill represents the most simple type in this group (Fig. 127), in that the unit comprises only three threads. When the warp threads on the right side pass over 2 wefts and under I weft, warp picks predominate on the face of the fabric, i.e. 2/ I twill. When the reverse is the case the term to describe it is 1/2 twill. One would expect a simple weave like this to suc- ceed 2/2 twill, but Danish material has not established that this is the case. To date the earliest examples of three-shaft weave occur in the Viking Period. Variation. Another variation (see draft Fig. 135) occurs in the FI¢jstrup find, although it is difficult to say whether this is a combination of repp and tabby, or whether it is a twill in which every other weft thread has been woven in tabby. Spinning patterns. As we have already seen, a special type of pattern is produced by combining yarns both in the warp and the weft which have been spun in different directions (see P. 136). These spinning patterns made without any change in the weave produce checks or flecks, obviously the effect is enhanced if the diagonals of the twill are broken after changing the spinning direction2). Samitum (weft-faced compound twill). However, apart from all these simple types, we have a more complicated twill weave in some of the silk fragments from the Mammen find; these must be considered luxury fabrics presumably of foreign origin. The fragments are woven in a kind of double fabric with a double thread system both in warp and weft. CHAPTER IV. WOVEN FABRICS AND THEIR CONSTRUCTION 151 ------ --------------------------- ------._-------------- --------------------------------- ----------------- MH. Fig. 135. Draft of the fabric from Flyjjstrup (C 9266). Analyse af stof fra Fll'1jstrup (C 9266). -•• MH Fig. 136. Draft of the weave in the non-patterned parts of fabrics woven in samitum from Mammen (cf. Figs. 107-108). Analyse af bindingen i de uml'1nstrede partier af stof i samitum fra Mammen (se fig. 107 og 108). Fig. 137. Samjtum in cross-section (Fig. 136). Tvrersnit af samitum, fig. 136. The diagram (Fig. 136)gives the draft of an unpatterned sample of the fabric. A weft thread on the face of the fabric passes across 8 warps and beneath the 9th, while the under weft passes across twice the number of warps, namely nos. 3 and 6. Moreover, two warp threads after each pick play no direct part in the construction of the fabric, but are simply wadding warps. The draft shows that the fabric is a double three-shaft twill (see diagram Fig. 137, showing this in cross-section). The pattern is produced by reversing the texture on each side of the fabric, viz. passing the upper weft threads into the lower shed and the lower weft threads into the upper shed, as illustrated in Fig. 138, but the wadding warps are excluded. This draft corresponds to the one published by Agnes Geijer ("Birka III" Fig. 16); related fabrics have also been identified among the finds from the Oseberg ship-burial. The renowned silk textiles from the shrine of Canute the Holy in Odense's cathedral of the same name, a cushion with a dove pattern and a cloth with eagles, also belong to the same group. THE WEFT It is taken as a matter of course that the weft in a simple unpatterned cloth passes directly from selvedge to selvedge, therefore it is all the more surprising to find that Danish Bronze Age textiles in tabby weave break this rule, in that irregularities can be seen on the face of the cloth which are reminiscent of sporadic "cross-stitch". These prove to have been made by two weft threads meeting in the same shed, crossing, and skipping into the next shed where each 152 MARGRETHE HALD: ANCIENT DANISH TEXTILES FROM BOGS AND BURIALS - . ·. - - - • • • --- -• • - - - - .- •- • - •-.• ·- - .-.._. .-.---·- - - - ·- - . --- - --_.- - - - --- - - -. - . ·. - .- - . -.- - •- •- - . -·-. --- -.-- - - -. - - - • • · • •- -- -- - . • • ·- •- .• - -.- .- ---- • • • - . .. --.-- •- -• • • ·• .. -•- -- .. -.. • • • • • • ••· ---•• ••••. - ·- ·. .. - -- . • • • • • •- -- .. .-- - . • • • • • • - . = : ·•- • ·•- •. • • • • --.• • • • • • • •- ·-•• .-•• • • • - - • • • • • • • • •- ----..--- • • - . • • • • • • -• •. -• •. ·- - - -• - - ---•- • - . • • ·- ·• -- ·• •- - . • • ·- -·-• - - - - • • • • _. ..- -----. --..- . •

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