Needle and Sewing

278 MARGRETHE HALD: ANCIENT DANISH TEXTILES FROM BOGS AND BURIALS CHAPTER IX NEEDLE AND SEWING The earliest needles among Danish finds are those of bone from the Mesolithic Period. A grave in Borrebyl) from the Neolithic Period contained a needle barely 7 em long, and about 1;2 em thick at the middle, which is pierced by an eye. This specimen gives the impression of being a sewing needle. Fig. 281 shows a number of bone and bronze needles all dating to the late Bronze Age2), but although one or two are relatively fine, there seems to be none which would meet the standard of sewing found among our prehistoric material. For example, not one of the needles is suf- ficiently fine to have executed the embroidery at the neck opening of the Skrydstrup poncho. I reached this conclusion after having to use the finest obtainable tapestry needle in order to copy this embroidery. We may therefore assume that already in the early Bronze Age sewing was accomplished with needles finer than the late Bronze Age finds would lead us to suppose. Evidence of sewing needles among Iron Age finds is sparse in Denmark. Needles, both long and short and mostly bronze, with oblong eyes near one end, are known from the Roman Iron Age. They resemble coarse darning needles3), but as they are found in burials in the same position as hairpins and pin ornaments, it cannot be absolutely certain that they were used for sewing. Bone needle cases, five in all, containing one or two needles of iron or bronze, and with an eye, have been recovered from Roman Iron Age sites4). But again, these specimens are only suitable for coarse sewing, and to date none of the needles found correspond in fineness to the examples of sewing that surviveS). Finds from Birka, however, give us indirect information about sewing needles in the Viking Period, in that needle cases have survived whose size shows that the needles for these must have been fairly small. Agnes Geijer is in no doubtthat a certain amourrtof the'Birkaproducts could not have been made without the help ofa sewing needle, but in other cases she considers it likely that the stiff metal thread was worked with a tweezer-like instrument often recovered from women's graves6). Another special type of needle should be mentioned. Fig. 282 shows this kind of bone needle7) which has evidently been widespread both in time and place. Apart from being a bodkin and netting needle, it could also be used for a special sewing technique known as "looped needle-netting", naalebinding, described in greater detail in the following pages. But the fact that this kind of needle has been recovered from the ground is not conclusive evidence that this special technique was practised in the vicinity. Bone needles from Stone Age finds in Denmark closely resemble those shown here, and needles found at Trelleborg, the Viking fortress near Slagelse8) are likewise similar. A Norse settlement in Greenland has also yielded a needle of this type9). One of the Viking needles illustrated in Agnes Geijer's book on the Birka finds looks as CHAPTER IX. NEEDLE AND SEWING 279 Fig. 281. Late Bronze Age needles of bone and bronze. N~le af ben og bronze fra yngre bronzealder. though it would have been suitable for looped needle-netting, it is about 6 cm long. Likewise, a couple of needles from the Viking settlement at Hedeby were perhaps used for the same technique'O). Large, broad needles are not unusual among folk handicrafts; they are usually of bone, but specimens of wood, metal and horn also occur. There are two types, one where the eye is near one end, and the other where the eye is a little distance from the end II). A bone needle kindly given me by Miss Sigrid Smidtl2) when teaching me looped needle netting is 10.5 cm long and barely I cm broad at the eye, the diameter is about ~ cm at the thickest place. It is very alike the needle to the left in Fig. 282. An unusual needle (Fig. 283) has definitely been used for looped needle-netting because it was acquired with a half-finished shoe in looped needle netting from the Lures in Persia by Dr. C. G. Feilberg in 1935.Instead of being a short flat needle it is round and about 15cm long, and except for its length it closely resembles a modern darning needle. SEWING AND EMBROIDERY Prehistoric sewing can be divided into two main categories: that which is purely practical, for example the seams of a garment, and that which is solely decorative and therefore embroidery. In some cases the sewing serves both purposes. Among Danish Bronze Age skins and textiles we find overcast stitch (Fig. 284), buttonhole stitch both free and as a filling (Figs. 297, 299), pile sewing13) and cord sewing (Figs. 285, 286). The two first-mentioned stitches are commonly regarded to be utility stitches, nevertheless 280 MARGRETHE HALD: ANCIENT DANISH TEXTILES FROM BOGS AND BURIALS Fig. 282. Bone needles suitable for making looped needle-netting, perhaps also used as bodkins. NflIe af ben, anvendelige for nAlebinding, men de kan ogsA have vreret benyttede som trrekke- eller netnAle. there are examples of buttonhole stitch used in a variety of ways as decoration, e.g. the Skryd- strup poncho. Pile sewing and cord sewing can also be dual purpose. The skin capes recovered from bogs are stitched in primary techniques such as overcast stitch and running stitch (Fig. 287), and hemstitch (Fig. 288). Apart from simple seams and ordinary edging, there are a few examples of more complicated methods, for example the Huldremose cape has a narrow strip of leather along the outer edge, while behind it is a cord· like sewing carried out with two strips of skin (Fig. 289, C 3471). The seams of the same cape are also sewn in a similar way but more intricately (Fig. 290). Another skin cape from Huldre- mose (C 3472) has similar sewing along the bottom edge, Fig. 291 gives the position of the stitches if the edge were to be flattened out. Bog textiles reveal comparatively little about sewing methods. The seam of one of the Arden pieces is shown in Fig. 292 (flattened out). It is an ordinary running stitch through two layers offabric. A seam in the checkered Huldremose skirt is sewn in herringbone stitch (Fig. 439, C 3473), and in a fragment of fabric from 0sterb¢lle the seams are joined in twisted buttonhole stitch. The Viking Period find from Mammen has some really good specimens of embroidery. The richly decorated piece (C 135a), probably once decorated with gold paillettes, has the first '~·.::-.l.C__"'.~:../~,"I!Il_••.•"IIlI.IJI,•••_••.•• ~_~•.•IIII_-!l, __IIlI!. IIII~._. Fig. 283. Persian bodkin for looped needle-netting, (Museum no. E 267b), used for the shoe shown in Fig. 357. Persisk redskab til nAlebinding, hl<'rersammen med skoen Fig. 357. CHAPTER IX. NEEDLE AND SEWING 281 Fig. 285. Three-ply twine held down by cord sewing, early Bronze Age ornament on the upper garment from Skrydstrup. Snoresyning bundet med forsting. Eksemplet stammer fra rermebordeneme p~ tr~jen fra Skrydstrup, reldre bronzealder. Fig. 286. Cord sewing on buttonhole stitch on Fig. 284. aman'scapfrom Trindhl1Jj, early Bronze Age. Fig. 287. Fig. 288. Over-cast stitch. Snoresyning med tungesting som underlag Running stitch. Hem stitch. Kastesting. p~ mandshue fra Trindh~j, reldre bronzeaIder. Forsting. S~mmesting. Fig. 289. Over-cast stitch and twinned running stitch on the Fig. 290. Twinned stitch with Fig. 291. Twinned oversewingalong edge of a skin cape from two needles over the edges of C. the lower edge of a skin cape from Huldremose (C 3471). 3471. Huldremose (C 3472). Kastesting og snoede forsting over Sammensyning p~ kant af skindslag Oversyning p~ underkanten af slag fra kant p~ skindslag fra Huldremose. fra Huldremose. Huldremose. ~C0~{A){i:0 II II II II II II II II II II ~2 c!J\::::!J~~~ ~:::;:::::=:::::' ?=;::) Fig. 292. Running stitch used for seaming the two lengths of cloth of the piece (B) from Arden Mose (cf. Figs. 12 & 13. Fig. 293. Forsting anvendt til sammensyning Stem stitch or outline stitch. p~ det lange t~jstykke fra Arden Kontursting. Mose. Fig. 12 & 13. 282 MARGRETHE HALD: ANCIENT DANISH TEXTILES FROM BOGS AND BURIALS stemstitch known in Denmark. It is usually sewn in close parallel rows as a stemstitch filling so that the motifs - twined foliage etc. - are clearly defined against their background (Figs. 293, 294). A cushion cover from the Mammen burial has a cord-like edging over the actual seams, the edging appears to be decorative in that it accentuates the contours of the piece (Fig. 295), while at the same time hiding the seam. The diagram of the stitch (Fig. 296) shows that it is raised fishbone stitch. However, the most interesting specimens from the Mammen textile finds are undoubtedly the two pennants, each has a middle panel with a filling of gold netting executed with a needle (Fig. 346). A technique which appears to have been widespread, it is described in the present chapter under the heading looped needle-netting. It has evolved from buttonhole stitch, the various forms of which are discussed below. BUTTONHOLE STITCH Nowadays buttonhole stitch is primarily used over cut edges to prevent fraying, but in former times this type of stitch formed the basis for various embroidery techniques. The terms buttonhole stitch and twisted buttonhole stitch have been used at random, often with little distinc- tion between them.

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