from top left / Checked cloth inspired by a fragment from the Herjolfsnes Excavations, TEXT TINA IGNELL PHOTO BENGT ARNE IGNELL face and reverse. Wrapping cloth with different stripes in the warp and weft. centre / Checked part cloth, commission for Skansen in Stockholm. centre right / Variation with green weft. below from the left / Östgötadräll in two different designs, woven to be skirts. HISTORIC CHECKS Elin Kindberg trained as a weaver at Sätergläntan. The inspiration for her woven checks is drawn from mediaeval sources, Rococo revival and folk culture.

– YES IT IS NEARLY always checks. colours work together when they meet – And a part wool/part cloth is Historic and folk style never fail in the cloth. The shawl is big, soft and really my thing. Cotton warp and wool to catch my eye: wrapping cloths, shawls, cosy-protective – a real survival . weft. There is nothing around today garment fabric. So for me, pattern- The fine, small-checked wrapping that corresponds in terms of durability, ing has a truly familiar feel. cloth, woven in cotton, expresses quite feel and drape. I really like that rough, Elin began her career by a different form language, but just like slightly prickly feel. training at Sätergläntan in Dalarna. Folk the shawl, is deeply rooted in tradition Plus it is great to weave. textiles are integral to the school. That and history. These are tested qualities, was what attracted her, and although cleverly worked out and developed with HER FIRST MAJOR commissioned she had never woven before she came to experience. project was for 16 metres of checked the school and sat at a loom, she like The wrapping cloth has a more elabo- part wool cloth for the Skansen costume she had come home. Weaving was just rate stripe sequence in the warp than in store in Stockholm. She wove it in her perfect for her, where it was at. the weft, which means that it is faster third year on the course, during which The first two years were spent -im to weave than if weft shades had to be she had to complete a commissioned mersing herself in the technique, after changed as often as for the warp. weave as preparation for professional which she was able to “drop” the book, Smart thinking of the past is as smart working life. This fabric was to be made being more sure of the various set-ups. today. And it gives a beautiful, living up as a Rococo revival dress and used by She could think her own ideas in weave, quality to the patterning. people working at Skansen (an open-air independently. Here too, the computer was used to museum). The weft, a garment in For the first year project she focused play with colour, with the verticals and 11/1 wool, was dyed with acid dyes; the on a little 3-shaft fragment from a horizontals of the checks. 30/2 cotton was dyed with reactive dyes. 14th century find, part of the Herjolfsnes The dyed cotton turned a little patchy, Excavations in Greenland. A checked OTHERWISE, cloth by the metre is for partly from the ties and partly from be- woollen cloth lay rolled out on the table: her one of the best things around. ing bunched up in a skein. Washing and most of the cloth had been sold, one – Being able to create the cloth you re- improved it, but it remained piece for a cape and another made up as want is such a wonderful feeling. For slightly uneven. With its little, lighter a conical cap. Two modern mediaevalists example, there is no other alternative streaks, though, it looked like the older had become the happy owners of mate- than weaving the cloth yourself to make cloth, in its somewhat worn state. rial that added yet more authenticity to a good Rococo revival style dress, which – Occasionally, what you think went their handwork. requires around 10 metres. There just wrong is the very thing that makes it While the brown yarn was industrially aren't any machine woven cloths in the really good. dyed, she had dyed the red herself with whole wide world on a level with a hand- She wove this cloth with an old type of madder. had been carried out woven part wool/part cotton cloth. reed made with real reeds. Not as precise at a mill with stocks, located in The weaving width she sets up is be- as metal reeds, but more accommodating Dala-Floda. tween 75 and 90 cm, often referred to as when weaving. The little differences in In her second year, she designed, set the half width. the sett enliven the cloth. Elin does not colour scheme and wove a large all-wool – I prefer weaving double the length use a stretcher when weaving a part wool shawl. Making use of a computer and than double the width, for sure. If you cloth, as the weaving width holds well weave programme in the process. She then plan the weave carefully, based on with the coarser wool yarn. She discov- finds that an effective way of creating dif- the pattern for which the cloth is needed, ered that fine cotton yarn is preferable to ferent combinations, and using the fabric you don't need to make it double the thicker 16/2 in the warp. Even when she display function, you can see how the length either. beats in stronger woollen yarn.

26 from top left / Checked cloth inspired by a fragment from the Herjolfsnes Excavations, face and reverse. Wrapping cloth with different stripes in the warp and weft. centre / Checked part wool cloth, commission for Skansen in Stockholm. centre right / Variation with green weft. below from the left / Östgötadräll in two different designs, woven to be skirts. PHOTO: MONICA HALLÉN

27 The cloth for Skansen has brown and something, which is actually now at spinning oil. I washed it before weaving so blue checks in it. Those , when Skansen! as to be sure nothing unforeseen would dyed, looked pretty saturated with colour happen once the woven cloth had its and came over as a bit strong. Yet woven FOR HER FINAL PROJECT, she used finishing treatment. into the brown warp, they looked just as Östgötadräll weave to make a skirt in In the red house with white corners, toned down as in the original. autumn colours. Östgötadräll was not situated with a view over the lake, stands The doubled white stripes in the warp an obvious choice, initially. Prior to this, the loom that belonged to the leading and weft endow the cloth with charac- the Östgötadräll weaves she had seen weaving light, Malin Selander. ter. Where they meet, a tiny little check appeared pretty “square” to her. But after – It feels nice that it is her loom I am forms. examining pictures with old , weaving on, says Elin. – Just think how dull it would have looking in the archive and visiting New weaves are waiting to grow. Plans been with one wide white stripe making Ann-Sofie Svansbo at the Hemslöjden for the future include further work with the check. This is yet another example of in Östergötland, she saw something historic and period textiles, ideally to how skilled they were at creating checks else. Energy was what she found in the commission. Her weaving practice is that enlivened a textile. old dräll weaves. The shoemaker yellow, combined with work at a school, not Green, instead of blue, weft was used often used in Östgötadräll, was perfect. involving textiles. Textiles are her own for weaving a length for herself, resulting And she is very fond of autumnal shades. thing. She has just received her self-em- in a completely different expression. Her check composition was in orange, ployed tax certificate and calculates each In weaving the checks a similar and an red, brown and a striking green. weave on the basis of receiving reasonable appropriate length, she is generally confi- – The green is important, it lifts the remuneration. dent enough to rely on eye measurement. other colours by being there. For the Östgötadräll weave, she needs The checks have to be a little longer Two variations were woven on the at the very least 1600 SEK/metre, and than they are wide, partly because they same warp. The first was made up into says: draw in once the weave is cut off and a pleated skirt; the second, woven with – I would like what I weave to be valued, partly because the cloth shrinks more a natural grey weft in big checks, is still which means pricing is an important lengthways with the finishing treatment. waiting. The idea at the outset was to factor. In this case, the cloth was steam pressed sew a “stubb”, a kind of quilted under- There are customers around. after cutting off. skirt, which often had beautiful quilting Several people who bought cloth from When she visited Skansen, she was in- designs (just like those worked on Öst- Elin had saved up a long time. troduced by Erik Thorell, then in charge götadräll coverlets). But she hasn't quite – It is wonderful when somebody calls of the costume store, as the person who decided, so it sits and waits. and says NOW I am ready to buy that had woven the checked wool and cotton 30/2 was also used for the warp, with cloth I have been so wanting. cloth. 6/1 and 8/1 woollen weft. – It's an amazing feeling to have done – The grey yarn felt like it was full of KINDBERGSKAN.WEEBLY.COM

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