Twining - Part 1

(click pictures for larger image)
My friend Laverne has been working on a twining technique inspired by Montagnard weavers. She about it posted on her blog Backstrap Weaving.

Twining has been on my fiber adventure list so I moved it to the top. This is the first part of a twined bag I am making. Twining is an old craft that can create fabric without a loom.


Twining is usually started by stringing a line around two poles. I wrapped a string around some cardboard that is 8 1/2 by 11 inch. This makes it portable enough to carry. Then I attached some warp threads down with a larkshead knot or loop.


The first few rows I misread the directions and I twined around each warp with white yarn. Then I realized I was supposed to twine around warp pairs, so I started with the yellow yarn.


You can see how the yarn is twining around the warp pairs in this picture.


Here is a closeup of how I tried to pull up on the weft to keep it tight. I twine all the way around both sides of the board so I will have a bag when I am done. The yarn is labelled Rug Crafter's Rug Yarn, 100% acrylic and I bought it cheap at the thrift store for this kind of project.


Here is a link to a PDF file that will tell you how to start twining.

http://www.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/monographs/lily_bag.pdf

And some more links of interest.

http://www.santacruzhandweavers.org/twining/demo2007/index.html

http://www.ohs.org/exhibits/online/native-american-basketry.cfm

http://www.nativetech.org/weave/falseembroidery/index.html

http://twinedbags.com/twining.html

http://halcyonyarn.com/designcontest/wild/wild2.html

http://www.nmai.si.edu/exhibitions/baskets/subpage.cfm?subpage=burden

http://www.barkingrock.com/bags.htm

http://www.uwlax.edu/urc/JUR-online/PDF/2009/karoll-amyARC.pdf

Have a good day!