My last post was about the male 17th century hairnet and that I wanted to make a better band. So while waiting for the January salary to come in I started reading up on weaving bands with a backstrap rigid heddle. Now I am quite confused by the different names of this in English, it's easier in Swedish where this is a craft that has never died out. What I wanted to use is a "bandgrind", and I am pretty sure that the best English translation is a rigid heddle with a backstrap, unlike a heddle loom. The best thing was to join a Swedish FB-group on bands and bandweaving and from there I got suggestions on what fibres to use and so on.
And then came the HSM 2026 challenge and the first challenge is "Joy for January".
Create an item that epitomises the joy you find in historical costuming - or simply something that would bring you joy at this time of year, whether it's dark and cold, or sweltering hot where you are!
I got so much joy from reading up on this new craft, and I was all giddy when I could pick up my heddle and yarn that I had ordered. It took me one evening to wind up the yarn, and then I couldn't keep myself from starting my first band, even if I had planned to wait until the next day when I knew I would have more time to actually sit down for some time. And this I think is the joy and excitement I love with costuming, to feel how your hands are just itching to continue working, and that I could actually see a result quite fast, and it wasn't bad. I chose to do a very simple band in one colour, not even a stripe, just to get into it. I do have a tendency to start with too complicated things, and now I forced myself to just learn the basics before it is time to go on.
There are several stores selling equipment for weaving bands in Sweden, I went with Korps.se, which is catering to historical costumers and role players, heddle they are selling is from the company Stoorstålka, that is focusing on the Sami bandweaving tradition if you want to buy directly from them. I chose Korps because I know they are fast, they also have a very good yarn in colours that look plant dyed except for the heddle itself they had band attachment and shuttles in wood, the heddle itself is plastic, and I prefer wood to plastic. The yarn that I bought is "Grane 02", which they describe as a good yarn for weaving and bandmaking. It's definitely a lot tighter and thinner than the yarn I bought when starting with sprang, so I am looking forward to using this kind of yarn for my sprang as well. The heddle that I bought was a basic 47, meaning that it can take up to 47 threads in the warp. The smallest one is 31 and it would probably have been large enough for my needs, but to be on the safe side and in case I want to make wider ribbons in the future I bought the larger one.
I made a warp of 30 threads, and it was so much easier than when I warped for the tablet weaving. Using this yarn it seems as if 30 threads give me 1,5 cm, so half the number of threads. That is a pretty simple general rule to use in the future. Weaving a band takes some time, this one has taken med three full evenings, but the good thing is that I can set it up in front of the TV.
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Now I am itching to start with patterned bands, but I do wonder if I need to get a book to really understand how to read charts and work the patterns.
What the item is: woven band
How it fits the challenge: It gave me realy joy to learn a new craft and produce something
Material: several meters of wool yarn
Pattern: none
Year: these kind of ribbons are know from at least the Middle Ages
Notions: I had to buy all the equpiment so a rigid heddle, a shuttle and band holder as well
How historically accurate is it? Except for the heddle being plastic 100%
Hours to complete: two full evenings
First worn: I sewed it onto my husband's hairnet and he wore it to a feast on January 31st.
Total cost: Since I had to buy all the equipment around $40, the next band will be a lot cheaper.
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