Loop braiding is a way of making cords and bands, using only your hands and some yarn or string. My main interest is fingerloop braiding, or, more technically “finger-held loop braiding,” but I’m also interested in Japanese and Peruvian hand-held loop braiding.
I’m hoping to promote and teach loop braiding in this blog, as well as meet other braiders, crafters, and textile history buffs, and share pictures, ideas, and inspiration.
Please say hi! (comment fields are under any of the posts… Or send me an email—click Contact at top of page). I would love to hear about your fiber-related interests, answer questions or requests, or talk about braids and bands—history, materials, practical uses, tips and tricks, etc.
Click on the large links at the top of any page to get to my home page, tutorials, many nested info pages, and an index to all posts. My right sidebar ( → ) also has a category “drop-down” to posts, a monthly archive of my past posts, a link to my youtube channel, as well as links to other braiding and textile-related sites. The braids in my header photo are itemized in the comment field below.
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Thanks for visiting!
–Ingrid
12/27/2010
Thanks for the quick response, Ingrid! Do you have references for #15 &/or #16? I have most of the books…
#15, what I lazily call the Spiral Braid is on p. 63 of Speiser’s Old English Pattern Books for Loop Braiding (IIC 1 “A lace bend of 8 bows, one fellow, 2 colors”).
[I now have a series of videos on how to make 4- to 10-loop Spiral Braids! Find them in the list of video links at the bottom of my tutorial page.]
#16–A 7-loop square braid is just like the 5-loop square/or round braid, but with 2 more loops.
[I now have a video-tutorial for the 7-loop square braid.]
[edited to add links to new tutorials]
re request that I describe the braids in the header image:
Left to right:
1. double-tubular (‘couvert’) braid in plain/ tabby weave, thicker cotton yarn. Double-tubular braids have an inner braided tube surrounded by an outer braided tube. The inner tube’s colors can remain hidden and then “pop out” when the braider decides to switch the inner and outer threads. Here, one braided tube is black and white and the other tube is reds and oranges. I learned how to make double-tubular braids from Masako Kinoshita’s description on her L-MBRIC site—see #2 here (in LMBRIC issue 2). I then applied that principle to these 2-layer plain weave braids that I make with my own original method. Double-tubular braids are covered in detail in OEPBforLB.
2. plain weave, braided as a doubleweave that opens to be flat. I came up with the loop braiding method for all these various 2-layer plain weave braids on my own. (It may not be the most efficient method!) 15 loops
3. double-tubular, plain weave, 16 loops (see link above under #1). Here, one of the tubes is black and white, the other green and pink. The two layers are braided at the same time, using bicolor loops. All of the loops’ upper shanks form one of the tubes, and all the lower shanks form the other tube. Using bicolor loops allows the two tubes to be of different colors.
4. A variation of my plain weave method; the resulting structure is 1/1 but not exactly plain weave — I think it may be
warp/ weft twiningApparently in braiding it’s called POT (Plain Oblique Twining).The braiding method is the same as my plain (double)- weave braids, but with turned loop transfers. 15 loops. [I now have a blog-post about this braid, but it's not a tutorial]
5. like #8, katheren wheele, but without the openwork. Flat, 15-loop braid. Traditionally would have been made by 3 braiders cooperating.
6. My 16-loop version of the 12-loop “Lace Vice of 3 colors” from the Serene manuscript. See L-MBRIC issue 12, near bottom of page for photo and link to Joy Boutrup’s instructions for the original 12-loop, 2-person braid—this is where I learned it.
7. Double Grene Dorge (double Barleycorn) braid , 15th C. 12 loops. See fingerloop.org’s instructions for two braiders.
8. Katheren Wheel, 15th C. 15 loops. This was traditionally made by three braiders working together, each one making a 5-loop braid (two making “divided” square braid moves, and one making “flat” square braid moves. The lacy “holes” occur where 2 of the braiders do not connect their braids together.
[The modern instructions on fingerloop.org for this 3-person braid have some problems—the instructions in Noémi Speiser's Old English Pattern Books for Loop Braiding for this braid are more accurate. When 3 braiders cooperate in making one braid, none should mirror the others' moves. All should make a left transfer, then a right one (or vice versa) and then exchange loops. If one of the braiders does it oppositely, it causes a subsequent problem in the braid.]
9. plain weave flat,like #2 , thicker cotton yarn. 15 loops
10. Lace Dawns, 15th C. 8 loops (wool) Link goes to my tutorial for this braid.
11. Original structure, Unorthodox braid (a type of braid where the taken loop only goes through some of the loops—goes over and/or under the others). 11 loops.
12. plain weave flat, like #2 and 9. 15 loops.
13. like 12
14. Edge and Crowns (17th C patterns). “Double-square” braid, 10 loops, rectangular in cross-section. I teach this as a solo-braider method. Instructions on fingerloop.org for two people are here. Noemi Speiser’s books and “Tak V Bows, Departed” teach it more thoroughly. 10 loops
15. Spiral braid, called “lace bend round” in the 15th C. (a ‘lace’ meant a ‘braid’ then, as in “shoelace”). Variegated silk and thinner linen. 8 loops.
16. Square braid, 21 feet long (6.5m). 7 loops
Most of the braids are embroidery floss and or 5/2 perle but a few are thicker cotton or other fibers. I made all of them solo, including the ones that traditionally would have been made by two or more co-operating braiders. I now have some tutorials on my blog that teach my method for making 2-worker braids of up to 10 loops as a solo braider. My 9- and 11-loop tutorials on this blog are prerequisite to learning my solo-braider method for two-worker braids of greater than 7 and 10 loops, respectively.
The most complete reference and how-to for traditional braids, and for loop braiding in general, is Noémi Speiser’s Old English Pattern Books for Loop Braiding, 2000. E. Benns and G.Barrett’s Tak V Bowes, Departed also teaches many traditional loop braids, and has color photo illustrations. BraidersHand is a U.S. distributor of both books.
Wow, Ingrid, the letterbraid is gorgeous! It’s perfect for the theme. Do they send it back to you or is it gone forever?
Anja
Thanks! No, they’ll send it back next year. The traveling exhibition changes every year. That’s assuming it doesn’t arrive too late for their deadline, I probably should have sent it off right away without taking the time to wash it.