Hover on the About tab in my upper menu. In its drop-down menu click on Old English Pattern Books for Loop Braiding for my review of this book. The review also describes Noemi Speiser’s more well-known book The Manual of Braiding, the textile world’s ultimate reference for all known braiding techniques.
A track-plan diagram is both a cross-section view of a braid’s shape, and also a road map of how the strands interlace. Aside from looking cool, they can be useful even if you don’t totally “get” them. Even a little familiarity with them can help you better understand what you’re braiding.
An all-history post: Which braids belong to which era? Which ones are ‘made up’? Can a braid be ‘period’ if it’s not in the old manuscripts? Information on the known loop braiding manuscripts, differences and similarities between braids of different eras, recent historical and archeological findings, what’s happening with LMBRIC, more. Also info on traditional fibers – types of silk, linen, wool, etc.
Loop braiding highlights at the conference: Two different 2-day loop braiding workshops, plus a report from Mari Omura on loop braiding archeological evidence in Asia going back thousands of years B.C! Joy Boutrup’s 1st day of class included several unusual European loop braids that she has discovered through analyzing museum specimens—braids that are not known from any of the 15th or 17th C. loop braiding manuscripts…
Information about other sites that have good loop braiding tutorials, and why their basic braid instructions may seem different than mine.
This is an incredible finger loop braid from the 14th Century! It’s only known from a single museum artifact somewhat older than the 15th C. loop braiding manuscripts. This braid is amazingly similar to a Japanese kute-uchi braid that was made by a completely different method…
An intricate and unusual 7-loop braid —the word for braid was spelled some funny ways in the 17th C. manuscripts— is the basis of the 14-loop alphabet braid. Joy Boutrup described this 7-loop braid in her recent groundbreaking analysis of the 17th C. letter braids.
I’m almost finished madly braiding a letterbraid to send in to the Braid Society’s Traveling Exhibition*—still fiddling with the braidlets at the end. The orange is DMC cotton embroidery floss, doubled, so 12-strand, and the light green is an unknown brand of silk knitting yarn of similar weight (sport? or maybe thinner). The braid is…
Loop Braiding 