Card Woven Edging

Card or tablet woven edgings have been used in Finnish and Sami textiles since ancient times. Blue Skirts and Golden Belts – Textile fragments have been found in Viking Age textiles of Finland. The tablet woven finish was applied to the warp ends of the woven fabric as a finishing trim. In traditional Karelian clothing, card woven trim is used at the bottom of skirts and aprons or as belts.
Sami Band Weaving
The Saami also weave bands at the start of a weaving project. Once the trim has been woven, the warp is then attached to the top of a warp-weighted loom to continue the weaving.

Tablet Weaving Pattern #102
The weaving pattern for this card woven belt.

How to Weave a Trim to the Edge of a Warp using Card or Tablet Weaving

Fasten the woven fabric to a table edge. I use an art board and attach it using large paper clips. This helps to hold the fabric in place while you are weaving.

Weave a length of the card woven belt – If you are going to be using the trim as a belt then weave a sufficent length for the end of the belt.

Continuing on in the card weaving pattern, turn the cards 1/4 turn. Instead of weaving the weft with the yarn you were using, you will replace this with the warp ends of your fabric.

For the first shot, pick up 2 warp ends and pass these through the open shed.

Turn the cards 1/4 turn.
Pull the warp threads to adjust the tension so that the edge of the belt is snugly against the edge of the fabric.
Pass the 2 warp ends back through the open shed.

Turn the cards 1/4 turn and adjust the tension of the weft.
From the back of the fabric, pick up 1 warp end and bring this to the front and pass it through the next open shed.
Pick up 1 end from the previous warp threads and pass it through the open shed.

Turn the cards 1/4 turn and adjust the tension.
Pass the 2 warp threads back through the next open shed.

Turn the cards 1/4 turn and adjust the tension.
Again pick up 1 new warp end from the warp fabric.
Pass this warp thread through the open shed.
Pick up 1 warp end from the previous warp threads.

Turn the cards 1/4 turn and adjust the tension.
Weave back the 2 warp threads.

Turn the cards 1/4 turn and adjust the tension.
Continue weaving in this fashion, picking up 1 new warp end from the fabric and 1 warp end from the previous group.

In this example I am weaving the edging onto a wool and hemp wall hanging. The wool weft that I used was quite fine, so I am picking up and weaving 4 warp ends at a time. If you are using yarn of different weights, you may need to adjust the number of warp ends that you pick up, to match the weight of the weft that you were using at the beginning of the belt so that the width of the belt remains consistent.

How to Weave a Card Woven Braid onto Fabric – You Tube

I made this video with my new Sony HD video Camera. I edited it with Vegas Platinum software. Please excuse the slight camera bumps etc – as I am still learning how to use the software.

The music was kindly supplied by

Moby Gratis.