A friendship bracelet for Ukraine

A few years ago I bought a beautiful handwoven belt from Elena Shevtsova in Ukraine from WovenSlavicBelts her Etsy outlet.  

Here it is. The tassels have been finished in a lovely way and must have taken a lot of work to do so neatly and effectively . 

Belt woven by Elena

On my Pinterest board I have been collecting pictures if Ukrainian folk costume.  The belts for these costumes are usually warp -aced plain weave stripes in beautiful colours.  Their embroidery work is stunning but there is not a wide-spread tradition of pick-up patterned band weaving. 

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/DurhamWeaver/

A few days ago I was asked if I had any Ukrainian patterns. Someone in the UK is working with Ukrainian refugees and wanted to teach them band weaving.  It would be a way of keeping their culture and heritage alive whilst in exile.  Elena has a booklet of Slavic patterns in her Etsy shop. She also has a booklet about tassels as well.

Here is the address:  https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/WovenSlavicBelts

Friendship Bracelets.

A friendship bracelet is given by one person to another as a symbol of friendship.  According to tradition, the bracelet should be tied onto the wrist of a friend  (who may make a wish for something at that moment).  The wish of course should be secret.

I thought that I would design a friendship bracelet in blue and yellow with 9 pattern threads which might be suitable for beginners when learning pick-up pattern weaving. It is pattern of joined hearts. I used fine cotton but they could also be woven in wool or thicker cotton. Beginners should sue thicker yarn until they are familiar with patterned band weaving.

Although they were woven as friendship bracelets, they would work equally well as bookmarks.

 I wove four picks of plain weave to start then 15 cm of the pattern.  The length will depend upon the size of wrist for which it is intended.

Remember that the pattern repeat is pick 1 - 22.  Picks A, B, C and D are only woven once at the beginning and once at the end. 

There are different ways of finishing the ends. To finish the bracelet, the warp ends were plaited.   Here are two variations. At one end, I divided the warp ends into two groups and plaited them separately.  The ends were whipped to finish. The end can also be plaited as a single plait for an alternative end.

At the other end, I divided the warp ends into two groups but only plaited them for a short length.  I then overlapped the two groups and plaited them as one.  This gave a loop at one end for fastening the bracelet.  Here is the result.

The beauty of the Baltic weave structure is that there is a pattern on the reverse.

Here is a variation of the pattern in blue. Here the pattern repeat is pick 1 - 26.

Of course a warp-faced plain weave band also looks good.  See my blog entry for April 2016 for a pattern idea. 

https://durhamweaver64.blogspot.com/2016/04/durham-guild-open-day-for-spinning.html

Weaving is fun and it is very enjoyable to teach others.  Why not weave a friendship bracelet for your friend?

Happy weaving everyone. 

Susan J Foulkes  July 2022

Durham Guild Open Day for spinning

Using a spinning wheel

Our Open Day for Spinning was a chance for us to demonstrate and teach.

Drop spindle spinning

One visitor was Hannah, a skilled spinner who loves all things to do with textiles.  She showed her considerable skills by using a spinning wheel with which she was not familiar.  Her spun yarn is very fine and even.

Hannah spinning expertly

a very fine yarn

More spinning

But not every one spins, so several members brought their looms.

Jane has an Ashford Knitters Loom on which she is weaving a leno scarf.

Leno lace weaver

Her yarn is a crepe vintage and it will be very interesting to see the final scarf.

Yarn from New Mexico

She loves her Ashford loom and brought along a selection of the scarves that she has woven. These two scarves were from yarn brought in a charity shop.  The yarn came from Hope, New Mexico and has a lovely feel.

Even plain weave can produce some wonderful effects.  Look at this clasped weft scarf with the wavy pattern.It is really unusual.

The wavy line is produced by the 'clasped weft' technique.

Douglas loves tartan and brought his four shaft table loom to finish threading his latest piece. He only weaves tartans and is a knowledgeable specialist.

Threading takes time and patience.

Hannah's mum and her unique crocheted blanket.

Hannah's mum was crocheting a beautifully designed blanket.  The inspiration was Seaham harbour and beach.  The colours and pattern are lovely and this unique design is for two special friends who appreciate the love and care which goes into handmade articles.

A tapestry piece.

The Guild has many other skills as well.  Here is a tapestry piece.

The Guild had a busy day and we enjoyed meeting new people interested in craft.

Weaving Open Day.

Durham Guild Weaving Open Day on Saturday 15th October 2016

Our next open day is about Weaving and is on Saturday October 15th in St Oswald's Institute. Put it in your diary.

There will be a number of looms ready warped and plenty of people on hand to help.  Do come along.

I will be bringing my backstrap and a number of heddles ready warped for anyone to try. One loom I will be bringing is my Swedish Band Loom. This was the first loom that I bought once I became hooked on weaving.

My first loom

Weave a friendship bracelet.

To see this loom in action go to my YouTube video:  Five Ways of Weaving Narrow Bands  
https://youtu.be/ZzhuDomPtxE

I will warp up this loom so that visitors can have a go and weave a friendship bracelet.

I am researching friendship bracelets at the moment and should have a good supply of examples to show. Here is my first idea which I wove on my Swedish band loom.

drawdown for friendship bracelet

This band is woven in 16/2 Swedish cotton used double using four colours.  The weft is a blue cottolin yarn.  There are 35 warp ends in total.  The band is 1.4 cm in width.

Close up of woven band

To finish the bracelet, the warp ends were plaited.  At one end, I divided the warp ends into two groups and plaited them separately.  The ends were whipped to finish.

At the other end, I divided the warp ends into two groups but only plaited them for a short length.  I then overlapped the two groups and plaited them as one.  This gave a loop at one end for fastening the bracelet.  Here is the result.

Friendship bracelet

I love the effect of a wavy stripes.


To see the another Swedish loom in action at Skansen, the open air museum in Stockholm, go to Slöjda med Skansen: Bandvävning   https://youtu.be/jPeBqxW6ZUw

Next post:

My next post in April will be about the colour green.  Do follow my blog to get updates.

Happy Weaving

Susan J Foulkes April 2016