Hand-Loom Weaving Part 14

[Sidenote: _St.i.tches for pile weaving_]

[Sidenote: _The first st.i.tch_]

St.i.tches for pile weaving are very easily made. This ill.u.s.tration showing examples of st.i.tches for pile weaving ill.u.s.trates the methods used in the st.i.tches, and may be used for Axminster or Wilton rugs, for boxes, sachet cases, and other articles. The tape needle is the kind used for weaving when the large needle cannot be used. It is preferable to use one of this kind on account of the eye and blunt point, and it may be obtained at the notion counter in department stores for a few cents. There are two st.i.tches, each occupying half of the ill.u.s.tration and numbered from left to right, beginning at the top. Make No. 1 by pa.s.sing a tape needle threaded with wool down through the web, leaving a short end, then up one st.i.tch to the left. This is the first step. In No. 2 continue over on the right side, _past_ the st.i.tch where you started, to the st.i.tch on the right; then down and up through the first hole, and cut off the wool the same length as the end you left at first.

No. 3 shows a st.i.tch completed. No. 4, one row of st.i.tches, and No. 5, three rows, showing how one row overlaps another. When the rug is finished, the ends should be cut evenly, so that the nap is like velvet.

The children would say that this st.i.tch looks like a two-legged stool, and so it does.

[Sidenote: _The second st.i.tch_]

The second st.i.tch is made so that the nap lies sideways from left to right. No. _a_ is just like the preceding st.i.tch. No. _b_ shows the needle pa.s.sing down the st.i.tch where you started and up one st.i.tch to the right. Cut off the wool and pull the end left at first over the last one. This pile should stand very straight and even. No. _c_ shows a completed st.i.tch; No. _d_ one row, and No. _e_ three rows. These st.i.tches are useful in mending Khiva and Bokhara rugs.

[Sidenote: _Wilton and Axminster rugs_]

Wilton, Axminster, or any rugs having a pile, can be woven with the same st.i.tches. The pattern in the ill.u.s.tration may be used for either a Wilton or Axminster rug, for a box cover, cus.h.i.+on, sachet case, or mat; and can be cross-st.i.tched embroidery, on burlap, silk or woolen canvas.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Pattern for a rug, mat or cover_]

Chapter Thirteen

NAVAJO BLANKETS

[Ill.u.s.tration: _A miniature Indian loom_]

[Sidenote: _A sketch_]

[Sidenote: _Indian weaving_]

[Sidenote: _The colors used_]

[Sidenote: _Old Indian blankets are rare_]

[Sidenote: _Description of the ill.u.s.tration_]

Navajo blankets were first made by the Pueblo Indians, from whom the Navajo Indians learned the art, and not long after the latter excelled in the making of them. Among the Pueblo Indians the men do the work; but women are the weavers among the Navajos. In the ill.u.s.tration on this page is seen a miniature Navajo loom with the blanket commenced. The two cords woven at the sides with the woof can be easily seen. Simple looms are suspended between two posts or trees, and the weaver sits upon the ground. A twig is used for a shuttle, and a reed, fork-shaped like a hand, is used to push down the woof threads. The blanket is made waterproof by pounding down the threads with a batten, a good picture of which is seen in Dr. Was.h.i.+ngton Matthews' article on Navajo weavers in the Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology. Separate b.a.l.l.s of color are used to carry out the pattern, which is sometimes traced in the sand before the work is commenced. As many as twenty-nine different b.a.l.l.s have been seen hanging from a single blanket. Some of the designs have been handed down from one generation to another, and are carried entirely in the memory. They are often symbolical "and unfold a whole legend to the knowing eye of the native." The weaving is done from the bottom up, some working in one direction, while others weave first at the bottom, then turn the loom upside down, and, after weaving about the same distance there, finish in the middle. The last part of the weaving is like darning, and is often done with a needle. The colors most used are white, gray, black, a bright yellow, red (a scarlet, generally obtained by raveling bayeta cloth), and sometimes blue. In former times, when the Indians used vegetable dyes, the colors were beautiful and lasting. These old blankets are becoming more and more rare, and to-day in their places we have the bright and not always satisfactory results of aniline dyes. The blanket in the ill.u.s.tration facing this page has narrow stripes in the following colors: On each end (seven stripes) red, black, white, orange, green, white, black. The two groups of six stripes in the middle are: Black, white, red, green, white, black. Before the advent of the present squaw dress, the black, red, and dark blue blankets were used as clothing, but the best blankets were, and still are, worn at sacred dances. Dr. Matthews, in his report, gives an interesting description of the method of making these blankets, with several pictures of the better examples. Navajo blankets are finished with four border cords, which are secured as the weaving progresses, and the ends are fastened at the four corners by small ta.s.sels.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _A Navajo Indian woman weaving a blanket_]

[Sidenote: _Method of making_]

[Sidenote: _Indian blankets_]

Small Navajo blankets can be woven on the loom. Draw the pattern and place under the warp, fastening it to the side rods. Use warp or carpet thread for the warp, and weave with a tape or upholstery needle. One may weave all the pattern first, and then put in the filling; while another will weave as the Indians do, filling in from one part of the pattern to the other by threading the needle with a different color. This can be done, without running the thread underneath, by hooking it in the loop of the pattern just finished. These little blankets are very fascinating things to make, and the children become much interested in them, and in Indian life as well.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _A Navajo blanket_]

[Sidenote: _The colors in the blanket on page 141_]

This very beautiful Navajo blanket, shown in the ill.u.s.tration, has three broad red stripes, two narrow red stripes about one-half the width of the former, and four gray stripes about one-half the width of narrow red stripes. The centers of all the figures are red, like the filling--a brilliant scarlet. The colors of the large figures, beginning at the center of each, and counting from left to right, are as follows: Nos. 1, 3, and 5, red, green, and light yellow. Nos. 2 and 4, red, white, and black. The small figures, counting the same way, are: Nos. 1, 3, and 5, red, white, and black. Nos. 2 and 4, red, yellow, and green. The four corners are finished with twisted red cord-like ta.s.sels. This cord also extends across the warp ends. Dr. Matthews tells in his article on "Navajo Weavers" how two cords are twisted and woven at the sides with the woof.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _A very beautiful Navajo Indian blanket, showing the manner of decoration_]

The two Navajo Indian blankets ill.u.s.trated in this chapter, and the pattern on the following page, may be easily adapted for the loom.

Germantown knitting wool or carpet ravelings can be used, although to obtain softer wool is better. Some of the handsomest Navajo blankets have a long nap.

[Sidenote: _Navajo patterns laid with tablets_]

The children will take pleasure in laying Navajo patterns with triangular tablets, and then transferring the pattern to paper by drawing and coloring, or by cutting and pasting in colors.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _A pattern for a Navajo blanket_]

Chapter Fourteen

SONGS, GAMES, AND STORIES

There are many beautiful songs which can be sung during the weaving.

Thomas Carlyle has said:

[Sidenote: _Songs and games lighten work_]

"Give us, O give us the man who sings at his work! He will do more in the same time; he will do it better; he will persevere longer. One is scarcely sensible of fatigue whilst he marches to music, and the very stars are said to make harmony as they revolve in their spheres."

[Sidenote: _Songs for the children_]

There are songs about the birds' nests, always pleasing to the little folks, and doubly so when they have held in their own hands the wonderful bit of weaving, so strong and yet so soft, woven by the mother-bird for the baby-birds. Mrs. Spider is also very interesting with her lace-like webs which are to be found even in well-regulated schoolrooms, and the songs of the bleating sheep who give us their wool fill every little heart with delight. Miss Poulsson's Finger Play, "The Lambs," gives the restless fingers something to do and the "eight white sheep all fast asleep" afford a chance for a good laugh over the "two old dogs close by" (the thumbs). One has the opportunity, too, of noticing whether the eight white sheep on the tiny hands are really _white_ enough to do the weaving. A smiling allusion to some small _black_ sheep will bring them back clean for the next session.

[Sidenote: _A weaving game_]

The following weaving game can be played in several ways. This extract is from the "Kindergarten Guide," by Lois Bates: "Six children stand in a row; a tall one at each end for the border of the mat and the other four representing the strips. The child who is to be the weaver holds one end of a long tape, while the other is fastened to the left shoulder of the first child. The weaver weaves the tape in and out among the children, placing the second row lower down. It will be easily seen that the children who had it pa.s.sed in _front_ of them in the first row, had it _behind_ them in the second, and vice versa."

The following weaving song in the Walker and Jenks book can be sung during the weaving. To be sure it is not really "over and under" when you think of them as _children_. Remember that they represent a mat, and they are for the time the strips and border.

(_Sung to the tune of "Nellie Bly._")

Over one, under one, Over one again.

Under one, over one, Then we do the same.

Hi, weavers! Ho, weavers!

Come and weave with me!

You'll rarely find, go where you will, A happier band than we!

Kate Douglas Wiggin (Mrs. Riggs) in her "Republic of Childhood"