On Sunday I went to my first Young Archaeology Club lesson. YAC is held once a month on a Sunday afternoon.
We learnt about how they made clothes and textiles. They used a loom which was a big wooden arch but with straight lines. It had warp and weft threads.
YAC Textiles: Warp and Weft
The warp thread went down and it was attached from the top to bottom on the loom. The weft thread went left to right and was weaved over and under the warp threads until it reached one side. Then they weaved it to the other side.
YAC Textile Lesson: How the Loom Worked
The loom was operated by a woman with a needle. The needle had the thread or wool that they were using attached to the end. Then it was to be used to weave through the warp threads.
We each made a cardboard loom. It was much smaller than the real looms but worked in the same way. There are warp threads wrapped around the cardboard. Then we had a cardboard strip (as our needle) with some blue wool as our weft thread. Then we weaved it through the threads.
That sounds like a really interesting class – I hope you keep posting about your archaeology classes cos I find it a fascinating subject! So did you find it hard to keep your weaving straight? I have a small wooden loom I was given by my auntie when I was around your age and the thing I remember most about using it (aside from how fun it was – I made a handbag!), was how difficult it was not to pull tighter and tighter as I went along. I ended up with something shaped like an egg timer instead of a rectangle on more than one occasion!
I think weaving is harder than it looks, but your piece looks really good, nice and even with good tension. Well done!