Specialist in early medieval embroidery. Interested in early medieval material culture and its place in society.
Growing flax, making linen thread from it and then weaving or sewing with this thread has a long history and is evidenced from throughout the early medieval period. In England linen was used as a textile for many items including clothing and the fabric on which the Bayeux Tapestry was embroidered. Today linen fabric and... Continue Reading →
I know I've mentioned this briefly in the updated 'About Me' section but I thought you would like to know that I've now got six videos live on my YouTube channel. They range from shorts that show how stitches are worked to longer videos that discuss different aspects of projects like the Cuthbert Maniple Recreation... Continue Reading →
Hello everyone. This month we celebrate the 1st May 2021 with a post by Emma 'Bruni' Boast (MA). Emma is a champion of what I think is a really exciting fibre craft, nalbinding. In this post she tells us all about this ancient craft from an archaeologist's and heritage crafter's perspective in 'The never-ending explanations,... Continue Reading →
Oh my! 🤩🤩🤩!A Viking textile with embroidery! Here’s the link to the NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet Facebook page where there’s a short video about it: https://fb.watch/4TWXeVnUzi/
Welcome to the April edition of Early Medieval (mostly) Textiles. This month we move away from the research of Viking Age textiles to the art of re-creating early medieval textiles based on archaeological finds. Elizabeth de Born (Liz) is an experienced weaver and tablet-weaver who has made a number of textiles for my own projects... Continue Reading →
Welcome to the March 2021 post. This is the second of the two-part installment about Viking textile production, Weaving Identities II. In this post Dolores Kearney continues where Mary Valente left off. Dolores focuses entirely, on Viking Dublin, approaching the women of that settlement and its textile production through the concept of the châine opératoire... Continue Reading →
Welcome to the second installment of 2021's Early Medieval (mostly) Textiles Blog. We continue this year's series with a two-part post about Viking Age textile production. In 'Weaving Identities Part 1', Professor Mary Valante discusses Viking-Age evidence for textile production from rural Iceland, Scandinavia and Dublin, showing that it was vital to both the local... Continue Reading →
Just realised that a paper I gave at the European Association of Archaeologists conference in 2018 is now live on YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1pyp3tfk6jo In the 15 minute paper I explore the multiple layers of meaning the 10th-century ‘Cuthbert’ stole & maniple had to early medieval society from the materials through the embroidered designs to wearing /... Continue Reading →
Happy New Year and welcome to the first Early Medieval (mostly) Textiles post of 2021! We are starting the new year off with a bang. Celia Elliott-Minty has been weaving and braiding for about 40 years and in that time has explored most of the recognised techniques, although tablet weaving has remained her favourite. Following... Continue Reading →
I’m pleased to announce that I’m joining the Archaeology Department at the University of Glasgow to work with Dr Susanna Harris as the textile Post Doc’ on the 3 year AHRC funded National Museum of Scotland & University of Glasgow ‘Unwrapping the Galloway Hoard’ project. I can’t tell you how excited I am about this... Continue Reading →
