A number of impressive ‘imitation fur pile’ hats survive from high status male graves from the Danish Bronze Age. They have …
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A number of impressive ‘imitation fur pile’ hats survive from high status male graves from the Danish Bronze Age. They have …
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I have no expertise here, but taking the thread off the needle and then rethreading it strikes me as incredibly unlikely. People like to be efficient, and we know that through history people like to sew in ways that are efficient and simple. As a handspinner I think using a well twisted singles yarn to make the self-ply below the knot seems reasonably likely. Modern handspinners certainly use little self-plied sprigs as a decorative effect that is very similar.
Wow! This is inspiring and amazing! Bronze Age fake fur, perhaps? It would be easier to skin a sheep….
It's hard to think those ancient craftspeople used such fine thread to tie so many knots. It would make more sense if they created a long, knotted fringe and then couched the main cord with bouillon knots at specific intervals. I think knotted fringes were made back in those times. IMO.
I wonder what the Royal College of Needlework would say about these knotted stitches?
Thank you for this video.
Not sure why this video came up on my feed, but it was very interesting! I watched while I had my morning cuppa and worked on knitting a sweater for my son, I can't imagine my sweater lasting more then a generation let alone a millennium!
i like your twisty take much better, and i'm curious why you say it would definitely be an interpretation? was plied cordage not yet a thing when the hat was made? (i had thought plied cordage was much older — and i know i could be making a ridiculous assumption!)
A great investigation and experiment. Yes the piling method does pose a challenge. Obviously a status item with meaning over a broad region. The internal spiral stitching – is that just for structural stiffening?
It's fascinating, but I can't help but feel that the second version (Schlabow's) is so much more time consuming, over complicated and less visually appealing. If I was making the cap, I would definitely use the quicker bullion knots.
I'm loving your videos that were recommended by 'A Great Alternative' youtuber. This is probably silly but, it feels as if your method was way more logical, but would it not be possible to incorporate the knotted threads to the process of spiralling on the interior? running stitch ending up on outer and then twisting knotting and coming back through to inner, next running stitch? It would result in a uniform look, the gaps could be filled in. I feel as if time and energy would be important to them?
wasnt bored by this at all, dead interesting…120000 knots is alot of knots! the person the hats belonged to must of been hot shit.
Where did you find that double ended bronze needle? Is there a place I can maybe get one? It's both gorgeous and practical!
As others have said, my first thought was that they used a very overspun thread that was then knotted into the warp of the fabric. It's so difficult to tell in the old B/W photographs of the hats, but it could be a version of a rug weaver's knot (like a modified turkish knot or persian knot maybe). Basically the thread is a single knot, but it looks to be doubled. It would certainly give you the, thick high pile. If it was worked continuously, using a stopper knot between each of the turkish or persian knots at the top of the pile rather than clipping it off as is usual in rug making today, you might get the look you're after. Between each rug knot, you would be creating a stopper knot at the top and then stitching back into the same warp space to start the next knot. If the thread is very tightly spun, it should ply back on itself.
Of course I may be totally off with the type of knot.
It could also be that what we are seeing as a overspun yarn has been affected by being buried in tannin-rich soils for 2,000 years also. The strands may simply be very brittle now and might have been far softer to begin with. So what we see as kinked and tightly spun may not have been when it was originally worked.
Your version is just as right as the ones they did back in the day. Each area had their own techniques and many may have did their own versions of the same thing. Yours looks right and one that would stand the test of time for wear and durability.
I would go with your method because if the old hat had that second version you showed you would see the tufts and you’d also see some of the knots unraveled like you found on yours. I’d use singles like you suggested. My thinking for making thread thin wool would be to actually dampen your fingers like one might do with linen to help keep the fuzzies in check and to use wool with lanolin. Many old things woolen things still had lanolin and having lanolin helps greatly in making thread thin enough to ply and have nearly thin enough to put on your sewing machine. Nearly. But would never do that with hand spun wool. All the wool Im spinning Im including hand sewing thread of the same wool so one may have thread for sewing on buttons but using matching thread of the same wool. Im watching this project closely.
There is nothing you've uploaded that has bored me. In fact when I saw that this WAS quite a long video, I was extremely excited!!! What a fascinating journey and what an incredibly elaborate hat!
I think it might save time with knotting if tried:
1. Make the 2 knots
2. Stitch thru fabric
3. Tie 2 knots, leave a few mm, then tie 2 knots
4. Stitch thru fabric
That would leave a mess of little bridges of thread that you can go back later to cut so it makes two 'stalks'. This would save a mess of time from having to rethread the needle with every stalk.
At 38:58 the diagram shows 2 strands of yarn going thru the stitch. So 4 strands sticking up. Each has 2 knots at the top, a centimeter apart at the top of each strand. And a longer strand maybe 1 inch from the fabric
every bone in my body is telling me that anything requiring you to re-thread a needle constantly cannot be the correct answer. that said, all of my experience in archaeology is from your videos. the hats being a symbol of rank complicates things, though, because maybe it was a statement about the amount of tedious work going into their hats (as if a bunch of teeny knots wasn't enough of a statement!)
i'm excited to see what else you learn!
Regarding your knots, it also makes sense to follow your process from a time saving perspective. Surely it’s more likely to be created using continuous threads like yours rather than stopping between each knots to cut and re apply!
I agree that your way makes a lot of sense! I certainly don’t mind the length, I’m sewing too!
I love watching all these experiments on YouTube. It's much more "alive" then reading it in a paper or a book after the experiment is done. You learn a lot, plus It's also very relaxing to watch 🙂
I enjoy your videos very much! The close-up of the hat at 30 minutes looks just like the fine bullion fringe on my couch cushions after my kids have been at them these last five years. They twirl them around their fingers and the ends form fuzzy little nubs and knots. The hat you're trying to recreate puts me in mind of the hat gifted to ZZ Top member Billy Gibbons by the chief of the Bamileke. I always think of the Danish as travelers so that's probably why that thought came to me. I don't mean this as any form of disrespect but as a crafter who especially enjoys working yarn and trying to figure out how things are done – I think this hat may have been constructed with a kind of punch needle technique and that the knots are single knots with little nubs of wear on the ends. If I were making the hat I would only tack the three layers of hat together and then start making the fringe by pulling my thread to the outside of the hat, twist, and knot then repeat (there's a crochet technique that's become popular that is like this). It would explain the many stab stitches and the need for the knots on the outside of the hat. After finishing the fringe on the hat I could see running an outline stitch along the inside to further secure all that hard work and maybe help keep the hat on. Maybe the exterior piece of the hat was created with the fringe and then attached to the inner layers. That would be a different construction idea and I am unfamiliar with felting. I hope a different perspective gives you the insight you're looking for.
Thank you for a fascinating insight into textile production. The edging and the looped join were very effective. The number of hours needed to do the knots seems a lot, I'm wondering if there isn't a quicker way, but I have no idea what it might be.
Wow, Sally, you are doing such a great experiment! In my opinion your interpretation is a good one. Maybe it's even better than the interpretations made before … 🔬 I hope you'll have the opportunity to watch a few of those hats through a microscope.
I can’t imagine a knot where you trim off the end that close that WOULDN’T come undone! The energy of the twist releasing should undo the knots eventually. When first I saw you trimming them short to match the original, I thought, “well, that won’t work in the long run.” If that’s actually how they did it, there would have had to be some process they used to keep the knots from untying. (Your thought about wax seemed good, maybe slightly heated and rubbed?) 🤷🏻♀️ Your method looks clean and tidy, and if it ISN’T how they did it, I bet if you sat down with the people who were making them in the bronze age and showed them your method, they would have adopted your technique. It just makes sense. I’ll be interested to hear a followup, if you get more information that sheds light. Fascinating video, not boring at all!
The construction of the hat is elegant and makes sense – warm, windproof, waterproof- but why spend all that time and thread on the knotted covering? To look like fur? What not just use fur? Did it add warmth? Or was it a display of wealth – done because you could?
U know when u overspin yarn and it gets all pigtaily, I'm wonder if that is the key to this …useing over spun yarn. Idk but ur idea seems more likely then the german dudes. There r more then 1 way to skin a pig so I'm wondering if each maker had their own way…but idk, just an errant thought. Either way, love the long form video!!!!
Wonderful video!! My question is why do all those knotted stitches ? Trying to recreate an animal fur look , beaver ???
Not bored at all, love seeing you work through ideas and experiment. (And, for the algorithm: 🪡)
Your single ply double over knot is a way more viable option. It seems to me that a technique that wastes a valuable resource would not be something they would have used. Even if there was an abundance of thread, it just doesn't make sense to me.
i would never get bored of these videos! The experimenting is exactly what i'm interested in. Maybe it's a mix of the two methods? the first bit is done the same way you did up to the plying the yarn and then an over-hand knot done with the needle thread to secure the ply and covering more hat area before going in the fabric to do another one. I might try it out with some acrylic and scrap piece of fabric to see what happens
dear Sally,
i just found myself knotting into another project, basically a simple triaxially woven band. by mistake i ended up with a figure eight knot in the line i was working with and proceeded to ply it a bit from there.
i would suggest this as an alternative to the knot you used, where this is likely a rounder stopper knot and quicker to tie compared to the french knot you tried here.
and i would also suggest to keep turning around the hat with spirals on the outside. who ever did those old ones most likely turned the thing thousands of times in the making, so the knots in the book not only increase the work enormously because of the constant interruptions, they would also likely lose most of the knots later one, turning around yet again… my intuition tells me that they would have continued spiralling in much tighter rounds rather than put the little plies on in patches.
(disclaimer: I have no idea of any of the terminology, sorry. I AM A LAYMAN)
Could there perhaps be NO KNOT at all, could it instead be a sortof continuous CARPETTING technique? I'm thinking that the "knot" may infact be a "tangle" in an overtwisted cordage looped back on itself.
Basically: it goes further along your idea: You are tying a knot, then twisting the thread and going back the way it came (so it twists/cords back into itself). Could they have twisted it SO MUCH that it TANGLED – and then they either BRUSH the tangles out to the end of the threads, or WHIP the entire hat quickly in the hand so the centrifugal forces encourage the tangles to migrate to the end of each thread – making what looks like a knot.
I like the look of the inside better, + the fluff would be very warm against the skin. Maybe it was reversible ?
I wonder what made them do these rather than fur hats. Maybe just a flex ? Like “oh you have fur ? I have fabric embroidered to look like fur. Just imagine how long it took to make”.
Maybe some could have been embroidered with different colours, not necessarily dyed yarns, just yarn spun from different coloured sheep, or perhaps different materials? You could make brindled/mottled effects, or even motifs if you were precise enough. … just wondering.
Anyway : THANK YOU, this was so detailed and interesting ! Perfect length too, so as not to cram in information without taking the time to explain or illustrate properly.
I really liked the bits shot at the village, especially since I could identify the plants around (lots of Eupatorium for example, that would have been a good source of plant fibers).
I always look forward to your videos 💚
I honestly like your initial boullion twist knot better than the double knot described in the "new" document. I did have a thought on how to do the new knot style more efficiently without taking things off and on the needle.
go into the hat and anchor with knot 1
make knot 2 a cm up where the end will be
without cutting make knot 3 a few mm away from the previous knot, ensure both are very tight.
move one cm make knot 4, sew into the hat, come out and repeat entire process with knot 1 as you come out of the hat.
when you are done a chain or section of these go back and slice between knot 2 and 3 so they are now separated stalks instead of a loop. This will help them be more even and reduce the time fiddling with threading the needle. I could be historically do-able with a nice set of sheers or a blade of any type with slim enough end, a sharp stone flake even.