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| Heddle loom made by Matt stein based off original works great for making bartlett sash things |
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| Linen tape, wool tape and buffalo wool tape made on the loom all used for garters for a very long time now |
When starting an 18th
century back country Kit its really easy
to quickly just become overwhelmed by ideas and information from vendors and
just start buying everything labeled “longhunter”. Quite honestly it drives me
nuts that this has become a brand name. “longhunter shirt”, “longhutner hat”, “longhunter
knife”, “longhunter bag” and some “longhunter toilet paper” and you are ready
for a trek. All in various shades of brown or “rustic” and off you go.
I’m
not big on blanket statements but here’s one for new folks…If it’s got the
label “longhunter” attached to it, don’t buy it. I’d say 99% of the time you’ll
be avoiding a mistake. SO since the last post about gear got such a response I
thought I’d go a little more into it.
So Garters are an item that has developed into
its own thing in the “longhunter” uniform. Often its simple a piece of woven
material with leather tabs on each side, these then tie with a leather thong on
the back. The info on these existing is sketchy at best. Garters in the 18th
century came in a wide variety from leather with small buckles to hand
embroidered silk strips of material.
What I think most of us are trying to focus on is what you may have found on folks in the backcountry. You often find “garters or “gartering” being sold at stores. This was strips of wool/linen that was woven on intricate looms a little outside of just what can be made on modern inkle looms. You can see some done with stars, lettering etc. Examples of this can be found in surviving swatch books from the 18th century.
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| Examples of 18th century "gartering" |
So, what does that
leave us with? Well one go to is a simple worsted wool tape garter. We know
this stuff matches some period items out there is relatively inexpensive and is
carried by a number of vendors. This has been my go-to for a while because even
though I finger weave and own a tape loom its an example of the cobbler’s kids.
Every time I make a set I end up selling them. Its sad at this point I only own
a sash because I burned a hole in it when I was sleeping in a hearth at
Prickets fort. Yeah, you read that right I was sleeping IN the hearth…Long
story.
The other Fix for the backcountry is tape loomed garters. Examples of these exist in period archaeological contexts from lower class people. In eastern Pennsylvania there are examples of tapes being sold to local merchants in exchange for goods. A decent number of period tape looms and heddles exist. It was something that could be made at home with relatively simple looms. For years myself and other guys from the ACM purchased tapes from Judy the resident weaver at Pricket’s fort.
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| The Mifflin family and a tape loom |
The other great
thing about tape looms is the tape can be used for many different functions. From
women’s apron strings, powder horn straps, tying up blanket rolls, ties for
food pouches I mean the list is endless. It’s an item easily available to lower
class people over a wide geographic area. For folks really into the “we made
everything” mindset about the frontier if they were spinning their own wool and
linen and weaving their own cloth why wouldn’t they made their own garters in
pieces larger then 12 inches long?
Our boy doddridge
was a weaver himself:
I was possessed of an art
which was of great use. It was that of weaving shot-pouch straps, belts and
garters. I could make my loom; and weave a belt in less than one day. Having a
piece of board about four feet long, an inch auger, spike gimlet, and a drawing
knife, I needed no other tools or materials for making my loom;. ...
While not much better then “in the common
fashion” of a description you get an idea of what he could weave. To me he
could be describing making a rough rigid heddle loom that you is basically a
tape loom without the nice little winder. However, it does point that it was not an
inkle loom as they did not exist yet.
Ok next question I’ll get is going to be “what did an 18th century sash made by a white guy look like”. The simple answer is, we do not know 100%. An educated guess however would be something akin to the linen tape being woven on the tape looms. Doddridge mentions making garters on his loom and we know what woven garters looked like ergo why would the sash look different then this?
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| Bartlett sash thing 1 7/8 inch wide by 9 feet long |
One possible
example is the Nathaniel Bartlett sash/strap thing. This was collected with a
powder horn and was formerly in the Guthman collection. The item is 1 7/8
inches wide by 9 feet long and was woven on a heddle. The letters/numbers are
made by dropping/picking up certain threads as you weave. Its narrow by our modern standards
of sashes but 9 feet is a lot of wraps around a waist. Once again though the
idea we have in our head is based off modern preconceptions of just what a sash
looks like our buddy bought from a vendor selling his take on 18th
century white guys sashes.
So hopefully I gave you something new to think about and I cant stress enough for new folks to avoid the “Long Hunter” brand items. For anyone looking for tape Besides Judy at Pricket’s fort I’d recommend Stonehousehistory.com. Update on the 15 yard tomahawk throw after a few crazy tosses I zeroed in on a release point and am starting to stick my hawk in the block on a semi regular basis. Also I have a new trekking buddy and member of the family. His name is Levi, he’s a 9 week old mountain cur and he’s a little ball of chaos running the show in my house right now. He’s taken away any excuse I had before about getting up and just taking a walk.
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| Levi our new spokesmodel |
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| Levi my anti Dutchman dog |
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