Tablet woven bands from Eastern Europe

Below you will find a selection of tablet woven bands from broadly defined Eastern Europe.

All replicas of the original finds pictured on our webpage have been woven by us. The photos of the original finds we collect in printed form were found mostly on the internet hence it is often not possible for us to determine the author of them or point to a particular source like a research paper or a book. However, we give the reference list below of the sources we have had access to in the past few years and from which we derived information about tablet woven band finds.

Most woven bands we offer through our shop are very close to the originals in terms of a pattern and technique. Some of the weavings presented here were originally silver or gold brocaded – yet currently we do not take commissions for brocaded bands. Instead, in our online shop you can order woolen or linen versions of different finds. These versions are often slightly simplified compared to the original bands but they seem to be a reasonable compromise between an attempt to reconstruct a medieval textile fragment with all its technical complexity (+ authenticity) and a price acceptable for a wide range of re-enactors and enthusiasts of history.

ladoga viking rus

1. Ladoga, present day Russia, 10-12th c.

The Staraya Ladoga area , three color woolen band of 1,2 cm width

Similar Patterns in our shop

gaigovo viking textiles

 2. Gaigovo, present day Russia, 11th c.

Female cremation burial site. This woolen trim was sewn onto a herringbone twill cloth, its width is 1,8 cm.

Similar Patterns in our shop

krajka z brzescia

3. Stary Brzesc, Poland, 13th c.

Probably silk band brocaded with gold thread, width 1,3 cm.

Similar Patterns in our shop

rassawa brocaded band11th

 4. Rassawa, Ukraine, 10-11th c.,

Card woven silk band brocaded with gold thread. Its width is about 1 cm.

Similar Patterns in our shop

Sources and references:

Kochkurkina, Svetlana and Orfinskaya, Olga. “Archaeological Textiles of the 10th to the 12th century from the Gaigovo barrow group” , Archaeological Textiles Review, no 53. Copenhagen, 2017. Pp 21-23.

Moszczyński, Jacek. 1990. „Die Gewebe aus dem Gräberfeld des 12.-16. Jh. in Stary Brzesc, Wojewodschaft Wloclawek” w: Walton, Penelope i Wild, John P., (red.) Textiles in Northern Archaeology: NESAT III Textile Symposium in York 6-9 May 1987. Londyn: Archetype Publications.

Nalik, Adam. „Analiza Tkanin z Kurhanów Rassawskich„, Archeologia VIII:1 (1956)

Spies Nancy (2000) Ecclesiastical Pomp & Aristocratic Circumstance: A Thousand Years of Brocaded Tabletwoven Bands, Arelate Studio (Maryland).

Sveinsdottir, D. & Saemundarson, B. (2020). A Simplified Guide to Historical Tablet Weaving. Sydney, Australia: Knarr Traders.