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Hi all
I know that a number of tablet woven fragments have been found in the middle of a buckle, but has anyone ever surveyed whether those buckles had tongues or not?
From my research, it seems that historically there wasn't a 'norm', although this probably has more to do with what fragments are found then anything else. Ilse Fingerlin's book "Gürtel des hohen und späten Mittelalters", 1971, shows the use of eyelets on some of the textile bands. These eyelets tend to be used when the textile uses very decorative and complicated techniques, such as brocade and velvet (and some of these bands are not tablet woven).
One complete girdle (number 56) has a buckle with double pins/tongues and so the eyelets are also double. There are two complete girdles (number 356, 15c and number 545, 13c) which do not have eyelets, despite the buckles having a pin, and both do show some wear at places which appear (as both are photographed flat) as if they will 'line up' with the pin.
From this study though, eyelets are certainly not as commonly found in digs, even though many buckles with pins (whether still there or not!) are found. The eyelets are fairly similar to those that you can get today, in the they have a 'tube' to go through the fabric. The fronts are usually very decorative (and match the other fittings) and I seem to recall that they are all actually fitted with rivets
Its perhaps worth comparing to drawstring holes in medieval purses - very few of these are finished - the drawstring simply pushes through the weave of the textile. This can work equally well with tablet woven bands, especially those that are tightly woven and won't be subject to stress. As many girdles were worn quite loosely and decoratively, the textile really doesn't take any stress. I use both - my 'narrow' girdle I just poke the pin through the weave. So far it's stood up well, but this is worn fairly loosely. my wide girdle, which is worn quite tightly over the gown, I have used modern brass eyelets - after having tried to make look less machine-made!
I hoped that's helped a bit. All the best, Gina Send private reply to Gina Barrett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ----------------------------------------------------------- To stop receiving tabletweaving (not tabletweaving-digest), send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: unsubscribe tabletweaving. To stop receiving tabletweaving-digest, see the end of a digest.
