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Spiderweb
The
spiderweb is perhaps the best known mezza pattern; it is
prominently illustrated in a portrait of an unknown lady
by Marcus Gheerarts the Younger, 1605-10, and pictured in
"Patterns of Fashion" by Janet Arnold. In that
painting, the lad wears a white doublet, a red skirt, and
a spiderweb overskirt of fine mezza.
It's
possible to darn many mezza structures; but the spiderweb
is the first I have encountered that requires darning to
create the proper effect.
To do the spiderweb, first do a Double Fan stitch. The size
of our web will depend on the size of our mesh gauge (to
create a web 5.5/12cm in diameter, I used a 10mm diameter
gauge, and wrapped the thread three times around the
gauge with each stitch). Eight stitches in the first row
(before the big decrease), and eight stitches in the
second row (the decrease row), will give you 14 spokes
for your web.
Now carefully cut
your anchor thread, and gently pull it out. I pin the fan
down to a pillow or foam board, sticking one pin through
the hub, and using pins to isolate, straighten, and
secure each of the spokes in turn.
What you will end up with is 15 1/2 spokes. One spoke
(illustrated in red, see left) will be twice as long as
the others; this should be carefull cut close to the hub,
and discarded. There will also be two unlooped, trailing
threads. It, and the thread leading to our shuttle,
should also be trimmed close to the hub. Pin your 14
remaining loops so the are evenly spaced in a circle
around the center (a paper pattern may help).
Now, thread a
needle and tightly tie the end to the hub, trimming the
trailing thread. Begin to work a spiral around that hub,
knotting the thread to each spoke with two tight
buttonhole stitches. (See right) How many spirals ou can
get depends on how big our web diameter is, and how
closely your spiral is made. When ou get to the ver edge,
work your way around one more time, catching the loop at
the top of each spoke. Knot tightly at the end.
It is possible to do this pattern with more or less than
14 spokes. our double fan pattern will be the number of
half the spokes, plus one; that same number (1/2 of 14 +1
= 8; 1/2 of 10 +1 = 6 for a ten spoke web) will be done
on both the first and second rows of the Fan.
This pattern looks very unstable and very delicate. But
in fact, it's surprisingly strong. I gave a test web to
my 13-year old daughter, my 16-year old son, and my 1
year old niece, with orders to try and tear it up. Not
even the baby could do more than distort it a little.
[The
information and images on this website are Copyright of
Lady Cecilia Bartoletti (June). You may make a copy and
use any information contained herein for personal use
only, or for SCA documentation purposes. Unauthorised
publication is not permitted.]
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