Lydia Webbe — Falkirk Blanket

• Name: Lydia Webbe
• Project Title: Falkirk Blanket
• Local Group: Malagentia
• East Kingdom Wiki: https://wiki.eastkingdom.org/wiki/Lydia_Webbe
• Website/Blog Link: https://lydiawebbe.blogspot.com/
• Category: Textiles

This blanket was inspired by the tiny remnant of fabric: the Falkirk Tartan. It’s not a true tartan, really comparable to a modern buffalo check. I adore everything about this piece of cloth. It was found by Robert Wallace in 1933, who was working construction to enlarge the town’s bus station. The cloth was covering a jar of silver coins that suggest a date of about 240 CE (based on the emperor on the coins and the amount of wear). What I find especially inspiring is that this construction worker knew that the fabric was worth saving as well as the coins. I would have liked to have talked with this fellow. 

For my project, I used the weave structure and color pattern of the original fabric. A 16 thread repeat both in color and warping. Because of the nature of the extant, it’s not clear which is warp and which was weft. The pattern could have been weft controlled. Having done both, I prefer to weave herringbone that is complicated in the set up, and zen in the weaving.  After weaving about 21 ft of fabric, I took this to my local event Harvest Moon, where a whole bunch of folks sat around the table and we waulked the fabric. For this process the fabric was soaked, then kneaded and thrown on the table, then passed in a circle. With wool fibers, heat plus agitation equals felt. Even though this was soaked in cool water, we still saw a noticeable change in the fabric texture. The color pattern started out as squares and shifted into rectangles. It was amazing to see and feel. Once the fabric was dry, I cut it into 3 strips to make a blanket to sit on at outdoor events, and sit under during these chilly evenings as winter creeps in. 

This was a big project. There are a lot of project diary posts in my blog. 

Optional Additional Links: Facebook Album https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.122217706706102625&type=3

East Kingdom Tiktok video of Waulking: https://www.tiktok.com/@officialeastkingdomsca/video/7550876168363281694?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7575171315519456782

Photo by Brendan Crane