 Completed another section of the sash. The motif is a set of ten people (women or men? hard to say). As you will see in my previous post, this is a variation on a design seen often enough in sashes of this time period.
It was a bit difficult to photograph, but backlit with my lamp their silhouettes really stand out.
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The sash that George Washington received from his commanding officer, General Edward Braddock, features several motifs. One of them is a set of ten people. I've gotten to the place where I'm creating that motif, starting at the top of the heads and working down. The motif is worked in a lace pattern. The people are "filled in" stitches, set apart by an openwork design. For those familiar with sprang lace stitches, the openwork is what I call "doubles grid". One row is worked "pick up 2, put 2 down" and the next row is worked in all plain stitches. Another sprang expert, Sylva Cekalova, told me about another approach to sprang lace: work the plait row in single stitches all the way across, and then on the overplait row, reach up to un-do the stitches you need to create the holes. In this manner you are more likely to keep the threads properly separated. Here's a video clip of me working to create the faces, using that approach. The motifs on the Washington-Braddock sash are indeed impressive. Against a background of other sashes of the time, they are, however, less remarkable. Back in 2012 I had the honor of meeting Dutch sprang artist Coby Reijndeers-Baas. She spoke to me of her work restoring sprang sashes, and also about an exhibit of such sashes, the exhibit happening in the 1990s. She gave me the catalogue to that exhibit. The catalogue contains photos of some 47 sashes, most dating to the 1700s. When COVID hit, and my calendar was erased, and I found myself sitting at my kitchen table, wondering what I would do to fill my time .... I decided to address a project that wanted time. Seeing as how time was what I now had ... I pulled out the catalogue that Coby had given me. I went through the images, examining each of the sashes closely, counting holes, and making charts, written patterns for each.
 Work on the replica sash continues. I just finished the bit that has the date 1709.
What's the deal? Why that number? The story goes that the sash was given to George Washington by his commanding officer the British General Edward Braddock. Yes, in his youth, Washington served as advisor to Braddock, and it was Braddock who gave Washington this sash. The story continues that the sash probably belonged to General Braddock's father ... also named Edward Braddock, and who also served in the British Army. It seems that Edward Braddock Senior received his military commission in 1709, the date on the sash. The sash was passed from father to son, and from the son to George Washington. My story is that it was 2009 when I came to be interested in the sash. I was looking for images to put in my book Sprang Unsprung. I wanted pieces of sprang that would be of interest to North Americans. Hearing that George Washington had such a sash .... there's a photo in the back of Peter Collingwood's book ... I decided to try to get permission to put such a photo in my book. Come to find out, George Washington had more than one sprang sash. The thing is, when I received the photo from George Washington's Mount Vernon, and saw the date 1709, and reflecting that this was 2009, chills ran up and down my spine. I knew this was something I just had to pursue. More on the subject of this story later.
I am very happy to report that the work is, at last, progressing nicely. For a number of reasons I decided to abandon that first warp, and, having learned several lessons, set up anew. This time I'm using the organzine (21 denier, 10x2 reeled silk) from Habu Silk. I dyed the skeins before combining them into double-strand skeins. Thanks so much, Jessica, for your help with combining the skeins.
The first rows on this warp were far easier, much more smooth to work. Great relief!
I've now worked several inches, and the cloth is settling down. The threads are getting to be of more even length and sitting parallel. The tension in the cloth is evening out.
I do need to be vigilant, detect mistakes BEFORE pushing them around to the mirror image side. I also need to take care that I'm not causing tangles as I nudge the row around to the mirror image position. All this I've done before ... just need to remember ... on every row. I'm no longer feeling that horrible anxiety. The project is now definitely do-able. It's "just" a matter of putting in the time, 20-30 minutes per row. Then check for accuracy, correct any errors. Then push around to the mirror image side and check again for errors. Repeat. Sometimes an hour per row. About 8 rows per inch. If I can manage an inch every day, then I will definitely be done by the end of March. Setting up a circular warp for sprang requires care. Setting up a long warp using fine threads demands extra care. Knowing this, I recruited the assistance of helpers. Local weaving enthusiast Paul Sparling volunteered. So did Sarah J Hull, who flew in from DC. She's interested in my work and wanted to participate, get an inside view ... well ... I expect she got an eyeful.  The experience of the first time through the creation of such a sash told me I'd be wise to have someone watching the cross and counting the threads. The cross absolutely must be 100% correct for the centre of the cloth to be error-free. Paul did this job admirably. Experience has also shown me that tending the umbrella swift, seeing that the threads came off the hank smoothly is another critical job. I've since decided that the stirring of the pot in the dying process tangles the threads slightly. Better to dye the threads first, and then combine into hanks, so that they are less tangled, come off the swift more smoothly. This makes for more consistent tension in the warp.  The next step is to work the initial row. It's important that each stitch is correct. Any error will show up at the very centre of the work. The challenge is compounded by the fine size of the threads, and even more so that I am working with pairs of threads. Each stitch needs to use the correct two pairs of threads.  Slight differences in tension mean slight differences in lengths of threads. This causes horrible tangles when pushing to the mirror-image side. I am stuck in a nightmare. It's like Red Riding Hood facing the wolf. Now, I know how the story goes. I know that the kindly woodsman enters the scene in time. He deals with the wolf, and there is a happy ending. I know from experience that the un-even-ness does work out ... it's just that I'm not there yet. I'm still staring at the open mouth of the wolf. But the interlinking stitch does have amazing forgiveness. And the silk strands are very strong ... will not break (just trusting that knots in between the various skeins hold tight). The un-even-ness will work out  The color of the sash that is in the keeping of George Washington's Mount Vernon is red. But what shade of red? I discussed the situation with curator Amanda Isaac. Dying is not something I consider to be my strong suit. Yes, in the past I've dabbled with plants and flowers, picking the petals, fiddling with mordants. There's just too much to explore there, too many things that affect the color, and I've found it necessary to narrow my focus. I focus on the technique, and short-cut the dye process ... all this to say, I've been using commercial dyes. I've been using Landscapes dyes. They are an eco-friendly dyestuff, using plants rather than chemicals.
She chose "chili" .... so that's the color I'll use.
She also authored a series of four books on the subject of loop manipulated braids. Noémi Speiser created many of the samples in Peter Collingwood's book Techniques of Sprang. I felt I just had to meet her, wanted to sit in the presence of the person with such an amazing mind. To my surprise, she agreed. I met her in the Fall of 2013. We talked about sprang, and she gave me her handwritten notation for a motif she invented. It's a clever structure. I hope I do it justice. I was saddened to read of her death. To honor her, I'd like to share the instructions she gave to me. To this end, I made a short video.
The first step in making the replica sash is ordering the yarn. According to my records, the size of silk I need was called "machine embroidery silk". Yes, it's the gauge of sewing thread. And it needs to be reeled silk, not spun silk. I'm wanting my sash to be able to do the job that historically was its purpose: to transport the wounded off the field of battle. More about that later.
The original sash featured pairs of threads in the warp. The threads were not plied, but rather sit parallel in the sash. This seems to be typical for sprang sashes from eh 1700s. The reason for this, according to Coby Reindeers-Baas had to do with rules set by weaving guilds in Europe at that time. There was strong bias for "spindle spun" thread as warp (as opposed to "spinning wheel spun" thread). I've decided that the first thing I need to do with this silk, is to combine skeins, putting them into skeins of parallel threads.
The next step will be dying the silk. I sent three small samples to the curator. Waiting to hear what she thinks, whether or not any of those reds will be the color they want.
It all started back in 2009. I was looking at a photo of a sash with a date of 1709, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I thought, "That's exactly 300 years ago". Encouraged by the success of my book Fingerweaving Untangled. I was contemplating writing another book. What would be the subject? What textile method was I sufficiently familiar with, that needed an instruction book? The answer was sprang. Something people said they really liked about Fingerweaving Untangled was that it included pieces from museums. What pieces could I include in my book on sprang? Perhaps I could write to museums and get permission to use photos of bonnets from Scandinavian peat bogs or ancient Egypt. But, I thought, my audience would be mostly North America. Are there any examples of North American sprang? Looking through Peter Collingwood's book Techniques of Sprang I found an excellent example in the photos at the back. There is a photo that says it's George Washington's sash. I thought to myself, "That's the piece to entice North Americans". So I wrote to George Washington's Mount Vernon. Certainly they were the ones holding that sash. The photo they sent to me was of a different sash (apparently George Washington owned more than one sprang sash). The sash in the collection at George Washington's Mount Vernon is the one given to him while serving in the British Army in 1855. His commanding officer, Edward Braddock, mortally wounded, passed the sash to Washington, effectively handing over command of the troops. The photo they sent featured interesting lace patterns, probably do-able, I figured, with sprang, but the photo did not show the mirror-image aspect that always happens with sprang. Thus began some back-and-forth correspondence asking them to verify that it is indeed a sprang sash.
I had met up with the sprang technique in the 1990s. Fascinated, I needed to learn more. Local yarn stores taught classes in knitting and crochet. The local hand weavers guild offered instruction in loom weaving. No where could I find a class on the subject of sprang. I decided that I would need to create the opportunity to travel and that my teachers would be examples of sprang in collections. The Braddock-Washington sash was one such teacher, and I learned a great deal from that sash.
The people at George Washington's Mount Vernon tell me that the replica sash has created much interest. One aspect was the test of the story that the mortally wounded General Braddock was carried off the field on the sash. People have asked whether or not this could have really happened. My replica has allowed this theory to be tested ... and yes, the silk fibers are strong enough.  All this comes up for me because of a series of events last Summer. The eventual outcome is that I am now committed to making another copy of that sash for George Washington's Mount Vernon. They will be unveiling a new display on July 4, 2026. That display will include my replica sash, and, having a replica on display, it's their policy that they need a second replica. Hence this, my latest project.
Figuring people like you, out there in the world of the internet, might be interested in the process of making such a sash, I am hereby committing myself to try to remember to blog about the process. Yeah, if you look, you'll see I've not been very faithful to this blog over recent years. But I promise to give it a try, to try to remember to update this blog over the course of the next few months, keeping you informed of the progress of this project: replicating (again) the Washington-Braddock sash. |
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