My tablet-woven reproduction of the 2-strand warp-twined band from Sumatra

Peter Collingwood analyzed the photo of the original band on my website, and determined how to weave this structure with tablets. He sent me a small sample that he wove, along with some drawings and the beginning of a graph. I graphed the entire band and then wove this reproduction. This photo shows slightly more than half of the band. The size of the weaving is 2" x 21" plus fringe.

My band is quite a bit smaller and tighter than the original, partly because the yarn I used is smaller, but also because I purposely beat it fairly hard to make the motifs more distinct. I used 5/2 perle cotton for warp, and the same for weft, doubled. There are 35 tablets in the pattern area, and 10 border tablets on each side. Each tablet has two threads, in opposite corner holes. The band is double-faced -- the design is exactly the same on the back with the values reversed. All motifs are symmetrical, and all tablets are turned continuously in one direction until the center of a motif, and then the turning is reversed until the center of the next motif.

For each row of the pattern graph, tablets are turned twice (180 degrees) to change the color, or are left as they are without turning to keep the color the same. However, to keep the color the same and avoid long floats, there are times when tablets need to be turned four times (360 degrees). This is indicated on the graph with an "x" in the square. In this location, a dot of the opposite value shows in the weaving.