Plain weave fabric for a Hedeby wood handled bag

A photo Journal of weaving fabric for a Viking hand bag on a warp weighted loom. Below is the finished bag after attaching the handles and adding the leather braided shoulder strap.

 

Creating the fabric for the bag start with tablet weaving the starter band. The weft of the band becomes the warp for the loom. By looping the thread around the last peg, and bundling the threads on either side before cutting in the middle, the warp splits naturally into the front and back warp.

 

The tablet woven starter band.

 

Attaching the header band to the cloth beam.

Knitting the heddles.

Weaving in progress. The loose loops in the weft before changing the shed and beating the weft are required to maintain an even weave of constant width.

Getting somewhere...

Et voilà: my very first weave from a warp-weighted loom. The top part becomes the front, bottom back of the bag. The two narrow parts at the bottom become the sides.

The assembled bag. A linen liner (store bought) was added to protect the wool fabric during use and to strengthen the bag.