led : An Illustrated Beginner's Guide Including Detailed Patterns and Common Mistakes

by Carol James

This publication is a welcome addition to the literature on the ancient craft of fingerweavning. Carol James, an accomplished Winnipeg weaver and teacher, has dedicated over 20 years to the art. Her knowledge and sash reproductions are based on the detailed study of historical artifacts and are housed in various heritage institutions such as the Manitoba Museum and the Musee de Saint-Boniface

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Holland · Rating 5 out of 5]

There aren't a lot of copies of this book available. I had to get it through interlibrary loan because there wasn't a copy within 100 miles of me. I'd read everything else on the subject of fingerweaving that I could get my hands on, starting with Alta Turner's Finger Weaving: Indian Braiding, and including Gerald Findlay's Fingerweaving Basics, as well as digging through earlier books by Mary Meigs Atwater like Byways in Handweaving (1954) and The Shuttle-Craft Book of American Handweaving (1951, not 1928). All of them explained how to do fingerweaving to some extent, but none of them helped me figure out the problems I was having.

It's the common mistakes part of James's book that makes it extra valuable. Page 34 on End of Row Troubles covers the problem I kept running into: my outer edge threads would get out of place and I couldn't figure out how to get them back in the right order.

Another problem I frequently have is tension irregularity resulting in checkerboarding, where the weft shows through between the warp threads. James has a section on getting your tension right. That's the sort of thing that improves with practice.

I enjoyed all the photos of fingerweavings hanging in museums despite having errors. Like she says, not all sashes are perfect.

Once you know what you're doing the graph patterns at the back of the book are an excellent reminder of what to do without having to keep reading through the pattern.

64 pages, full color photographs throughout. Copyright 2011.

[Karen Hartley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book for anyone that wants to start fingerweaving. If you go page by page, one lesson at a time, you will gradually work up to being able to fingerweave something beautiful. I also got the video based on the book, which I found very helpful. It was easier once I saw how she was doing it. Moving pictures are better than the still shots at understanding where all the strings go. This is not an easy craft but it is portable and you can make beautiful straps, belts, and sashes.