Passementerie

Like many of my life enhancing experiences, my start with 'Passementerie' was quiet and unassuming.  It began with making simple 'Kumihmo' cords after a friendly chat at a memorable Woolfest event with ladies from The Braid Society.  It was a sweltering June day and small movements with my hands felt very soothing and pleasurable.  My purchase of a simple foam braiding disk that day kept my fingers happily occupied for a week, and it soon resulted in a beautiful wood marudai - how I love the sound of the wooden 'tama' bobbins gently knocking against each other while weaving.  This form of braiding has its roots and a long history in Japanese culture, and it felt very fitting to make accessorising bags and pouches for my equipment in much loved vintage kimono fabrics.

The word 'Passementerie' to a while longer to come onto my radar.  Originating from the French word 'passement', it started as a collective term to describe decorative trims and buttons for lavish 16th century clothing and furnishings.  With apprenticeships that lasted 7 years, the skills involved were considerable.  The modern day interpretation now includes all manner of decorative braids, cords, trims, buttons and embellishments from a variety of cultures.  

Many of these crafts have quietly called me and next up to learn was 'lucetting'.  

What a wonder it was that I could make strong and beautiful cords with such a simple wooden weaving fork.  Like so many passenmenterie crafts, lucetting is very portable, although you need to be reasonably static to include beads!  It is said to originate back to the Viking era and it had a resurgence in the 17th century when clothing pre buttons was often tightly laced.

Wooden tools have greatly added to passementerie  appeal, although my next aquisition took a bit more energy to master. At first glance an inkle loom looks pretty complicated and looking at warping up through heddles, I wondered what I had gotten into!

Thankfully an instruction session with Somerset inkle weaver Sophie Fovergue got me on track, and learning how to use the loom was actually very achievable, I have happily gone to weave a number of different designs, generally in cotton thread for stability.  Using 4ply and double knit cotton yarn oddments has made it a very affordable craft, with the resulting bands growing surprisingly quickly.

All the same, I was glad that my next passementeie experience required only my precious hands - finger loop braiding.

A much appreciated online session by The Braid Society started me off, beginning with off-cuts of cotton yarn and two fingers.  Surprisingly within a few days I was using all 10 fingers and my feet!  It was a pleasure to work this technique with lots of different types of yarns and I was very pleased with the pretty effects that could be achieved, albeit that the length of the cord is limited by arm length!As I similarly was the case with another online session with The Braid Society making Yorkshire Buttons.

These simple woven buttons opened a huge new passementerie door, and they have given me and many others hours of pleasure.  Requiring only a simple cardboard template and any kind of smooth yarn, they are such a delight to make a teach.  They can be 'filled' with wool or a button, making them a brilliant way to use up old buttons from bulging family button boxes!  The buttons here are woven in a mix of wool and perle yarns - variegated make for pleasing colours that organically emerge.  I will be ever grateful to Gillian Dye for teaching me this techique and I later posted my own instructions on this site.  I have been amazed that they have been viewed by thousands, who I hope have also equally enjoyed.

I have gone on to weave many different button designs and here are a few of my Dorset, Shirtlace and Death's Head button creations.  Each design has a fair bit of history, and pre the industrial revolution, their making would have provided megre incomes for those with good eyesight!  Traditionally woven with linen, wool yarn, silk fashioned around metal, wood or horn rings and forms, my examples here are made in a mixture of perle cotton, wool and silk, and they are stored in a wooden box - of course!

I finally added tassel making to my passementerie repertoire after a visit to Rome with my late husband.  I was wowed to find a shop making 'Passart' tassels for the Vatican, and I was instantly hooked!  I had made simple tassels for many years, however surely 'skirted' tassels were going to be a big step up?!  Thankfully like all crafts, quality instruction came to the rescue and passementerie maker Anna Crutchley provided a brilliant introduction.  Understanding materials and how to use all became clear with Anna's excellent guidance.  

Tassel heads, called 'moulds', are traditionally made with wood and they was be wrapped with thread or painted.  A tassel 'skirt' made with multiple strands of cotton is wired at the top on a board and then wrapped around a cord.  It can also be fashioned in other ways to create other decorative items like 'rosettes', mixed and matched with other passementerie items.   I was also pleased to purchase Anna's 'cord twister' which makes the most beautiful cords from standard sewing thread - suddenly those old Sylco sewing threads have a massive appeal!

I am feeling very happy to be continuing with passementerie this year, and sharing my knowledge and skills with others.  I am particularly looking forward to taking part in a Heritage Craft Escape at the Yarn Market Hotel in the Somerset medieval village of Dunster.  More information about this to follow.