Sewing Tiny Accessories Part 2

Follow along as Shari demonstrates how to create a Medieval Braided Cord with her finger loop braiding tutorial! The great thing is that this technique can be used in a variety of projects from lacing dresses, to corsets, to shoes! Shari is presenting this tied into her Medieval dress pictured below, but you can also use this with several of the free SWC bonus patterns: A Piece of History, The Mindil Beach Dress, and the Retro Sneakers. You could probably use the cording to trim out the sailor collar on the 1930's Playsuit as well! With that said, we hope you'll follow along and create a custom cord for your next project!

Ok, Shari.... Take it away!

One of the things I enjoy about historical sewing is learning new skills - even simple things.  One of those things that came up while working on my Medieval series was cording.  I was having difficulty sourcing a suitable cord for lacing up my 14th Century Cotehardie.  Ribbon or twill tape generally works fine for this sort of thing, but the front lacing on one of my cotehardies was one of the main features and I wanted something that looked more authentic and was properly scaled for my doll-size designs.  I had read about finger loop braiding a while back and with this project, I finally have a good opportunity to try it out.  

During the Medieval period, cording was used to fasten hose and shoes, lace sections of clothing together, and secure wax seals on parchments.  It was  also used for purse drawstrings and on garments to make decorative frogged dress fronts and other fancy trim work.  The use of cording reached a high point in Medieval Europe and England between 1200 and 1600 AD as more form fitted laced clothing became increasingly popular.  

It wasn't until the industrial revolution in the 19^th century that cording and other types of trims became readily available for purchase.  Until then, these items were generally handcrafted at home or by a local artisan.  Finger loop braiding was an easy method to make cording and required no special tools.  Because of this, children in orphanages were often taught how to make it as a way to earn money.  

Today, we tend to purchase all our cords and trims ready-made.  The downside to this is that we are limited by what is available – which became a problem when I needed very specific sizes and colors of cording for the cotehardies and shoes I was making.  Learning these types of skills becomes exciting because you have fewer creative limitations – now the color palette for my doll-size cording is as broad as the thread selection available to me.  

To make finger loop braided cording, all you need is 10 working fingers, a supply of string, and a quiet place to work.  A small delicate cording, just right for doll-size projects, can be made with strings as fine as all-purpose thread which are available in a wide array of colors.  There are many variations of finger loop braiding that can create some very pretty little trims.  I would love to learn how to make some of them as well, but for this tutorial, I'll start with a simple five-loop cord since it is the easiest form of finger weaving to learn.  

~ Shari

 

 

 

 

Thanks Shari! My mind is spinning with ways to use this technique to create custom laces for a variety of projects!

There are a variety of pattern designs that include lacing, from historical to modern. I've used this design detail in a few Outback Libby designs like Boomerit Falls Jacket (on the cuffs) and the Mindil Beach Dress (laces up the back).

You can create some beautiful cording to use with the Thimbles and Acorns A Piece of History Dress too!

 

Using this technique to create lacing for shoes is another fun idea!

• Make two-tone laces for the Retro Sneakers
• Create stretch laces with elastic thread and use them in the Pixie Sweets

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