What's Another Name for That?

A friend came to visit this past week.

She asked for help figuring out how to weave çaprast (pronounced chah-prahst) for a Turkish kaftan she is making to wear in the SCA.

Çaprast are the woven front stripes with buttons and loops

After all, two heads are usually better than one when doing research and learning a new skill.

We already knew the çaprast were often made with fingerloop weaving. And I needed a refresher video since I don't fingerloop every day. So that's where we started.

Setting up for a seven loop braid

There are so many videos online for learning how to weave flat fingerloop braids. We skimmed through several to find one with directions we could easily follow.

We then experimented with weaving with our index fingers and our pinky fingers.

We laughed at our mistakes and calculated how long to cut the strings to get a four-inch finished braid. Eighteen inches made a single loop, and after braiding made a four-inch band.

We did pretty well making the braid. Then we set our sights on learning how to incorporate a buttonloop on the end rather than just a knot.

Weaving a flat braid

Looking through various websites for fingerloop braiding did not garner the results we had hoped. The elusive buttonloop proved difficult to find.

Throughout the process, we kept asking each other, "What is another name for that?" as we searched the internet for instruction.

Finally we found what we were looking for on sites for friendship bracelets.

I mean, who knew? (Probably smarter people than us. Grin)

This is the site we looked through the most.

Nonetheless, we managed to make examples of the buttonloop. Then also put a button on the other side.

(Well, in this case, we put bells on the ends so the cats could play with our examples.)

Our examples

Overall we were pleased with the results and will practice a wee bit more before putting our braids on kaftans.

We talked about the skill of fingerloop braiding. How once only skilled craftsfolk made braids for mighty sultans and now it's relegated to friendship bracelets.

We thought about how some skills never really get lost, they just transition into different uses and different requirements depending on the times.

A good thing to know when researching.

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