1- Arrowed sashes : the technical description

 Hello,

I would like to write here about a topic I've discovered is particularly polarizing, concerning a technique specific to North America. I grew up with the tradition that the "ceinture fléchée" or arrow sash, as worn by Bonhomme Carnaval, is a traditional and distinctive piece of clothing for Quebecers, or more broadly, French Canadians.

Bonhomme Carnaval in front of the hotel ''Château Frontenac'' of Québec City
Source:Québec pure expérience

My reflection began unexpectedly at Colonial Williamsburg. While visiting the Indigenous interpreters at their American Indian Encampment for the first time, I was surprised to see one of them weaving an arrowhead garter. Intrigued, I asked her if this technique was considered Indigenous, since it's generally considered a Quebecois practice where I grew up. We reached a consensus that the technique originated from the blending of European cultures and the First Nations of North America. But now doubt lingers: has a part of Quebec culture been built upon the cultural appropriation of the arrowhead sash? Or is the blending so profound that it's impossible to pinpoint the origin of the arrowhead to any particular nation?

My quest had begun...

First, a bit of terminology to differentiate between textile techniques. Most of our clothing today is woven on mechanical looms, producing fabrics with perpendicular interlocking threads. The warp threads are always the same, and the weft thread sometimes passes over, sometimes under, the warp threads to create the desired pattern. The "basic" or "classic" weave pattern involves passing one warp thread over and the next under, and so on until the end. In most modern looms, a mechanism with foot pedals automatically raises the warp threads to allow the shuttle to pass through.

Simple weave pattern 
Source: Marques de France

Braiding is another textile technique. It is done without a loom, and each thread invariably crosses another thread, creating a distinctive tangle different from that of loom weaving. All the starting threads are the same length. Here is a demonstration of a 6-strand braid. There are no true warp or weft threads in this type of textile.

Demonstration of a 6 strands braid
Source: Cercle des Fermières de Saint-Gilbert

Braiding techniques are very old.

Illustration of a braided textile found in a prehistoric Mammen burial site.
 From the book Ancient Danish Textiles from Bogs and Burials by Margarethe Hald,
published by the National Museum of Denmark
Available online

Regarding the definition of the next techniques, it seems that two schools of thought exist in Quebec. On one side, there are Yvette Michelin (a finger weaving instructor at the Quebec City Textile Arts Centre) and Monique Genest-Leblanc (an ethnologist) who speak of finger weaving, taking into account the movement during the weaving process of sliding the left thread under and over all the other threads so that it becomes the right thread (or vice versa), as in loom weaving. In this conception of the technique, the threads change roles during the weaving process, each becoming the weft thread in turn and remaining warp threads the rest of the time. In my opinion, this conception is easier to understand when learning the technique.

On the other hand, Ms. Louise Lalonger (textile curator for the Quebec Conservation Centre) and Ms. Dorothy K. Burnham (textile researcher, author, and curator at the Royal Ontario Museum) use the terms "natting" or "braiding" for this same process. From what I understand, they use this term to distinguish it from loom weaving: the angle of the threads and thread crossings is never perpendicular to the selvedge, as it is with the braiding technique. This definition seems more appropriate for identifying an unknown textile.

In reality, this technique falls into a lexical void, a grammatical black hole, which everyone fills as best they can.

In her classification of textile techniques, Noemi Speiser proposes three main categories:

- Single-element techniques: knitting, crochet, naalbiding, and the production of various types of netting.

- Two-element techniques (weft and warp threads): loom weaving and its derivatives

- Multi-element techniques: braiding and plaiting. Ms. Speiser naturally places "finger weaving" in the third category, just as bobbin lace, finger looping, sprang weaving, and Brazilian bracelet knots should, in my opinion, have their own subcategory.

My observation is clear. We lack a term in French and English to name the precursor technique of finger weaving. Since the threads change function between weft and warp threads during the weaving process, calling it finger weaving is a misnomer, according to Ms. Speiser. I find it absurd not to give it its own category, as knitting is distinguished from crochet and naalbinding in the first category. Therefore, for lack of a better term, I will use both terms, braiding and finger weaving, for the rest of my series on finger weaving.

Even though finger weaving, unique to North America, is derived from this technique, finger braiding is a nearly universal textile technique. Calling a herringbone pattern "arrow braid" is also a misnomer, in my opinion. It can be found everywhere: in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas.

First, let's begin with an explanation of these techniques, from the simplest to the most complex.

In its simplest form, finger weaving creates a diagonal line, and the threads alternately serve as weft threads, which run across the fabric, and warp threads, which remain stationary. All the starting threads are the same length. The diagonal bands thus created are sometimes called stripes or half-herringbone. 

Source: Répertoire du patrimoine culturel du Québec

Finger braiding/weaving technique 
Source:  Répertoire du patrimoine culturel du Québec

Garther in half-chevron
Courtesy of Carol James

For more details, you can also watch this vidéo of Carol James on making half-chevron pattern.

By weaving, or braiding, these diagonal strips side by side in opposite directions, they form a V, the finger chevron pattern. It can be worked from the center outwards, in which case the point of the V will be at the bottom of the piece, or from the outside towards the middle, with the point facing upwards. These chevrons are braided all over the world. The oldest known example, cited by Monique Genest Leblanc on page 11 of the book "Une jolie cinture à flesche" (A Pretty Arrow Sashe), published in 2003 by Presses de l'Université Laval, comes from 8th-century Japan.

Finger-woven belt - chevron pattern

Artist: Sue Robishaw
Source: Many tracks art gallery

Finger-woven garter - chevron pattern
Courtesy of Carol James

What's so extraordinary about the technique for making arrow sashes is that a weft thread and a warp thread are exchanged during the weaving/braiding process, thereby creating the pattern repeat that transforms the V of the chevron into an arrowhead. From what I was once told, this is the only textile technique that works this way, and that's why the arrow sash technique is unique. And that's also why people who promote the arrow sash pattern are easily exasperated when loom-woven imitations are sold under the name of authentic "ceintures fléchées" (arrow sash).

Fléché (Arrow technique)

 for a flame pattern

Source: Répertoire du patrimoine culturel du Québec

Fléché (Arrow pattern) made in a single direction of weaving/braiding
Source: Radio-Canada

Ceinture fléchée (Arrow sash) with symmetrical pattern and red center 
traditionally known as the Assumption pattern 
circa 1880
Source: Musée Canadien de l'histoire

I believe the best way to understand the difference is to compare finger braiding/weaving techniques without changing the weft thread during execution with arrow weaving techniques.

Finger weaving
half-chevron
Source: Répertoire du patrimoine culturel du Québec

Fléché technique
flame pattern
Source: Répertoire du patrimoine culturel du Québec

Half-chevron garter
pattern made in a single direction of weaving/braiding
Courtesy of Carol James

Flame-patterned arrow garter
pattern made in a single direction of weaving/braiding
Source: La fille qui flèche sur Etsy

Chevron sash
pattern made in two directions of weaving/braiding
Courtesy of Luc Martin

Arrow sash with a simple arrowhead motif
pattern made in two directions of weaving/braiding
Courtesy of Luc Martin

Double? Triple? chevron sash
Pattern alternating weaving/braiding directions
Source: SashWeaver

Double? Triple? Arrowhead sash
Pattern alternating weaving/braiding directions
Source: Smithsonian

If the adventure of finger braiding/weaving appeals to you, there are several books in English on the subject; I won't promote any in particular. Some women's institutes or arts and crafts centers may also offer in-person classes. As for online courses, Mrs Carol James usually offers them every fall.

Finally, I would like to thank the people who helped me write this first article. First, a big thank you to Ms. Monique Picard for sharing the pages on braiding the arrow sash in Ms. Noémi Speiser's Manual of Braiding. A huge thank you to Ms. Carol James for answering my many emails and for sharing Ms. Noémi Speiser's textile classification and sending the patterns needed to illustrate the points in this article. A special thank you to Mr. Luc Martin for his proofreading as a knowledgeable enthusiast of arrow braiding. Finally, a very special thank you to Michel Thévenin, my partner and historian, who always takes the time to proofread and correct my French for my articles. Thank you all!

See you soon, I hope, for the next installment.

Mlle Canadienne