Bulgarica

This draft is a reproduction of a piece of Bulgarian national dress. It is a variation on a school of designs generally called Kivrim that has been assigned to the Anatolian region of Turkey. Tablet weaving is an important part of folk costume in Bulgaria, providing many an intricately patterned belt or piece of trim. Bulgarica also happens to be the name of a genus of land snails, which I thought fitted the spiral nature of the motif rather nicely. I've included a picture/link to the original Bulgarian band on Facebook that inspired this one below. If you know anything more about its context, please do get in touch! Bulgarian tablet weaving is a rich tradition that I would love to know more about.

I wove the sample band, at the request of a friend, in King Cole Merino-Blend 4ply in the colours black, white, grass and red (instead of the original pink) with black as the weft. Unlike many of the drafts you'll find on my blog, this design (picks 1-8) is not twist-neutral, so I've included a reversed version from picks 9-16 to if you want to weave out a build-up of twist.

Link to text version

Link to TDD file

As with all of the free drafts/patterns on this site, you are welcome to weave them, sell bands woven using them, and use them to teach other weavers, just as long as you state where you found them.