I have finished my twined bag. Yes, I was obsessed with making it and spent three days working on it. (Should I have been doing other things? Oh yes, but this was fun.)

I experimented with the weave as I progressed, not only doing stripes, but changing twist direction and number of twists between warp threads to control which color was on top, using this project as sampler.

To make the strap, I threaded long strands of jute through the top edge of the bag, then used more hand-spun wool to cover the jute, reversing twine direction on each row, so as not to introduce bias twist in the final strap.

I felt the other end of the strap needed some adornment, so I cut a slice of antler and drilled two holes to make a decorative button. It is sewn on, not functional, but I think it came out nice and coordinates well with the natural jute.

I finished the bottom end of the bag and the end of the strap with tassels lashed with wool.

I absolutely love this weaving technique. Want to learn more about twining a bag? There is an excellent book called “Twined Bags: A Historic finger weaving craft of the Native Americans” available from Livingston Press, written by Monica Newman Moore.