Page 68 - Des Pawson "Des Pawson's Knot Craft" 2 edit.

KNOTCRAFT 2009:Layout 1 23/10/09 12:17 Page 67

Belts

BELT CAN BE AS simple as a piece of rope or rope yarn tied
A round the waist to hold up your trousers or keep your oil-
skin jacket closed. The late Charlie Brinkley, fisherman and fer-
ryman from Felixstowe Ferry on the Suffolk coast, called such a
belt a ‘Board of Trade belt’, a reflection on the probable source
of the material. A casual arrangement like this can be improved
upon by making up a piece of sennit. I have a dressing gown
belt, made during the 2nd World War, that is cotton string
made up as 8 strand square sennit (page 25) with the ends fin-
ished as tassels and dyed, perhaps, in permanent blue ink.
A far more advanced belt can be made using Portuguese
sennit, or square knotting, one of the main ingredients for all
macramé. Belts like this were a favourite item for sailors to
make; fine fancy ones in colour for a girl at home, white ones to
be traded with an officer for a favour, or just for their own use.
I will give you the essentials of a plain and simple belt, how to
start and finish, with plain square knotting in between. For
further decoration use colour, or variations of knots that can be
found in The Ashley Book of Knots or macramé books.

67