Page 593 - The Ashley Book of Knots

THE ASHLEY BOOK OF KNOTS

I have read frequent references to knotted dra'U,;'1Zwork fringes made

by sailors on canvas sea chest covers. But all the drawn work covers

that I have ever seen have had seized fringes. The only knotted chest

fringes that I have encountered were made of fishline that was sewed

through the hem of the cover. The "D.M.C. Library" has published

a booklet entitled Knotted Fringes containing twenty pages of illus-

tration. Drawnwork is exhaustively treated in various books on

J76& needlework (see the Bibliography).

3768. A fish scale fringe may be tied in cord, using the BARREL

KNOT (11141 3) in rather coarse fishline. At the edge it is raveled and

then OVERHAND KNOTS added to form a short tassel. Tassels for this

series are found on pages 566, 567, and 568.

3769. A BARREL KNOT fringe.

3770. A dittmond-pattern fringe of half knotted cord with raveled

ends.

3771. The MARLING KNOT is tied with one end around the other;

always the same end is employed.

3772. A similar seized dra'W11work fringe on a sea chest cover. This

is shown in one of the end paper photographs.

3"7 2

3773. The X seizing is of very heavy linen thread with an equal

31" 3113 number of horizontal and vertical turns. The ends are reef knotted

3774 at the back. A sailor always waxes his sewing thread, even when he

mends his trousers.

3774. A FOURFOLD OVERHAND KNOT fringe with turnip-shaped

meshes. Tie the vertical knots with the left diagonal cords and the

horizontal knots with the right diagonal cords, the knots being

identical.

3775. The arrow represents the cord around which the knot is

tied with the other end.

3776. A line tub (whale line) cover of light linen canvas. The

cross threads having been withdrawn from two sections of canvas,

the threads are grouped in half-inch sections four inches wide with

a two-inch section of undisturbed canvas left between them. This

is in the New Bedford Whaling Museum.

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3777. The seizing is an X but with twice the number of horizontal

turns that there are vertical turns. To make: The first half-inch sec-

tion of warps is seized at the center to the fourth section. The cen-

ters of the even-numbered sections are brought to the left over all

while the centers of the odd-numbered sections are brought to the

right under all.

Line tub covers and chest covers are always painted over. The

former are subjected to the weather. The latter are subjected to much
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