Page 74 - J. C. Turner "History and Science of Knots"

62 History and Science of Knots

The sewing was sometimes done with zS2 string, made of palm leaf. Most
often, however, unspun strands of dom palm leaf of 2 mm wide were used for
sewing. Nine meters of plaited strip were sewn with only 500 mm long strands.
The short sewing strands were connected with overhand knots, generally in
Z-orientation. The use of string to sew the strips seems to have been an
Egyptian tradition, while the use of unspun strands seems to have African
origins. In Qasr Ibrim, which is located in the influence sphere of both North
and South, Egypt and Nubia, both techniques occurred. The plaits used for
making basketry all have in common that their edges are S and Z orientated
(Wendrich 1991: 60-64). Of the five plaits shown in Fig. 28, three are suitable
for making basketry. The first plait in Fig. 28 is made with four strands, which
results in two S-orientated edges. The plaits with five and seven strands can
be linked in such a way that the plait pattern gives the appearance that there
is one continuing fabric (cf. Figs. 26 and 27), but the four strand plait cannot
be linked in that manner. This implies that plaits in a \1/1\\1 pattern can
only be used for making basketry, if they have been made with an odd number
of strands. A seven strand plait in a \1/1\\1 pattern is suitable, but a seven
strand plait in a \2/2\\1 pattern, is not. For a \2/2\\1 pattern only plaits
made with 9, 13, 17 or 21 strands can be sewn into a seemingly ongoing fabric.
The edges of 7-, 11-, 15- and 19-strand plaits have a wrong orientation.

Fig. 28. Plaits with 4, 5 and 7 strands in a \1/\\1 pattern; plaits with 7 and
9 strands in a \2/2\\1 pattern (not to scale). Because of the orientation of
the edges , the four-strand plait in \1/1 \\ 1 pattern and the seven-strand plait in
\2/2\\1 pattern cannot be sewn into a basket or mat