Nomadic tent, girth & other bands

Tent bands hold the outer coverings of the tent in place or may be used internally partly as decoration and to hang things from. They’re often associated with the wooden frame tents or yurts of central Asian, Turcoman nomadic tradition.

Other bands are used to anchor loads to camels and horses and may be referred to as girth bands.

Band weaving or braiding techniques were discovered in 2000-year-old Peruvian tombs. Its fair to assume similar items were made elsewhere. The types of band weavings include:

• Flat weave; we have many of these on display.
• Pile woven bands which are quite rare.
• Combinations of the two. These are more common in bands that are part of trappings, such a chest bands, camel nets and Head-dresses (see separate blog on Trappings)

Techniques are mostly variations on warp-faced weaving. Some bands have the pattern in reverse or ‘negative’ on the back. The pattern may change many times along the length of the band and becomes almost musical in its variations.