This post is probably going to be updated frequently as I am using it as a record of my ongoing work and research into this style of weaving. I first came across them when I was asked to weave the towel for my friend Maris’s elevation to the Order of the Laurel. I was a pretty novice weaver back then, but I managed to turn in a creditable towel.

Recently I was asked to weave another elevation towel.

I’m a little more experienced now, but it was still a challenging weave and I wasn’t 100% happy with the results, so now that I can work on it without a time crunch, I am working on a sampler to try out different techniques.

These towels were popular from probably as early as the 1300s when they began to be created in northern Italy. There is speculation that they were copies of imported Egyptian works. In any case, production was centered in Umbria, primarily in Perugia and continued through to at least the 18th century.