The Heynes Vararfeldr
This warm moorit-hued vararfeldr is based on fragments of woollen pile-woven cloth found beside the old farmstead at Heynes, near Akranes in south-west Iceland. The pieces are thought to date to between AD 900 and 1100. They are surprisingly the only known examples of pile-woven fabric from medieval Iceland, preserving the much-recorded but scarcely evidenced textile tradition of the Gragas laws and saga literature.
Two fragments had been sewn together with a rough seam, suggesting that they originally came from two separate cloaks, and may have been cut up and reused in a new garment before finally being discarded.
My recreation was woven in 2/2 twill, from long moorit (brown) tufts of Icelandic fleece, which is a close analogue to the ancient Icelandic fleece that would have been used in the original cloak. These tufts are broken into fragments to make sure they’re not thicker than the weft yarn, then knotted densely into the weave, resulting in a very deep and beautiful pile.
The cloak is included in my Vararfeldr exhibition, which is currently touring across the UK and Europe.
