By Laura Demuth

Any time I have the opportunity to view traditional textiles, I am amazed at the care, skill and creativity evident in everyday household items. Even the simplest items were often invested with added beauty and design.  Norwegian coverlets offer an especially rich example of both the weaver’s skill and creativity.  At a time when homes were heated from a central fire causing the walls to be covered with soot, displaying a textile on the wall was an unlikely option. Given the prolonged Norwegian winters, the bed coverlet was a necessary textile. It also afforded the weaver a large space to fill with colors, design, borders and possibly even a name and date.

Covering only the top of the bed, the traditional Norwegian coverlet was far smaller than the modern bedspread in that it did not drape down the sides or bottom of the bed. Also, traditional beds were much smaller than modern beds. The average size of a coverlet was four by five feet. If the weaving needed to be wider than the available loom, the coverlet was woven in sections and stitched together after it was removed from the loom.  Coverlets were commonly woven on a linen warp with a wool weft, but occasionally the warp was made with a tightly spun twp-ply wool yarn.  The wool could be dyed with natural plant materials such as birch leaves, club moss, northern bedstraw, woad or a variety of lichens. 

 

Rutevev, or square-weave, is a technique often found in traditional Norwegian coverlets. In Sweden, this technique is known as rolakan. The earliest examples of square-weave covelets in Norway date from the seventeenth century, but the tradition is likely far older. Examples of the technique can be found in Sweden dating from the eighth and ninth centuries. The coverlet design often included borders at the top and bottom of the piece; the borders did not necessarily match. Rows of larger motifs often filled the center of the coverlet, divided from one another by small border designs. Some border designs involved tapestry techniques (discontinuous wefts) while in others a single weft moved continuously from selvage to selvage. The designs were created using four to five colors, often red, black, white and gold. Blue and or green yarn could be added in place of the black. In addition to coverlets, the rutevev technique was used for carriage robes, bench covers, pillows and rugs. (1) 

Like tapestry, rutevev is weft-faced and involves discontinuous wefts, meaning that several wefts are needed to cover the width of the warp. Unlike tapestry in which the weaver may choose to build up one color area at a time, the pattern in rutevev is built up one row after another and woven across the entire width of the textile. Typically, adjacent blocks are joined or interlocked as the weft travels across the warp in one direction only, resulting in a reversible textile. For items such as rugs that require a very durable structure, the weft yarns can be interlocked as they move across the warp in both directions. This double interlocking technique results in a ridge forming between the blocks and produces a textile that is not reversible. 

While a variety of design patterns can be found in traditional Norwegian coverlets, several motifs appear with great regularity: the eight-petaled rose, the cross, diamond, knot, lily and heart. In her excellent book “The Woven Coverlets of Norway,” Katherine Larson notes that all of these motifs stem from the Middle Ages, and can be found in the folk arts from Europe to the Middle East. (2)

 A favorite throughout Scandinavia, the eight-petaled rose is a symbol of renewal.  On coverlets, it  was often placed within the center of an octagon and arranged in rows or columns.

Usually another motif such as a diamond or a cross was placed in the center of the rose. 

Pairs of petals were sometimes joined into four, or the eight petals could be woven in alternating colors. Also,the points of the petals could be smoothed into a rosette. 

The eight-petaled rose motif can also be found in other areas of the folk art tradition including wood carving, as pictured here. 

The cross motif is widely found in many cultures and predates the advent of Christianity in Norway. Understood to be a protective symbol, the cross was often woven into pick-up bands used to swaddle infants. On rutevev coverlets, the cross could be the central motif of a coverlet, or it could be placed around or within other motifs. The motif could be expanded by adding a cross bar to each of the arms of a central cross, Additionally, the four arms of the cross could end with a diamond motif. 

The knot motif has been part of the Norwegian textile tradition since the time of the Vikings. Katherine Larson notes that “it is likely that the motif, referred to as valknute in Norwegian, was associated with the powerful Norse god, Odin, or Valfader (father of the battle-slain), who presided over the mythical Valhalla and the Valkyrie. Folk belief held that magical properties inherent in the intricate knotwork designs would provide protection from evil powers”(3)

The knot motif consists of a varying number of hollow squares that intersect on the corners. 

The lily motif is commonly associated with the Virgin Mary. It has been found in Norwegian folk art since the Middle Ages, although it may have been used earlier. On coverlets, it is often found centered in a diamond border. 

Diamonds could be used as the central motif in a coverlet, or they could be used to frame other motifs. Woodcarvers also used the diamond motif in their work.

In addition to rutevev, the double-weave technique also lent itself to clear, central motifs on coverlets. Katherine Larson suggests that the double-weave technique “probably spread from China, where a type of double-weave was known as early as 200 B.C., to India and Persia and thence into the Mediterranean countries and Russia. Following the trade routes up the rivers of Russia and Eastern Europe, the double-weave technique probably arrived in Scandinavia by at least the eleventh or twelfth century if not earlier” (4). The heart motif often appears on double-woven coverlets as two opposing hearts that meet at their tips. Portions of the eight-petaled rose can often be found framed by the opposing hearts, as seen in this example. 

Hearts were often included in other folk art traditions as seen in the example of woodcarving.

Once you have become familiar with the various motifs typically found in Norwegian coverlets,  it is possible to have a greater appreciation for the color, design and creativity found in these textiles. The language of the motifs communicates the intention of the weaver to offer protection, well-wishing and renewal to all who one day may rest warmly under the coverlet. 

1. Stewart, Janice S. The Folk Arts of Norway. Dover Publications, 1972
2. Larson, Katherine. The Woven Coverlets of Norway. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2001. 
3.  Ibid
4.  Ibid.

Laura Demuth lives on an acreage with a small flock of sheep, a llama and a dye garden. Because her home is only eight miles from Vesterheim, the museum has proven to be a continuous source of inspiration. Rutevev has lately become one of Laura’s favorite weaving techniques.