Tablet weaving is one of the oldest European textile techniques, dating back to the early Iron Age. It was mainly used for making narrow fabrics for girdles, leg bindings, borders, and decorative braids. 
The tablets are small flat squares, usually of bone or wood, with a hole in each corner through which a warp thread is passed. The tablets are held in the hand like a pack of cards, parallel to the warp, and turned back or forward by half or quarter turns. This action twists the four warp threads (controlled by each tablet) into a cord that can be locked into position by a weft thread inserted between the turns. By varying the colors of the warp yarn and the direction of the turn of the tablets, intricate warp patterns can be created.
Tablet weaving could be further enhanced by brocading, which was achieved by using a second weft thread, which ran over some of the warp threads, creating a pattern on the surface of the thread. Brocaded tablet-weaves were usually of silk, using gold or silver thread for the brocaded pattern. This type of braid was a very high status item, and was usually used to decorate expensive garments.
Tablet weaving was a very skilled craft. The bands, as they are known in most countries, were often woven with the finest of wools - sometimes referred to as cobweb fine. The result was a very fine piece of work, with woven bands less than 1/2” wide common and demonstrating fantastic detail.
Other original examples have woven names or messages in the work or rows of animals. The number of patterns possible is almost limitless, with certain patterns probably typical of particular localities. Tablet weaving was one of the few occasions that almost anyone could afford at least some expensively dyed threads that could be included in the work, in an effort to dress up plainer clothing.
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