Daisy Hill Weaving Studio

Ben, the Red Bear

2012-01-07T17:50:00.000-05:00

Today, my daughter Becky sent me five pictures of a story our grandson Bobby wrote. It's about his bear that he got for Christmas.

Bobby had to write the story for school, so Ben got to go to school with him. I thought it was pretty cute.

Rosie is Adopted

2012-01-02T15:19:00.000-05:00

Rosie, the last of the Griswold bears, finally got to go to her new home with 4 1/2 month old Elisabeth, the day after Christmas. I didn't have any photos to post until today. Edwin said that Rosie gave her lots of bear kisses when they first met, so I think she was pretty happy to have a new home with someone that will love her.

I think I mentioned in a previous post why I stitched a nose onto Rosie. Elisabeth did exactly what I thought she would do--put Rosie's nose in her mouth! Baby kisses are so sweet.

Here they both are getting acquainted with each other.

Elisabeth is still thinking that Rosie's nose looks pretty tasty!

I am happy that Rosie finally has a little girl to love her and have adventures with, as she grows older.

The Griswold Bears Get Adopted

2011-12-26T22:07:00.000-05:00

The Bellairs family had their Christmas get-together on Christmas Eve day. Everyone gathered for fun, food, fellowship, and of course, what I have been anticipating: the Griswold bears adoptions. The bears were left under the tree, still tangled in garland, and then covered with a sheet. We had shoe boxes wrapped for each grandchild with a couple other gifts and a card, introducing each one to their bear. I uncovered them, and they were able to find their bear according to the description they were given, and then find the ornament each bear hung on the tree. The grandchildren were all told that they needed to name their bear before taking it home with them, so I could get adoption certificates made in the next few days.

Five bears went to the Michelsen family.

Ian is our oldest grandson at age 19, and thankfully, was very happy getting a Viking bear. T10's name was changed to Björn Griswöld.

Amber, age 15, named her bear Samwell. He is perfect for Amber, because he is a little bookworm, just like she is. His favorite place is curled up under the covers in bed with a book. He was even caught a few times with a flashlight, reading after lights out.

Emily, age 12, received the prototype bear, T1. She is the granddaughter that helped with the Teddy bears picnic and pumpkin carving. She fell in love with her that day, but I couldn't tell her then, that she was going to be her bear. She named her bear Cheeka Bear.

Davey, age 9, named his bear Othar. I think it is another Viking type name. That's good, because they both look up to their brothers.

Bobby, age 6, got the pretty red bear. He named him Benjamin, but is just going to call him Ben. Ben is going to look a lot like Bobby soon, because he has a loose tooth. I bet he will lose it in a few days.

The next four bears went home to the Bellairs/Schlegel family.

Trisha, age 14, was glad her bear was made out of her first choice fabric. Her new name is Sugar. She is very soft, because her white yarn is a blend of wool and angora. When I first showed the girls the fabric and told them to tell me a first and second choice, she couldn't pick a second choice, because she wanted her first choice so badly.

Payton, age 12, got the orange angora bear, dyed to her specifications. She had a hard time choosing a name for her, but finally decided on Truffel Bear. Truffel is wearing a rayon chenille scarf I also gave to Payton.

Hailee, age 11, hates to smile for photos. She was so happy with her bear, that she put on her most beautiful smile. She named her bear Sweetheart, and she really is. They both are.

Morgan, age 9, didn't think I gave her the right bear, but after holding her a few minutes, they fell in love. Her bears name is Hunysuckel. Morgan wanted an unconventional spelling for her bears name. Hunysuckel is a fuzzy mohair, so Morgan will have fun brushing her fur.

On Christmas morning, I got a text message and photo of our grandson Landen just after he opened his bear. Landen wasn't able to come to our house because he was with his dad at another family gathering.

I think he looks pretty happy with his new bear. He called me on the phone a little later to thank us and to tell us he named his bear Sweety.

Sweety is a boy bear, and loves to golf. He made a few practice shots at our house with his golf set that he got for Christmas.

Some of the bears went upstairs after presents to watch the Teddy Bears Picnic DVD that we gave each family.

Our daughter Rachel, from out in Washington state, was unable to join us for Christmas, so we included her and her boyfriend Nick and her bear, Nilla,on Skype. Nilla was very excited to meet all of the baby bears. Here is a screen shot of Nilla taking a look at the sewing machine we gave Rachel.

As evening arrived, the families started to pack up to head for their own homes. Two of them had close to four hour drives. We gathered everyone for one last picture of the grandkids and bears.


Front row: Emily and Cheeka, Morgan and Hunysuckel, Bobby and Ben, Hailee and Sweetheart, Davey and Othar. Back row: Payton and Truffel, Trisha and Sugar, Amber and Samwell, Ian and Björn, and our daughter Carolyn holding Sweety.

The sad part of the day was saying good-bye. One bear didn't get to be adopted yet and she was very sad.

Here she is with Great-grandpa bear at the window waving bye-bye to the first family to leave.

Thank goodness for grandpas. They are very good at comforting a sad bear. We are hoping she will be able to go to her new home with our granddaughter Elisabeth very soon.

Today, after some discussion, we decided that T11 shouldn't wait till she gets to her new home to get a real name. Because she is pink, our daughter Carolyn, our son Edwin (Elisabeth's daddy), and I decided she should be called Rosie. She is very lonely, so I found Dolly bear for her to play with. Great-grandma bear is holding her so she wouldn't be so sad, and Patty Bear and Uncle are trying to cheer her up. Great-grandma looks pretty good since major surgery earlier today.

My Grandma Gladys Hobbs made Great-grandma and Great-grandpa bear years ago. Great-grandma had one of her arms fall off and a couple other limbs were also getting loose, so I took her apart and replaced some of the incorrect hardware. She is recovering quickly, and was happy to give some comfort to Rosie.

Hopefully we will have a picture of Rosie with baby Elisabeth real soon.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Teddy Bears Help Decorate the Christmas Tree

2011-12-26T17:37:00.001-05:00

There is so much to get ready for a big family Christmas celebration. It was coming up soon, and Grandma Jenny still had a lot to do, so Grandpa Bob and Uncle Edwin went outside and cut a tree and got it put in the stand. The little bears were very excited that they would have a tree to climb inside the house.

Grandpa Bob set them straight about that right away, and told them they BETTER NOT! It's bad enough having kittens climb it, and bears are a lot bigger. He told them it was inside because he was going to decorate it. Of course, they wanted to know all about that and started pawing through all the breakable ornaments as soon as he opened the first box.

Grandma came in to the living room and told the bears that she had very special ornaments for them to hang on the tree. Each bear got it's own ornament with name (letter and number, actually) and the year 2011 painted on it. She told them that when they got adopted, they would get to take their ornament with them as a reminder of their first Christmas and the year they got adopted.

The bears were so cute, stretching to try and reach the branches. There were a few incidents of the domino effect, when one would lose it's balance, and the whole row of bears would topple over!
Starting from the left with the red bear, this photo is of T5, T7, T6, T3, T4, T11, and T9 in the back on the stool.

The photo on the left is of T10 on the top step of the ladder, T2 on the bottom step, T8, T1 (mostly hidden behind T8), and T5 again.
T1 is in the photo at right.

Just as a warning to anyone thinking about letting bears help decorate, Grandma Jenny says they do all right with the ornaments, as long as they are plastic. Keep them away from the fragile glass ones, though, and don't let them help with the garland! As you can see in the picture below, these little bears managed to get completely tangled with it!

T10

T11

It was fun doing this shoot with the bears. They all looked so adorable under the tree, and each one of them has such a different personality, that really came out in the photos. I think they are all perfect matches for each grandchild.

In my next post, they get adopted and named.

Two Sets of Towels Done

2011-12-22T01:31:00.001-05:00

The towel set that I wrote about weaving several days ago is now wet finished, pressed and hemmed. I got three towels and a dishrag out of the warp.

This is the second set of towels, just completed a couple of hours ago. It is a thick and thin cotton yarn that I dyed about a year ago. The dark towel was woven with an 8/2 burgundy cotton, and the bottom towel was woven with left-over 6/2 hand dyed cotton.

Boy Bears Play Dress-up

2011-12-20T01:19:00.000-05:00

The little boy bears got out the dress-up box today and were really having a lot of fun. T7 is so much like Auntie Rach and Auntie Care-Care, because he likes to play Pirates of Penzance.
"Arrrrghhhh! I am a pirate king!".

T10 likes to play Viking. He made his own sword and shield.

T5 likes to play ball, and looks so cute in his uniform. He needs a Detroit Tigers cap to go along with it. Unfortunately, T10 and T7 don't like playing ball. They would rather do sword fighting. I think T5 is going to have to ask one of the other bears to play catch and practice hitting.

T7 and T10 started getting kind of rough with their fighting. I warned them that someone was going to get hurt (just like a mom). Of course they didn't listen, and T10 got hurt.

Off came the costume and I took him to get an x-ray to see if anything was broken.

All of his joints look ok. I hope they listen, next time I tell them to settle down!

Towels Continued

2011-12-11T23:09:00.001-05:00

I continued weaving on the towel warp and finished the second towel (twill) that I started yesterday, and am almost done with the third one. Here is a close-up.

I wove each towel with one of the three colors that I used in the stripes, and each is a different treadling. I get bored easily, so I rarely do more than one of something on a warp. I will probably make an exception with this warp. I will probably have enough warp left after the third towel to make a dish cloth. I really liked the plain weave woven with the red, so I will finish up with that again.

This is my pattern for the third towel. The first towel was tabby on treadles 1 and 2. The second was a twill woven on 6-5-4-3 and then repeated. For the twill towels, I used treadle 6 and 4 for the hems, rather than tabby, because it doesn't spread out as much. Tabby makes the towels flare out at the ends, and then the hems have to be eased in to be the same width as the body of the towel.

I didn't really use the treadles indicated on the pattern. 5 & 6 stayed the same, but I moved the tabby 1 & 2 to the middle on treadles 3 & 4, and treadles 3 & 4 on the pattern were put on treadles 1 & 2. It's better for my back, having everything balanced. The only time I like the tabby grouped together at one side is if I'm weaving a two shuttle weave, such as overshot.

Hopefully, these will be off the loom tomorrow evening if I get them finished after work. Then on to winding my next warp.

New Set of Towels

2011-12-10T23:17:00.001-05:00

A few days ago, I wound a new warp for more towels. It had a lot of color change, so I decided to wind each color separately and warp front to back. Doing it that way, I decided, wasn't the best, since I had to be very careful not to get everything tangled.

Well, I was successful, finally. Tight ties on the warp, and tension was the key to keeping everything orderly. Here it is, all set to test for errors. There were a few denting errors that were fairly easy to fix.

I finished one tabby weave towel tonight. I did find one more error, with a crossed thread. The burgundy color is more like the above photo, but the yellow is pretty bright, like the photo at left.

Here is the start of the second towel. I'm weaving with navy blue weft, so it is making the burgundy look slightly purple. I think I like the plain weave better for the color.

Griswold Bears Family Portrait

2011-12-05T12:10:00.001-05:00

I finally got around to stacking all the bears for a family photo. It was quite a feat! They would make an awesome cheerleading squad.

In front, doing the splits, is T4.
The bottom row of four, from left to right, is T2, T11, T7, and T5.
The row with three is T10, T8, and T1.
Two in a row is T6 and T9.
On top is T3.
I haven't been doing much the last few days because I haven't been feeling well. I'm feeling a lot better today. Now, I just need to get going on some more weaving.

T10 and T11 Learn to Make Mama Bear's Porridge

2011-11-20T14:10:00.001-05:00

T10 and T11 missed out on some fun activities that the other bears did, so I told them that Grandma was going to teach them how to cook.

"Yippee," they both shouted, and started jumping up and down. "What are we going to make, Grandma?", they wanted to know.

So I told them about our family cookbook, and the recipe for Mama Bear's Porridge. I was glad I was only cooking with two bears, because they wanted to get their noses and paws into all the ingredients. It's a good thing I didn't get the honey out till the end, or everything would have been a sticky mess!

I put some water in a saucepan, and T10 got to add a couple pawfulls of raisens and T11 stirred them.

The milk jug was a little bit too big for little bears, so I added some milk to the pan and T11 stirred some more.

T10 shook some cinnamon into the pan after T10 put in some scoops of oatmeal.

Hot stoves are dangerous, so Grandma had to help them stir. It made T10's tummy too hot, so she let T10 have a turn.

T10 thought she was just being a sissy, but when he stirred, he touched the pan and realized that hot does mean HOT!! After that, they were both content to let Grandma Jenny do the rest of the stirring while they watched.

Next to go into the pot was some vanilla for some nice flavor.

And now for the secret ingredient, that makes it taste so creamy--a couple eggs that are beaten in to the hot cereal.

Grandma got out the honey bear and squeezed some into their bowls. Of course, they wanted LOTS of honey, because bears are like that, you know.

That porridge was a big hit. They both cleaned their bowls, and would have licked them if I had let them.

Here is the recipe out of our family cookbook. I used to make it for all of our children, and they cleaned their bowls too, and would have licked them too, if I let them get away with it!

T10 and T11 Join the Griswold Bear Family

2011-11-19T18:03:00.001-05:00

Poor T10 and T11 had to sit around for several days looking like this because I was too busy with work and meetings to be able to finish them. In the meantime, T10 got pretty good at lip reading! He is holding his ears, eagerly awaiting their attachment. T11 is for our newest granddaughter Elisabeth, so I am going to stitch a nose on her. The eyes are pretty secure, but the nose, not so much. I don't need to worry about the other grandchildren, since they are age 6 and up.

After T10 and T11 were finished, their Aunt Patty Bear and Uncle Bear, who were visiting with Edwin, taught them the fun game of Kings in the Corner. They played long enough for each of them to win at least one game. And there was no whining about anyone cheating.

I think they will have to have some more adventures later.

Never So Thankful To See A Warp End!

2011-11-13T18:30:00.001-05:00

This was one of my most hated warps! I didn't have too much trouble with the paw fabrics or the first fabric, but this last fabric for T11 was nothing but trouble. There were so many warp breaks, that I decided to measure another warp just in case I decided to throw in the towel with this one. It sure was tempting, but I don't give up easily. This was a very welcome sight, though, when I finally had enough woven. Thankfully, the fabric is fulled and then fused with interfacing on the back, so it should be pretty stable when finished.

All these weights dangling off the back of the loom except for the two on the edges were weighting broken warps. It's a good thing I had lots of hooks and fender washers.

The whole time I was weaving T-11, I was thinking I would use the side that I could see, but after finishing it and getting it off the loom, I decided the backside would be more suitable for a young man (my oldest grandson). So here is what it looks like. I was able to pull all the broken warps to the back, trim them fairly short, and then got the interfacing fused. Marking, cutting, and sewing will come later this week.

I dislike using table looms for anything but workshops, because they slow me down. Someday, this little Glimakra Victoria will get a set of treadles, but for now, I'm doing what I can to make the weaving simpler. Table looms have such a short area to actually weave, about an inch at best, that I was having to stop to release the ratchet too often. Thank goodness I took a class from Kati Reeder Meek and learned about live weight tensioning. It's such a sweet technique, especially for table looms.

I used a small cotton cord (less than 1/4" diam.) from the hardware store and some barbell weights that were not being used. The cord is wrapped three wraps around the backbeam with no overlaps. The heavy weights are hung on one end of the rope and a lighter counter weight on the other end.

So, which end gets the heavy weight? On my loom, the warp is winding off from the inside of the loom, so that end of the rope gets the heavy weights. If the loom had the warp coming off the outside of the loom, the heavy weights would go on that end of the rope.

Here is a closer photo. The beam has to have a clear space in order for this to work. This warp, which is only about 12" wide, has one five pound weight, two three pounders, and one two pound weight on the heavy end, and one two pound weight for the counterweight. I tried eight pounds at first, but it wasn't enough. Once the weights are installed and dangling, then the back ratchet can be released. Now when I need to move my warp forward, I just turn it from the front. I don't have to release anything, and it stays a constant tension. I love it! Thanks Kati!

Since this was my first time using the loom, except for a doubleweave class, I looked through my book of eight shaft patterns and picked a dornick twill because I liked the looks of it, and because the treadling had leavers grouped together. I figured that would help speed things up, and made for a logical progression of leaver pulls.

I am quite happy with the resulting fabric, and am probably destined to add another bear to the Griswold bear family.

This photo is more accurate for the color. For scale, the woven black area is only 1" deep. The fine gray yarn came from my Alice Griswold collection, and the black is from my stash. It is a 9/2 size wool and is a bit thicker than the gray wool warp. I need to weave about 52" for a bear, not counting the paws, and so far, I have almost 18".

Next photos will probably be when I finish T10 and T11. Hopefully soon!

Griswold Bears, T8 and T2, Get Spruced Up

2011-11-06T17:55:00.000-05:00

T8 and T2 (above) looked a bit skinny, and then I remembered that I needed to brush the nap of the mohair. All the pressing and fusing really flattened it. Talk about squealing! I had to hold them between my knees, just to make them hold still! Grandma told them that they just had to put up with it once with the stiff brush, and they they would be sooo pretty. Well, with a bit of protest, we got the job done. Now all it will take is a gentle brushing to keep it looking fluffy. T8 decided to try it on T2, who is looking pleased with her soft fur.

I am still struggling with my last bear fabric. The warp has slubs, and they keep catching in the reed and breaking warp threads. It doesn't help that the yarn is a single ply. It is about half done, and I just had two more warps break side by side . I'm getting sick of repairing warp threads!

I was frustrated enough to wind another warp, just in case. I decided to cut off a doubleweave sampler on my 8 shaft Glimakra Victoria table loom and thread it with the new warp. I picked a dornick twill, pattern #202, in A Weaver's Book of 8-Shaft Patterns, edited by Carol Strickler. I don't particularly like weaving on a table loom, even with it on a stand. It is too slow. Maybe, since this is my first real experience with 8 shafts (except for the little I did with the doubleweave), that won't be so bad.

I love my little gadget for holding my lease sticks and cross. Unfortunately, I am unable to use it on all of my looms because the back bar is too thick. It works perfectly with this loom, though.

Getting out the gadget, which I purchased at an estate sale of weaver Alice Griswold, got me thinking about the yarn I have been using for all the bears. I have wound four warps, and all of them came from the same sale. Most of the weft for the bears also came from that sale. I think there are only three out of the twelve that didn't. Griswold sounds kind of like grizzley, so I think I am going to name this line of bears the Griswold bears, in honor of a prolific weaver from the Lansing, Michigan area. I never knew her, but I am sure there are many out there that did. Her great stash has given me much inspiration! Thanks, Alice!

T8 is Finished and T9 Joins the Group

2011-11-04T10:50:00.000-04:00

T8 was finally finished last night as I watched Sense and Sensibility. He feels much better with a mouth and permanently attached ears! Shortly afterward, T9 joined the family. It was late when I got both of them finished, so I let them sleep with me, so they wouldn't wake the other babies. They really liked the cozy flannel sheets and big fluffy pillow.

There was a lot of excitement this morning when the bears found out they had a new sister, and then, when they looked outside and saw the ground all white, they couldn't get the sled outside fast enough! They didn't know that it wasn't snow, and only frost. Poor babies. They were a bit disappointed when I told them it was going to melt as soon as the sun hit it. I told them we could have some other kind of fun later, once the ground was dry.


Front row: T1, T6, T4, T9 Back row: T2, T3, T7, T5, T8. T8 feels so much better now, since I gave him a mouth and permanently attached his ears. He looks a bit skinny. I think he needs a good brushing to fluff up his mohair.

I let T8 and T9 get on the old swing in the front yard. They thought that was fun! Then they got to go out to the orchard and I let them climb one of the pear trees. They climbed just like pros!

Now, I better get going and finish the fabric for T11. I feel bad that T10 and T11 are missing out on all the fun. Stay tuned for them to join the family!

Teddy Bears' Picnic

2011-10-31T22:19:00.000-04:00

These cute little bears, T2, T4, and T3 were promised a special treat with five other bears, so here is the picture story of what they all got to do.

The song words are to one of my favorite songs as a child, The Teddy Bears' Picnic, and here is a link to the music:

Teddy Bears' Picnic played by Henry Hall and His Orchestra

Song words are by Jimmy Kennedy

I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I do.

If you go out in the woods today

You're sure of a big surprise.

If you go out in the woods today

You'd better go in disguise.

For every bear that ever there was

Will gather there for certain, because

Today's the day the teddy bears have their picnic.

Chorus

Picnic time for teddy bears,

The little teddy bears are having a lovely time today.

Watch them, catch them unawares,

And see them picnic on their holiday.

See them gaily dance about.

They love to play and shout.

And never have any cares.

At six o'clock their mommies and daddies

Will take them home to bed

Because they're tired little teddy bears.

If you go out in the woods today,

You'd better not go alone.

It's lovely out in the woods today,

But safer to stay at home.

For every bear that ever there was

Will gather there for certain, because

Today's the day the teddy bears have their picnic

CHORUS

Every teddy bear, that's been good

Is sure of a treat today

There's lots of wonderful things to eat

And wonderful games to play

Beneath the trees, where nobody sees

They'll hide and seek as long as they please

Today's the day the teddy bears have their picnic

CHORUS

Patiently waiting for tea.

My granddaughter Emily poured.

Twenty-five year old Mist Er Bear was excited, because he got to come along, too. He is my oldest daughter Becky's bear, and lives at Emily's house. He is sitting at the picnic with T2.

T1 and T7 enjoying tea made by their great grandma Rosemarie.

T5 is giving T7 the apple challenge. Let's see how he does with it!

Very good, T7! You are pretty awesome at balancing that big heavy apple on your tummy!

T6, T3 and T1. T3 thinks he is pretty good at balancing a candy pumpkin on his toe!

Hungry bears, T4 and T6, love great grandma Dort's molassas cookies. They polished them off quickly.

T8 hid by Mist Er Bear because he didn't feel very good yet. He had pins in his ears and it hurt. Kind of like getting pierced ears.

After their picnic tea, they all had so much fun playing. They had the most fun climbing the trees.

T1 on the left.

T2 on the right.

T3 on the left.

T4 on the right.

T5 on the left.
T6 on the right

After lots of playing, Grandma made all the bears take a nap before going to Emily's house to do something else that I promised would be just as fun as their picnic. They whined a little, but they were tired little Teddy bears, and went to sleep after just a little bit of wrestling with each other.

Yea!! We got the pumpkins all ready for Halloween. From left to right: T1, T3, T7, T6 in back, T2, T5, T8, and T4.

Scary pumpkin


Emily and all the bears.

The bears were definitely up past their bedtime. I got them into the car, and they were all asleep by the time I got five minutes down the road! Emily and I had such a great time with them, and I'm sure we will have some more fun times before they get adopted at Christmas.

My thumb has been hurting all day, so I didn't sew on T8's ears, or finish T9. I will get back to them in a few days. Keep posted!

T2, T3, and T4 Have Arrived!

2011-10-29T22:39:00.000-04:00

A lot has been accomplished since my last post. I did the sewing in two stages--everything I could do before pressing seams open, and then additional sewing after pressing. Here are the stacks for eight bears.

Here is everything pinned after the first pressing. I tried to work on a new step every day after coming home from work, and on my days off.

All the parts are turned after the second sewing. My 25 year old pattern book is propped up on the box. I have seen it on ebay, so I know it is still available, and maybe on Amazon, too. I put eyes and noses in two bears.

A couple bears joints are installed, and are waiting to get packed up to go see Great Grandma and Grandpa. I was able to get all the joints installed while we drove downstate.

I had this much done by Thursday bedtime. Three of them are starting to take shape, and the rest are all jointed and waiting for stuffing.

All of them were stuffed by Friday. Now I am working on the tedious hand work: stitching the openings closed and adding the eyes and nose to the head before stuffing it, sewing the head on, adding mouth and toe details, and finally tacking on the ears.

From left to right I am holding T2, T4, and T3, the three that were finished before the trip home. They were pretty good bears on the long ride, and only started whining "Are we were there yet?" for the last half hour. By then, though, there were two more, so I was glad to get home and put them to bed! Tomorrow, if it is nice outside, I may treat them to something special. T5 was still sore from getting poked with a needle, and T6 still needs ears tacked on, so I won't get their photo until tomorrow.

Sewing Multiple Layers of Heavy Fabric

2011-10-20T23:21:00.000-04:00

Many people think their sewing machine can't handle sewing several layers of heavy or thick fabrics because they have broken machine needles while trying it. Hemming bluejeans is a common problem. Most sewing machines should be able to handle the job with this simple technique.

First of all, you don't want your machine presser foot to look like this. The steep angle causes broken needles. It should be kept level. So how do you do that?

Take a piece of fabric and fold it to about the thickness of what you are trying to sew. You could even sew a few stitches through the layers to keep the folds. This piece is a bit of my Teddy bear fabric.

Place the folded fabric under the foot, behind the piece you are attempting to sew, and it will level the foot. Start sewing, and keep it there until the foot is all the way onto to piece. Just be careful not to catch it with your backstitch!

When you get close to the end of your seam, before the foot starts dipping down, insert the folded fabric in front of the foot. Finish sewing your seam. Now wasn't that easy?!

This is my sewing work from today. Eight Teddys parts are sewn as much as I can before pressing seams open. That is a project for tomorrow, after work.

I also finished the pink Teddy fabric, plus paw fabric for two or three bears. Warp threads started breaking, so I glued up the end of the weaving after repairing the broken warps. I will cut the completed fabric off the loom tomorrow, and full it. I only have one more bear fabric to weave, plus two or three paw fabrics. I need to decide what yarn color and pattern I will be using. I'll think about it tomorrow.

Teddy Bears Continued

2011-10-16T22:11:00.000-04:00

The weaving continues on the two remaining bear fabrics, plus the paws for five bears. Click on any photo for better viewing.

This is the pattern for the fabric above. The threading is a variation of Rose Path. It is probably in a book somewhere, but I haven't found it. I'm sure it isn't original, but I came up with it by playing around with the Fiberworks weaving software. I think the closest to tabby that I can get with this threading and treadling is shown at the bottom.

All the bear fabrics that are woven have been marked with the pattern pieces, and each shape has been stitched around to stabilize the edges, and all openings that have to be hand sewn have been stay-stitched. I have started on the next part of the assembly line--cutting out half the pieces to sew together.

With the first bear, I thought I would have more control of the fabric, especially with the narrow (1/4") seams, if I cut out only one of the two pieces that need to be sewn together. It did work out well, so that is what I am doing now. There is a lot of cutting to do before I get back to the sewing machine. Sounds like a good excuse to get out Pride and Prejudice and watch it again while I'm cutting!

T1 is Finished

2011-10-06T18:24:00.000-04:00

After sewing different ears that were smaller, and embroidering nose, mouth, and claws, I finally finished T1 (Teddy #1) a few minutes ago. We then held a photo shoot with her 25 year old Uncle Bear. Don't they look cute together?
    Uncle Bear was one of the bears I made 25 years ago for one of our children. I found him a while back in the garage, and brought him in a few days ago. Typical of how my boys were, he had dirty ears and face and was in great need of a bath.
     I put him in the bathtub, and under great protest, I smeared him up with soap and gave him a thorough washing. He cried because I got soap in his eyes, and he didn't like water in his ears!
    And then, the worst indignity of all was the really fast spinning ride in the washer. I guess he takes after me, and just does NOT like those scary rides!

Some Hand Sewing Stitches for Teddy

2011-10-05T23:13:00.000-04:00

T1 (Teddy #1) is getting closer to being done, but what is left is the time consuming hand sewing. Here is the body, head and one leg stuffed. The head has been sewn on, and the back of the body closed.
I found some stuffing at Joann Fabrics that I am pleased with. It's called Silky Soft and is marketed by Fairfield. T1 doesn't feel lumpy at all, and I was a little worried about that happening, with it being fabric rather than fur.

Here is how I hand-sew the openings closed. I knot my thread (this is a heavy top-stitching thread, waxed and doubled), start at one end of the opening, hide the knot inside, and start a ladder stitch. Click on the photo to make it bigger. I do quite a few stitches before taking the eye of a heavy needle and pulling the ladders tight. I take my stitches just outside the stay-stitching at the opening. The ladder stitch is like doing a running stitch, but alternating back and forth between both sides of the opening. If the stitches are kept straight across the opening, they cinch up invisibly, without puckers.

When I get to the end of the opening, I use a nifty sewers knot that won't come undone, and is tiny, even with this thick thread. The first step is to make a loop with the thread and then bring the needle up through the loop.

Another loop forms from the tail of the thread. Take the needle down through the second loop. (Up through the first loop, down through the second loop.)

Pull on the thread to tighten the knot down to the surface of the fabric.

Can you see the knot? I can't either, or just barely. Even with this thick thread, it is a pretty small knot. Now, just run the needle inside along the seam to hide the tail and exit an inch or so away and snip the thread.

This is the best knot I have ever learned for sewing, and can be used any time you need to anchor the thread. I use it for sewing on buttons, hemming, embroidery, smocking, tacking, etc. The tail can be nipped off quite short, because the knot will NOT come undone! With a single strand of regular sewing thread, the knot is very small. Try it--you will never go back to anchoring thread your old way.

Attaching Eyes to Teddy and Starting Final Fabric

2011-10-03T11:38:00.000-04:00

Eyes come with a shank and a gripping washer that slides onto the shank. The newer eyes have plastic washers, but still work the same way.

I make a hole with the awl and push the eye shank through. These eyes look quite loose because the washers haven't been put on the shanks yet.

The washer is pushed on by hand until it is very tight. There is a right and wrong way to put on the washer. If it is right, it can't be pulled off the shank. I don't think it can be pushed on the wrong way because the prongs grip the shank.

This warp was a natural color with dark brown slubs that I dyed a pinky brown. It is sett 24 epi in a 12 dent reed.

This is the weft, and it is a wool and angora mix that I dyed pink. I'm hoping it will show more than the weft, which is quite rough.

I wove a little sample last night with a few different treadlings. I will be using the one next to the paper tape measure, since it shows the most angora.

Teddy Bear Joints

2011-10-02T23:35:00.000-04:00

Teddy bear parts are sewn, and almost ready to assemble.

I needed to press some of the seams open or the stuffing will look lumpy, and needed a tool that would get inside the small openings. I had some thick felted upholstery wool, so I glued a bit of it around an old towel rod, and sewed the seam where the edges butted together, and closed the end with a few stitches.

It worked well.

On my trip to the hardware store, I purchased the joint supplies for eleven bears.
1 1/4" x 1/4" fender washers, 8 per bear
3/4" x 1/4" hex bolts, 4 per bear
1/4" Lock nuts with nylon insert, 4 per bear
7/16" hex nut driver
I already had the 7/16" socket and ratchet. The red plastic circles were cut from old laundry detergent bottles, and the center circle was drilled out on the drill press.

Here is a close up of one half of the joint. This part will go inside the arms and legs, because it doesn't stick out as much as the nut side of the joint. The red plastic goes against the fabric. The other halves of the joints are in the background, another red plastic disk, a fender washer, and the lock nut.

I decided I needed an awl to start the hole for the joint. This one is about 1/4" in diameter.

Here I am, using the awl to gently pull the weave apart. So far I have successfully gotten the bolt through without cutting anything.

The bolt will go through the hole in the body, where the awl is poking out.

I used the nut driver inside the leg, and the ratchet, which is a bit bigger, inside the body. The nut driver just holds the bolt from turning, and the ratchet does the work of tightening the nut. The legs and arms need to be pretty tight, just barely able to turn. Once they are stuffed, they will move easier.

Two legs are on. Arms will be next, but that is for another day.

Started Sewing Teddy Bears Today

2011-09-26T23:38:00.000-04:00

More Teddy bear fabric is finished, but I still need to weave a few more. This is number four from the Finnish Twill warp (Davison, pg 37, version IV). This one is my favorite, and is very easy to weave. Both sides are different, but both look nice.

This is the final fabric from this warp. It is plain weave, and I will use it for the paws of the bears. I like the faint stripes from closer denting in the reed. The warp was sleyed in the reed: 2-2-3-2-2, and then repeated, to give 22 ends per inch in a 10 dent reed.

Here is the line-up of five fabrics.

Five fabrics fulled and drying in the sunshine. Because of the different sett, these fabrics were a bit wider than my first ones. They are all fused, using my new steam press, which I love! The fabric in the center is mohair, and is very hairy. I clipped the other mohair that I wove on the backside before fusing the interfacing, but I decided to try brushing this one first to try and bring as much of the long hair to the surface. It seemed to work, so I was able to iron the interfacing to the backside without clipping.

I traced around my pattern pieces with magic marker, and here I am stitching just inside the marks to further stabilize the edges. I have been worried that the fabric will start to unravel with the narrow seams, so the stitching is just added insurance.

I have been cutting out one piece, laying it on the uncut piece I'm sewing it to, and then stitching them together.

I'm cutting the underneath piece after stitching.

Here are arms and ears stitched and turned, and the rest of the pieces marked on the cloth, ready to cut and stitch together. So far, everything on this first bear has gone together without problems. I'm not looking forward to all the openings that will need handstitching, especially since my right thumb is giving me some trouble lately.

I will need to get to the hardware store to get the joint hardware in the next couple days. I will finish this one before starting another, so I can see if I will have trouble with any of it. If it's too hard, I'll look for another pattern.

New Toy (Tool)

2011-09-14T00:13:00.000-04:00

The steam press I ordered arrived today, so I put it through it's paces to test it out. I have been wanting one for quite a while, and when I started working on Teddy bear fabric, I decided to start looking for one. I ended up buying one called Steam Fast. It isn't a super good one, so I'm hoping it gets me a few years of use out of it. It's not like I will be using it daily, so it should.

In order to stabilize the fabrics, I needed to fuse a lightweight interfacing to all of them, and I didn't think my shoulders would hold up to all the pressure needed with a conventional iron.

So far, after fusing the five finished fabrics, it has worked great. It has several heat settings, so I set it on the one for wool, filled the steam reservoir with water, and got them all done, and my shoulders are not sore at all! The interfacing feels good and tight. I used a lot of steam, plus a damp press cloth, so they are all hanging to dry completely.

The turquoise twill is Teddy fabric number 7. The warp is fairly thin wool, sett at 22 ends per inch. It is woven in Finnish Twill, from pg. 37 of Davison's pattern book. Both of these fabrics are version I treadling. The turquoise is angora and wool that I dyed (color requested by a granddaughter). The brown twill is mohair in a varigated color. It is kind of difficult to wind a bobbin and weave with it because it is pretty hairy. I tried a plain weave first, but I think my warp was too tight, so I'm using the twill. The pattern won't show very much once the fabric is wet-finished, but I think it will allow the yarn to be a bit more fuzzy. Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear, you know, and this fabric will be soon!

This photo is fabric number 6 and 7. The peach colored angora wool stripe (also dyed per granddaughter request) is version IV of the Finnish Twill. It is one of my favorites of the bear fabric so far. I think I may try it for some towels sometime. I think it could look great with different colored stripes.

Dyeing Yarn Again

2011-09-03T02:06:00.000-04:00

I'm back to dyeing more yarn for Teddy bears. I finished winding off 5 more yards of warp last night, and dyed it tonight (Akk! I mean last night! I didn't realize it was so late.) I tried a different dye this time: Cushing's Perfection Dye in a dark brown. I tried presoaking the four warp bouts in water and vinegar after washing it. I don't think I like the vinegar process very well, because the yarn didn't dye evenly. I'm sure it was something I did wrong, but I'm not sure what it was. So I have a varigated brown yarn, which can still look ok for what I am using it for. No pictures tonight. Maybe tomorrow.

The granddaughters picked out colors to have me dye the wool-angora weft, so I will get that done tomorrow. Hopefully the warp will be dry enough tomorrow or Sunday to start winding it on the loom.

I'm still trying to decide which steam press I will buy, so I can fuse the interfacing to the fabric before cutting out the bears. I'm leaning towards the Reliable, which is sold by the same company that sells Baby Lock sewing machines.

New Granddaughter

2011-08-18T18:36:00.000-04:00

Elisabeth Ann, our new granddaughter, was born Sunday. She is so beautiful. She is about ten hours old in this photo.

I just finished a non-weaving project--a dozen newborn diapers for Elisabeth, made from my daughter's pattern, using recycled, 100% cotton knit shirts. Here is a link to her website:

http://fernandfaerie.com/frugaldiapering.html

I need to send them to her pronto, before she outgrows them. Hope her mommy likes them. I think they are cute.

I haven't done much weaving lately, except for the pick-up band on my inkle loom. It was a nice take along project that I took when we went camping.

I taught my daughter Becky how to do it, and she took to it like a duck to water. (She is also the daughter that has the Fern and Faerie website for diapers.)

The pretty part is now on the bottom of the loom. It's getting close to being done.

Inkle Weave Pick-up

2011-07-22T11:24:00.000-04:00

I recently ran across an article in Handwoven, J/F 1996, pg 50, showing the pick-up technique for weaving patterns on an inkle loom. I liked the designs, so I got out my homemade inkle loom and warped it up after modifying the pattern a little bit. I added four more pattern threads to make a slightly wider band. I used a thick crochet yarn for the base and edge yarns, and a thicker, slubby rayon/cotton blend rainbow varigated yarn for the pattern warp.

This shows my modified design and the first six inches of the weave. I can see that I need to work on getting the weft pulled tightly when I first start weaving. The weft shouldn't be showing and the band shouldn't be getting narrower.

The pick-up is easy, but time consuming. I numbered the pattern squares. One shed has the even numbered squares and the other shed has the odd numbered ones. I used a pick-up stick to lift or lower the appropriate pattern threads, so that all the red squares in one row are on the top, and all the others are on the lower part of the shed. Then I use the pickup stick turned on its side to hold the shed open for weaving.

The thicker pattern threads create a raised design. The weaving is done with the same yarn as the edge warp threads.

This will make a nice portable project. I think I will take it to the Fiber Festival at the castle in Charlevoix, Michigan this Saturday and Sunday (July 23-24). Hope to see some of you weavers and spinners there! I will be there with all five of my granddaughters. Bring your spinning for the spin-in!

Baby's Breath Photos

2011-07-08T21:18:00.000-04:00

I couldn't resist getting some pictures of the baby's breath in the garden. When I went out to shut the sprinkler off this evening, the light was shining just right on the plants. The water droplets looked like jewels.

Empty Loom

2011-07-06T17:05:00.000-04:00

Fanny is empty again. This strip of fabric is the first run of Teddy bear fabric straight off the loom.

I serged them apart with great difficulty, since both of my sergers were acting up. One kept breaking the outer needle thread, and the other wanted to keep sewing even with my foot off the pedal. I had to get fast with the on/off switch! Guess a trip to Traverse City will be on the books soon.

All five fabrics, and one sample were fulled together in the washing machine. It was filled half full with hot water and some Dawn dish soap, and then the the fabric was pushed down into the water. It soaked for a while till the water started to cool a bit, then was agitated on the delicate cycle for a couple minutes.

The water was a bit dirty so I drained it and ran the spin cycle (no water spraying on the cloth). It wasn't fulled enough, so the above steps were repeated with slightly cooler water and Era laundry soap this time.

I agitated it again on the regular cycle for about 2 1/2 to 3 minutes, drained, spun out the water, rinsed with slightly cooler water, spun again, straightened each piece and hung them to dry.

There is always such a difference in the fabric after wet finishing! For feel, the best ones for Teddys will be the turquoise mohair and the one with white angora mixed wool. The mohair has such a beautiful halo of fuzz, and the angora is soooo soft! It is the lighter fabrics in both pictures, showing both sides. I think I like the tiny spot side best.

The light orange fabric is also showing both sides. I will probably use the upper one, since it looks less like a stripe than the bottom one.

The orange, burgundy, and the one to the side, woven in black, have a bit harder finish, but aren't bad.

None have been pressed yet, and that will also change how they feel. I'm not real sure about the pressing of the mohair and angora. I will probably ask some advice of more experienced weavers before adding the iron-on interfacing to the backs of the fabrics.

Potholder and Teddy Fabric

2011-07-03T15:33:00.000-04:00

Well, my opinion is in: 22 loopers are too many to get into a 7" space. I ended up taking out the ones on the end pegs, leaving 20 and still have a very stiff mat. It will be great for a table protector for hot dishes. It finished at 7" square, and a bit bigger than I prefer for a potholder.

The other potholder in the photo is one that my daughter Becky made years ago. It is still one of just a few that I grab first, and it's pretty, too! It has only 13 loopers per side. If I make another frame, I'll make it so the loops stretch 6 1/2" - 7", and have 16 pegs per side.

The pegs worked great! No loopers slipped off accidently, as it seemed to do when I was a kid. I used a size I/9 crochet hook to pack in the loops, and then to hook the edge loops together to finish it. I think an afghan hook of that size would work even better, because it could be used for the weaving also. I used a bent coat-hanger.

Here is the final Teddy fabric for this warp. It took the photo for me to notice a big mistake. Since I will be cutting small pieces from this fabric, I will probably be able to work around it. I'm hoping I will be able to get enough woven. Hope I don't have to start weaving with a stick shuttle at the end! It's going to be close.

The weft yarn is a light orange 9/2 wool (90% wool, 10% nylon). I need to get out to the studio to wind another bobbin and get it finished.

Homemade Potholder Loom

2011-07-02T22:37:00.000-04:00

I was reading somewhere today about sock loopers for potholders, and it reminded me that I had a bunch of old holey socks out in the studio. I didn't have a potholder loom, so after I cut a few loopers from the socks, I figured out how far they could stretch, so I could decide how big to make the loom. My loopers stretch about 8".

In the basement in Bob's shop, I found some scrap wood and cut the four sides for the loom, assembled them, and gave the frame a bright red coat of paint.

I marked out the placement for the pegs, (22 per side), and then headed for Ace Hardware to see if I could find anything that wasn't too expensive to use for them.

I found a box of trim screws, with a nice small rounded head, and the box included the correct size star bit. There are probably enough left over to make another loom. I couldn't find anything shorter than 1 5/8", though, so Bob helped me make the loom thicker to accommodate the length. He was helpful and set up the drill press and drilled all 88 pilot holes for me. What a sweetie, and that was after being on his feet all day at work!

I'm testing it out with a log cabin layout. If I make another one, I will probably put fewer pegs on a side (maybe 20). I'll see if I have trouble weaving 22 rows first. I can always cut the loopers a little narrower. I cut this batch 1" wide.

More Teddy Bear fabric

2011-06-24T23:47:00.000-04:00

I got back to weaving bear fabric again after returning from Muskegon and Grand Rapids. The second fabric was woven with a turquoise mohair in the same weaving pattern as the first one, John Murphy"s Bird's Eye, version VIII, pg. 14 of Marguerite Davison's pattern book. Since the mohair is so fuzzy, the pattern will not be as distinct once it is wet finished. This yarn came from an estate sale, and the photo is pretty close to the actual colors. I tried it first with plain weave, but my warp was sett a little too close, and I didn't like it. A basket weave may have worked better.

After finishing the turquoise mohair, I started the third fabric. This one is from pg 13 of Davison's book, version XI of Traditional Bird's Eye. I chose a plyed white wool and angora yarn for this version, also purchased at an estate sale a while ago. I'm hoping it makes a nice soft bear once it is wet finished.

The blue fabric at the bottom is the turquoise mohair shown above and is quite a bit darker in the photo than the actual color.

Teddy Bear Wool Fabric

2011-06-18T00:50:00.000-04:00

This project is destined to become Teddy bears. All eight grandchildren have gone home, so I had a little weaving time tonight. The overdyed brown wool is on the loom, all threaded with the help of granddaughter Hailee, and the samples are woven. The brown wool is sett at 16 epi.

The twill variations are from Davison's book, pg. 13 and 14. It is threaded 1-2-3-4-3-2 and repeated. The burgundy and brown sample is version V on pg. 13. The selvedges weren't to my liking, but I realized we hadn't doubled the last 4 warp threads in the reed, so I fixed that, and the edges looked a little better. I don't really have to worry about having good edges, since this is just fabric that will be cut, but I usually try to improve my skills while weaving, so I am trying to make them look decent. The burgundy yarn is size 9/2 wool with 10% nylon.

The second sample is woven with 100% wool, which has slubs of dark throughout. It is another yarn I picked up at an estate sale. This sample is from pg. 14, version VIII. It is easy to treadle and memorize the sequence. This one seems to be a bit firmer fabric, and the edges looked better.

After weaving about 6", I ended the sample with some plain weave, and coated the inch with glue. I'm letting it dry overnight, and then I will slip a rod in the shed, cut off my samples before the glued area, and then reattach the glued area and the rod to my apron rod with texsolv cord. I like this method for cutting samples, or completed projects off the loom without much loom waste.

I am going to cut my samples in half, keep one half unwashed as a reference, and wash the other half until the fabric feels stable. It should be felted enough to keep me from poking a fingernail through the weave. Once I check for shrinkage, I will be able to figure out how much to weave for each bear.

Secret Message Bag

2011-06-09T23:18:00.000-04:00

I finally finished a bag I started quite a while ago. I didn't have straps for it, so that was what kept me from finishing it.

The bag has a light green rug yarn warp, and the weft is old video tapes (where the secret message comes from).

The straps for the handles were woven on my homemade CPVC inkle loom. I finished the second strap last weekend while tending my friend's greenhouse and plant sale. The day started out a bit slow, so I was glad I took the loom and a chair.

Another UFO finished!

Dyeing Day

2011-06-06T10:35:00.000-04:00

Yesterday started out with a sad day at church, since one of our well loved members passed away suddenly the day before.

When we got home, Bob and I did a little garden prep and put in a few tomato plants, and some giant zinnias. Bob worked on getting a fence up around the area to try and keep the munchy critters out.

After we finished all of that, I got to start on a dyeing project.
I bought some ugly yellow wool yarn at an estate sale and thought I would try to turn it into a brown. I wound off almost a pound into four skeins, and soaked it, to prepare for the dye bath. I figured I could start with purple, since it is opposite on the color wheel from yellow, and would get some sort of brown.

My first attempt ended up being a little toward the purple-plum side, so I asked a friend if I should try adding a bit more yellow to the mix and dye it again. Back to the dyepot with the yellow added.

Thank goodness Bob was around to pull those hot, heavy skeins out of the dye bath. As the steaming picture shows, I did get a brown after adding lemon yellow. My conclusion to this dye experiment is to use a lot less dye. The directions I found said to use between 1-5 teaspoons of dye powder (fiber reactive Procion MX). I used about 1 1/2 teaspoons of the purple, and added 1/2 teaspoon of yellow. That was directions for dyeing a pound. My yarn weighed slightly under a pound (14.4 oz.). Under a teaspoon would have been plenty.

They are out on the golf cart, drying in the nice breeze right now. I can probably get out in the studio quite soon and start winding warp. The plan is for this wool to become fabric to make some Teddy bears. I'm thinking of using some treadling variations of traditional bird's eye and John Murphy's bird's eye, from Marguerite Davison's book, pages 13 and 14. I will do a five yard warp, sett 16 epi, 24" in the reed. I only need a little over 1/2 yard per bear, so I will have fun playing with the variations.

The two small skeins on the right are a different color brown, and are a different yarn. There was still dye in the pot after finishing the first four skeins, so I took some dirty yarn, washed it, and dyed a bit of it with the remainder in the pot. That will be added to my "someday this will become a wool rug" stash.

I ended my evening with a walk with Bob, marveling at the beauty of new growth on the blue spruce, looking for yellow lady's slippers, and then chasing around a swallow-tail butterfly feasting on our lilacs.

It was a wonderful day!

Teaching Our Daughter-in-law to Weave

2011-05-29T23:02:00.000-04:00

It's always enjoyable having our daughter-in-law Rebecca come up with Edwin. She is always interested in learning something new. The last few times, we have gone out to the studio and I have shown her some simple weaving. This time, she is working on the Atwater-Bronson lace pick-up. After about 4 picks of needing to beat harder, she caught right on.

I showed her how to read the pattern for the pick-up, on the clipboard next to her, and then showed her how the pattern works. It didn't take her long at all to memorize the treadling.

She has finished over half of the four rows of blocks!

While Rebecca was weaving, I finished all the hems on the three towels and dishrag. I like how they turned out. To me, they have a vintage look to them, especially with the colors, and the one that has the small border.

Here is a close-up of the details of my variations. Click the picture to make it bigger. The dishrag was just woven with a straight 2/2 twill. The colors are pretty true in these photos.

It's nice to have an extra day off tomorrow. Maybe I will finish hemming one of my lace towels, and work on my fabric.

I would like to start planning some more yardage, wool, to make Teddy bears. I'm debating using up some ugly yellow colored estate sale yarn in my stash. I'm debating whether to dye it a better bear color before warping the loom. I think I will do some calculations for warp length and width and wind the warp first, and then decide whether to dye it. That way, I'll know for sure I have enought yarn dyed.

Great Outdoor and Indoor Day

2011-05-27T15:29:00.000-04:00

I started my projects for the day with starting the sanding job on the loom stand parts for my Leclerc Jano table loom. It's a little hard on my arthritic hands with all the vibration, so I am doing a little bit at a time. I set everything up in the garage doorway, so it's great with a bit of sun.

Well, here I am with my annoying noisy cat, Susie. She desperately needed some foot pets and tummy tickles. It made for a nice break, while I got my hand moving again, out of the claw position from holding the sander!

Well, now that I have the camera out, I might as well record the beautiful tulips in my garden. The tulips had babies this year! I don't have much luck with them, because of the overabundance of deer that think I plant them for gourmet meals (for them). They didn't bother them much this spring, so I had a good show and a big increase in the number of flowers.

There must have been over twenty tulips in this bunch. They are so cheerful and look so picturesque against the picket fence!

Now that I am thoroughly side-tracked, I might as well go across the road and see if there are any more morel mushrooms. Oh, gosh, look at the size of this one--it must be about seven inches tall. There is a smaller one, only about 5" tall trying to poke it's head into the picture behind this one.

Ok, now back to work. A few more pieces sanded.

Now to the studio. I finished the third and last towel on the Fanny warp, so I finished weaving off the remainder of the warp. It was enough to make a dish rag to go with the set. Here they are posing for a photo after serging the ends. Next up is giving them all a good hot sudsy bath. Hopefully they will end up being absorbant. This is my first test of this box of estate sale yarn.

Well, back to work!

Why I Use Sticks When Warping My Looms

2011-05-22T13:40:00.001-04:00

Just recently, on one of the weaving forums I follow online, someone asked about using sticks between layers of warp wound on the backbeam. I didn't see any replies talking about my main reason for using them. Cords or straps make lumps that show through paper, light cardboard, window shades, etc. that are used to separate layers of warp. The tie-on rods on my looms are attached to the front or back beam with some type of cord or strap. Three different set-ups are shown in the following photos.

They will all make lumps of varying sizes. Tying the warp bouts to the front rod also make siginificant lumps.

If the lumps aren't covered with something sturdy, like sticks, the lumps will distort the warp or cloth, as shown in this photo. I was working on a lace pick-up, and forgot to add the sticks. The photo is a little blurry, but I think you can get the idea.

I had to loosen my tension on the loom when I realized what happened, and started to insert sticks and gently work them around the beam to get back to the start. It's better if you don't forget, since it isn't a good idea to loosen the tension too much. You can see one of the sticks as I started to insert it. Moulding used to attach screening to wooden doors works well if it is given a light sanding. Big box home improvement stores or lumber yards stock it.

This photo shows the cloth after inserting 5-6 sticks. It doesn't take many. They don't have to be tight against each other, but only close enough that the warp or cloth can span between two sticks without lumps showing in between them. I put two sticks over the rod and knots at the start, and then space the others out.

After the back beam is covered once, I use heavy paper or window shades to keep the rest of the layers separate. It is ok to use just sticks, if you are putting a short warp on, but don't stack them, since they could slip. It isn't very economical for a long warp, since sticks are more expensive than heavy paper, and they will fill the beam more quickly than paper.

The separation of layers is very important to prevent individual threads from sinking into previous layers. If that happens, the warp threads are no longer the same length, and will cause the warp tension to be uneven.

My warps are wound under tension. A trapeze works well when winding a warp without help. That is another subject and has been discussed in previous posts.

Once the cloth is smooth on the front beam, there isn't any reason to separate the layers.

Towel From Rachel's Dyed Yarn

2011-05-11T22:51:00.000-04:00

I finished the first towel from my daughter Rachel's yarn that she dyed quite a while ago. Since it is plain weave, with only two borders with color changes, the weaving went fast.

Asymmetric isn't really my style, but sometimes I'm in to trying something different. I guess it doesn't look too bad. I wish the wide blue stripe was just a little narrower though.
I should be able to get a couple more towels out of this warp. I'm not sure what I will do to make the next ones a little different. I'm out of the blue, so that is one detail they won't have. Maybe I'll try twill next.

Here is a closer view of the yarns, showing the thick and thin and the narrow border (about 1"). I warped this at 20 epi, 2 per dent in a 10 dent reed. The thin spots on the yarn are twisted pretty tight, and are thinner than an 8/2 yarn. I hope it is absorbent once I wash it.

Thanks, fellow weaver Michael from Wisconsin, for the idea to use a drummer's stool. I borrowed Bob's stool tonight, and it was pretty comfortable. I know I won't get to keep it, since he needs it for gigs, so I guess I will start checking some out and maybe get my own. It didn't irritate the backs of my thighs, but the lump between my legs was just a bit too wide, especially for treadling side by side treadles.

Current Loom Projects

2011-05-04T23:31:00.000-04:00

I recently finished a looper rug that was on Fanny, but I'm not happy with it. I had trouble with the stretchiness of the loops and it affected the width of the rug. Usually weaving tends to get narrower, but this rug grew in width. Oh, well, live and learn. I can still wipe dirty feet on it at the back door! The color isn't the best in the photo. It should have been taken in daylight instead of at night. It really isn't this yellow.

Yesterday, I wound a warp of thick and thin yarn that my daughter Rachel dyed a while back when she came to visit. It is a short warp, only 3 1/2 yards of thick and thin cotton. I put it on Fanny, and is destined for towels. A towel from the Handwoven publication, Winning Towels from the 21st century towel contest was the inspiration for the warp stripes. I tend to like things symetrical, so I'm not sure how I will like these. I wish I hadn't made the widest blue stripe quite that wide, and put part of it on the left half instead. I still need to thread the heddles and reed. I will be weaving it with white in plain weave. I'm not sure if my weft will be the thick and thin yarn, or a smooth one. I will decide after I sample.

The fabric with wool warp and rayon weft is on Arti, and is coming along nicely. I can't sit very long at a time to weave, so it is a bit slow, especially with the color changes. I've got about 30" done. I really need to get a bench or chair that doesn't bother the backs of my legs so much, and is padded.

Since this project is just fabric, I'm not worrying about yarn ends hanging out at the selvedges, or being carried up the edges. I'm not sure what this fabric will become, but it is helping to use up some of my stash.

Victoria still has a narrow warp from a doubleweave class I took a while ago. I'm not too motivated to finish this project, since it was just for sampling in the class. It is only about 10" wide, so not very useful, and I don't care for weaving on table looms. When I decide I need the 8 harnesses for a project, I will probably finish it, or just pull it off. I'd really like to add some treadles to the loom stand, but need to get Bob willing to help.

Dorothy has a pretty towel started on her, with Atwater-Bronson lace pickup. My daughter-in-law Rebecca has been up a couple times, and is interested in learning about weaving. She did the first row of hemstitching on this towel, and did a beautiful job for her first time. The patterns that will be woven are on the clipboard in the background. The bottom three are done.

This is a combination of two projects. Quite a while ago, I decided to weave a bag with green rug warp and old video tapes. It was designed as I wove, so I have some twill in different directions, plus some plain weave, or basket weave. It didn't have straps, so I never finished the bag.

While my daughter-in-law was up at Easter, I showed her how to wind a warp and put it on the loom, thinking that it could be the straps, but I didn't like how it looked. The warp was too narrow for the heavy Fanny, so I scraped that project. It did serve a good purpose, though, because Rebecca got a nice bit of experience on the loom with beaming the warp, threading, and weaving twill in two directions, and doing some basketweave. Wish she could be around more. I enjoy teaching her weaving.

I had a band of red and black that was done on my inkle loom quite a while ago when I was testing it after making the loom. It has been hanging around, decorating my wall, but I've decided to use it for one of the bag straps, and I threaded another one. Whenever I get that one completed, I will have a nifty conversation piece grocery bag. I'm calling this bag my Secret Message Bag, since the message is on the video tapes.

Enough projects and enough yacking for now, since I have to be to work early tomorrow.

Looper Rug Started

2011-04-14T21:46:00.000-04:00

I actually felt well enough tonight to go warm up the studio and start weaving again. I found some old wool sock loopers from one of my very first weaving projects out in the studio and it looked like there were enough for one rug.

I have enough warp left on the Fanny to make one more rug, it is green, so the loopers and the warp were a perfect match. The loopers were a natural color, and I dyed them with orange and green Kool-aide to make a couple rugs about 6 years ago.

I spent one evening a couple days ago watching Funniest Home Videos and looping short strips together. It made three pretty good sized piles (stacked on the loom in the background.

This is the start of my designing on the loom. I don't know if I am going to be very happy with it because the loopers are quite stretchy and is making the rug kind of wavey and a bit wider than the hem. Usually when I weave, I put a fair amount of angle to the weft before beating, but this seems like I shouldn't put any angle to it.

Some stripes started. I just have to make sure I save an equal amount of loopers for the other half of the rug so it is balanced.

Well, I've had enough fun for my birthday. I think I will head for bed and read or watch a movie.

New Canaan Check Sample After Wet-Finishing

2011-03-21T20:48:00.000-04:00

Here are the two halves of the sample. On the left, obviously, is the unwashed half, and on the right, the washed and pressed wet- finished half. Quite a bit of shrinkage. I soaked it in hot water with Dawn dish soap to release any spinning oils, or natural oils. I agitated it just a little after it soaked a bit, then rinsed in warm water, rolled it in a towel and hung it to air dry.

Just a comparison of the pressed sample and the unfinished half. It passed the properly finished test--I couldn't poke my fingernail between the weave.

I actually like the backside, too. It looks more plaid than the front.

From this view, it looks sort of three dimensional, almost like waves. I like it! Now, to get the rest of the 7 yards woven. I'm going, I'm going!

Wool/Rayon Sample Done

2011-03-20T21:21:00.000-04:00

The cough I have had for almost four weeks is really getting me down. After a much needed three hour nap after church, I did get out to the studio and wove a sample on my wool warp.

Here is the warp spread on the loom and ready to go. It is 28” wide, with 1” stripes.

The weft is a chained rayon that I have had for quite a while, but just couldn’t decide what to use it for. There are four colors, plum, burgundy, rust, and a rosy tan. This photo is a pretty good representation of the colors.

I have more plum color than the other three colors, so my plan is to weave the plum after both of the other dark colors, and use the tan as an accent between pattern sections.

Well, here is how the sample turned out on the loom. I need to work on my beat, to make the stripes end up the same width. Right now, each color stripe is about three cm. wide. I'm waiting for some glue to dry, and then I'll go back out and cut the sample off the loom. I will cut it in half, keeping one half as is, and will wash the other half to see how the wool fulls. After checking that, I will decide whether to beat harder, softer, or as I was doing.

Here is a close-up. So far, I am happy with how it is turning out. I’ll see if I am still happy after the wet finishing.

Wool and Rayon Project Started

2011-03-19T13:43:00.000-04:00

My favored yarns are washable, so mainly I weave with cotton, rayon chenille and other types of rayon. I have had a large quantity of 9/2 wool in my stash (that needs reducing!), so a few days ago, I finished winding a warp of that wool. My vague goal is to weave some fabric to eventually make into a jacket.

The warp was wound in 1" stripes at 16 epi. It is sett at 2 ends per inch in an eight dent reed, measuring 28" wide.

I wound it onto my Leclerc Artisat 36" loom last night, using my trapeze. It was a nice tight winding, and went on very smoothly, with no glitches.

Here is another view of the trapeze. It keeps the warp taut with the milk jugs about one fifth full of water and hung on the ends. The best part of this way to warp, is that I can put a warp on the loom without help is most cases.

After I got the warp on the backbeam, I took some time to reconsider the twill I was planning to weave. Looking through Marguerite Davison's Handweaver's Pattern Book, I found New Canaan Check on page 118. It has a 16 thread repeat, so I played around with it a bit on Fiberworks on my computer. I ended up choosing version XI, which is showing on my monitor (a bit stretched out for ease of reading while threading).

It was getting late, so I only threaded three of the stripes and then headed for bed. I will get going on it again this afternoon.

Is our work really work, or is it play?

2011-02-27T12:31:00.000-05:00

I ran across this on another weaver's blog, http://laurasloom.blogspot.com/2011/02/working-or-playing.html
I liked it so well, I am borrowing it, as she did, from James Mitchener.

Master in the Art of Living

As a master in the art of living
you draw no distinction between
your work and your play,
your labour and your leisure,
your mind and your body,
your education and your recreation,
your love and your religion.

You hardly know which is which.

You simply pursue your vision of
excellence through whatever you
are doing and leave it to others
to determine if you are working
or playing - to yourself
you are always doing both.

James Michener

I think anyone doing creative work, whether weaving, writing, drawing, painting, quilting, designing, or any other multitude of creative endevors would agree.

I've started on a more intricate pick-up design for lace. I'm still working on it, but you can see what it looks like partially finished. I'll keep tweeking it, till I'm happy with it. Many of my designs only make it as far as paper. We'll see if this one ever gets on a loom!
This one requires an odd number of blocks in order to center the design. I'm figuring on 39 blocks, with 8 warp ends in each block. I'm thinking of rethreading the loom with the remainder of my warp from my other projects, after a make a couple more towels.

I finished another towel with the pick-up technique. Here is a close-up of one of the three stripes, the very simple design, and a look at the zig-zag or trellis hemstitching. There are three stripes of lace, each 10 blocks wide, separated by an inch of plain weave.

Have a creative day!

Green Rag Rug is Hemmed

2011-02-23T18:46:00.000-05:00

The rag rug with all kinds of prints with green is complete. I finished the hems last night, brought it in, dampened it on both sides, stomped on it a bit to set everything and left it to dry. I still need to work on a tiny bit of waviness on the edges, which I suppose just requires a bit more weight on the edge threads. I thought I had enough, but apparently not.

Here is a close up. Since the strips were only one inch, doubled, there are four raw edges on the strips, and therefore, more lose threads. Also, the way I joined the strips cause little tags of the ends to poke out between the warps. If you don't like that in a rug, don't use my techniques! I think it adds to the charm of a rag rug though.

Atwater-Bronson Lace Pick-up

2011-02-22T21:31:00.000-05:00

Along with finishing weaving the rag rug last night, I also finished the hems (by machine) on the Atwater-Bronson lace towel I was working on. This towel is a sampler of designs I drew on graph paper, when I was playing around with the possibilities for this lace pick-up technique. There are twelve squares, each with a different design. Each square consists of 10 x 10 lace blocks. Each lace block consists of eight warp threads and eight weft picks.

I divided the designs into groups depending on how many blocks each required. I just kept drawing until I had enough designs for what I wanted to do. Since my squares were 10 x 10 blocks, I needed to use an even number design, or the design wouldn't be centered. If I used the designs that are 7 or 9 blocks wide, I would thread an uneven number of lace blocks. The x part of the design turns out as plain weave when woven.

This is one half of the towel. The designs from my graph are:
Top row: 8-G, 6-E, 8-F
Bottom row: 6-I, 8-E, 6-B

This is the other end of the towel. The patterns are: Top row: 6-A, 8-H, 6-B (minus 4 x's). Bottom row: 8-L (minus 4 x's), 6-C, 8-I

This is a very easy weave structure, and the treadling sequence is very easy to memorize. My grandson Davey (age 8) was over last weekend, and he was able to weave some of it, and understood the pickup on this simple pattern, which is only 4 blocks wide by 3 blocks high:

As I mentioned in a previous post, this pickup idea came from an article by Bob Owen in the March/April 1992 issue of Handwoven, pg. 56-57.

If I was going to change anything the next time, I would have more lace, and less plain weave divisions. But then, the possibilities are just about endless. Unfortunately, I will probably not have enough time to ever weave all my ideas.

I'm going out to get that rag rug off the loom now.

Technique for Joining Rag Strips Worked Great

2011-02-21T23:35:00.000-05:00

I just came in from finishing a rag rug. I really liked the method for joining my strips. I showed it in a previous post, as I decided to try it. I did move the sewing over to my industrial Singer 111, because it sews faster. If anyone tries this method, just make sure the fabric joins are staggered. I overlap my joins about 1". The join won't pull apart, because it has a solid strip backing it. I was using a lot of doll clothes scraps, so some of the strips were short. My strips varied anywhere from 6" to full fabric width. To avoid stripes in the rug with the longer strips, just flip it over in the shed to have the reverse side show. I used a neutral sewing thread down the center of the strips, wrong sides together, and the thread doesn't show in the rug.

Here is the hem end, with glue. I will let it dry overnight and probably cut it off tomorrow and get it hemmed. The colors in this photo don't show the green very well. All the fabrics that I used had some green in the pattern.

These show the color a little better.

Finishing a Long Rug Warp

2011-02-16T22:16:00.001-05:00

The warmer weather the last couple days (out of the single digits and low 20's) has gotten me back out to the studio. Yesterday, I started cutting some more calico strips from a huge box of scraps that my aunt gave me.

These are cut 1 inch wide. I just use my rotary cutter, ruler, and mat.

The rug is on my Leclerc Fanny. I put quite a bit of green warp on a while ago, and the color is getting boring. I think I like stripes in the warp better than all one color.

For this set of rags, I am putting two one inch strips, wrong sides together, and stitching down the center to keep the right sides showing. I just kept adding new strips until I had enough to fill a shuttle. The first shuttles worth is already woven, and shuttle two and three are ready to go. I will get back at it again tomorrow after I get home from work.

I should take the first Atwater-Bronson towel out to the studio, also, and get the hems sewn in.

Right now, I'm just too tired. Bed is calling--

Ladder Hemstitching with Photos

2011-02-01T19:52:00.000-05:00

I was looking for instructions for ladder hemstitching a couple days ago, because I can't seem to remember which side I should start the stitching. I did the first end of the towel without instructions, starting from the left, and it felt awkward, especially the second row. I could find directions for the first half of the two rows in some of my books, but not the second row.
I decided to try it again, from the right side (I'm right handed), and snap some photos as I did the steps. Now I can refer to my own directions in the future.
My towel started with a plain weave hem. I wanted a hem about one inch wide, so I wove about 2 1/2" before starting the hemstitching. I cut a tail from the weft, about 3-4 widths long. Thread a tapestry needle (which has a blunt tip) with the tail.

Starting at the right side, take the thread under the first bundle and up between the first and second group of threads. (Wrapping the first group is not shown, but is done like this photo.)

Holding the thread taut, put the needle under the bundle again, and bring it up between the first and second bundle, two threads below the edge. Tighten thread.

Holding thread taut, the needle goes under the next bundle, up between bundles, and around bundle. The needle exits two threads below. Repeat, as in the two photos, across the row.

Some of the first row. The spacing will look neat and even, if the thread is kept taut while stitching.

This shows two spacer rows woven in with a smooth, heavier yarn. Make sure the heavy yarn is in the correct shed if it matters which direction your plain weave needs to be woven. Leave four widths of yarn at the right side, and weave several picks of plain weave.

Start the second hemstitching like the first, threading a tapestry needle with the tail. Start with the needle under the first bundle, up and around the bundle, coming up between the bundles, two threads above the row.

Hold the thread taut, needle under the next bundle,

around the bundle, exiting two threads above. Repeat across the towel.

Finished ladder hemstitching. The spacer yarn is pulled out after wet-finishing the piece. Turn the hem. Finish by hand, or as I did, by using matching thread and the zig-zag stitch on the sewing machine. Adjust the stitch length, so each zig goes into a hole, and each zag catches the hem.

Zig-zag hemstitching can also be done using the same directions, with one difference in the second row. Instead of using the whole first bundle, wrap around half of it. Each successive group will be half of two groups from row one.

Although I was doing ladder hemstitching for these instructions, a single row can also be used to anchor the warp threads in bundles for fringe, instead of tying them in a knot. It looks nicer, and doesn't take much more time, and your piece doesn't have hard lumps from knots.

Free Sleying Hook

2011-01-26T21:51:00.001-05:00

Here is one of my favorite weaving tools. The weaving craft can get kind of expensive, but this sleying hook is free.

I use the fake credit cards that come in the advertising from credit card companies. I tend to misplace things, so if I only had one sleying hook, I probably wouldn't get much weaving accomplished. By making my own, I can have one or a dozen by each loom. If I accidently drop one, I just pick up another one and keep going.

This wasn't my own idea. I had heard of someone making them, but drew my own pattern. It is designed so the tips just fit corner to corner on the card. (The pattern in the photo is drawn on a piece of paper.) Cut out the pattern and trace around it with a Sharpie marker onto the card. Cut the card with heavy scissors, except the circular area of the hook. Use a hole punch for that spot. Make sure all the edges are smooth, so they don't snag the yarn.

I make sure I give a couple to each new weaver I get a chance to teach. This photo is of me in my weaving studio in the garage. It's a bit chilly out there this time of year, so I decided to bring one of my small looms inside. I just started some hand towels with Atwater-Bronson lace pick-up, using some of my designs.

Have a great time weaving! I know I am!

Tips for Serging Rag Rug Strips

2011-01-04T23:54:00.000-05:00

There was a discussion recently on RugTalk (an online group for people interested in weaving rugs), about sewing rag strips together with a serger to prepare them for weaving. Although I have two sergers, I haven't used this method myself for rugs. My reasons for not using the serger are that I think I can do it just as quickly with my regular sewing machine, the serger uses more thread, and the seam isn't as stable as one made with a sewing machine.

The main positive reason I can think of for using the serger is that it saves some time trimming the little triangle away from the seam, since the serger does it while sewing the seam.

Don't think that because the serger has a cutter, it should be used to cut your fabric strips. It isn't a very fast method, and will quickly wear out the two blades on the serger, and eventually wear out the motor.

I would wait for a sale at the fabric store and purchase a rotary cutter, gridded cutting mat, and gridded 6" x 24" thick ruler like in the photo. The advantage to using the rotary cutter is that several layers of fabric can be cut at once, your width will be consistant, and it is FAST. Remember to keep the blade locked when you aren't cutting. If it accidently falls off your table, it is less likely to nick the blade or cut the dog or your foot!

Here are some tips to use a 3/4 thread serger. First of all, I would use the 4 thread (two needle) stitch to sew the strips together. The 3-thread stitch pulls apart too easily.

This is an example of a serged seam using 4 threads. The top of the seam is on the left and the underside is angling down. There are two straight stitches made by the needles, and the wavy back and forth threads are made by the upper and lower loopers. The straight stitches are only seen on the top side. If the tensions are properly balanced, those two straight rows of stitching only show on the top, and on the reverse side only as a tiny dot. The straight line down the center of the seam serves the purpose of making a more stable seam. It is harder to pull apart a 4-thread seam.

This is an example of a 3-thread seam. It looks the same on both sides of the seam. It doesn't have the added stabilizing thread, and a seam sewn with this can pull apart much easier. To be properly balanced, the tensions are adjusted till the threads interlock right at the edge. There are good uses for this stitch. It is a bit stretchier, so it is sometimes used in knit clothing seams. It will also stabilize an edge of fabric to prevent raveling.

This is an example of a three-thread seam that can pull apart quite easily.

Strips are cut and ready to start sewing together. For illustration purposes only, I have marked the stitching line on the fabric. The two strips are placed right sides together at a right angle. They will be sewn together with an angled seam to reduce bulk in one spot when weaving, so the rug won't look lumpy bumpy.

The toe on the serger presser foot has marks indicating where the two needles seams will be. The seam ripper is pointing at the mark where the outer needle will stitch. Line up the corner of the top fabric with that mark.

Stitch the seam. A little triangle of fabric will be trimmed off as the seam is sewn. When the end of the fabric gets to the front of the presser foot, flip the other end of the top fabric over so the right side is up, and add your next strip.

Continue sewing, without cutting the thread between, till quite a few are sewn together.

Clip the strips apart.

Fold strip in half. Seam is spread out in a "V", reducing bulk in one spot. A serger leaves chains of thread. If you gently pull on them, the looper threads will slide off the needle threads. Clip the tails.

Wind folded strips onto shuttle and weave a beautiful rug.

I still personally think that clipping all those tails, even if they are shorter than shown in the picture, take just as much time as sewing on a sewing machine, snipping the chain of strips apart, and trimming the small triangle off. Try it both ways and decide for yourself. Happy weaving!

Tips for Rag Rug Hems, Additional photo

2010-12-31T10:47:00.001-05:00

In May and August, 2010, I wrote two entries with rag rug tips. When reviewing my instructions today, I realized I should have had a photo showing my method for weaving the hems for rag rugs.

Like many others, I dislike fringe on my rugs because they gradually wash away in the laundry, especially with cotton warp. I prefer to weave about three inches in plain weave (1-3 vs 2-4) at the beginning and end of my rugs, so I can fold a hem about 3/4" to 1" wide.

When I first started adding a hem, I had the problem many other weavers have, with the hem drawing in much narrower than the body of the rug. I do a lot of reading, and came across this tip, and it solved the problem:

Instead of weaving the hem like I weave the body of my rug (1-2 vs 3-4, giving me doubled warp threads), I use tabby. Instead of angling the weft in the shed, I arc the weft, and throw a few bubbles in for good measure (see photo).
It gives a stretchy hem with very little draw-in. By the time an inch is woven, the weaving at the edges will even out a bit. The first inch doesn't matter too much, since it is folded into the hem and won't show. Play around with the arc size and the amount of bubbling till you get a hem that isn't drawing in.

Sewing the hem takes some other techniques, but I will have to save that for another time, when I have a rug finished and ready to hem. My technique avoids broken sewing machine needles. Stay tuned. Happy New Year!

Davey Finished Weaving His First Project

2010-12-12T22:17:00.000-05:00

I am so proud of my grandson Davey. He is eight years old, and when he came for a weekend at the end of November, we did some weaving. He had been practicing on the rigid heddle loom, and was doing a great job, so I thought he was ready to start a pattern on my little four shaft loom.

Here he is demonstrating the proper way to hold a shuttle. He is doing very well throwing it through the shed and catching it.

Davey finished weaving today. He is pretty proud of what he made.

I showed him how to wet finish it in hot soapy water till the water looked clean. After rolling it in a towel to get most of the moisture out, he straightened it out on the counter and rolled it hard with the marble rolling pin. It is hanging to dry now. Hemming will be tomorrow after I get home from work.

Sampling Wool - Angora Yarn

2010-12-06T23:03:00.000-05:00

As part of my stash reduction, I picked out a yarn that I thought would make a nice little handbag. I purchased two cones of wool mixed with angora yarn at an estate sale a while ago.

I got out my notes from a Magic in the Water workshop that I went to a while ago. We made several samples with different wools, so I was able to compare my yarn with some of the yarns we used in the class. Mine was similar to one that was sett at 10 epi, so that was my starting point.

I checked out the shrinkage and decided that 10" in the reed would work. I liked it already, since that was only 100 ends! I wanted to make about six bags, plus have some to play around with, so I measured out about ten yards. On the warping reel, it went quickly.

It was important to see how much the fabric would full, so I wove off 24" and cut it off the loom. Staying up way too late last night, I did the wet finishing. I agitated it by hand in hot soapy (Dawn) water for about 4-5 minutes. I changed the water a couple times so the water would stay hot.

The sleazy cloth that came off the loom measured 9" W by 21" L without tension. When the fulling was complete, I measured the sample again. This time it was 8 1/2" by 18 1/2" L. I could tell that it was going to be soft, even though it was still wet. I heat set it by pressing between a couple towels. After the pressing and air drying, the final measurement was 7 3/4" W by 18" L, for a loss of 3" in the width and 6" in length. Definitely a cloth to dry clean or gently hand wash in cool water.

When I got up this morning, it was dry, and so soft. Notice the fine angora hairs on the edge. The whole cloth has a halo. It was no longer a sleazy texture.

I plan on trying some other weaves and some experiments with dyeing using Kool Aid and Wilton food colors. Here is a link to a description of the process: Dyeing animal fiber with Kool Aid and Wilton food coloring

If it is not too hard, I will have a good project for grandchildren.

More Stash Reduction

2010-11-28T19:08:00.000-05:00

I know I am calling it stash reduction, but when I look at my stash after completing a project, it doesn't look like anything has changed! I suppose others experience the same thing. I can say though, that the recent projects did not involve buying anything new, and some of the materials were given to me.

The first project was a set of six placemats that I started a while ago. I have a huge cone of fairly heavy cotton yarn that is dyed a varigated dark blue to white. I have used it a lot, and the cone still looks big. When our son Edwin told us he was getting married, I set to work finishing the placemats for Rebecca's bridal shower. Her favorite color is blue, so it was perfect for her.

The weft yarn was from my vast stash of fairly heavy cotton yarn that was given to me a couple years ago. Both yarns used in this project have been used many times for teaching children to weave. It's a great weight for making a project weave quickly, and still end up with something that is usable.

My eight year old grandson, Davey, spent a few days with Grandma after Thanksgiving Day. He had been doing some weaving on a rigid heddle loom, and was quite meticulous with his work, so I thought he was ready to move on to a four shaft loom.

There was warp left over on the placemat loom, so we looked in the Davison book for a few choices for him. Since it was already threaded 1-2-3-4, he decided on a 2-2 twill that reverses direction with color changes. We decided that some white yarn and some different colors of green yarn that I had left over from another towel project would work well.

I only got videos of him working on the four shaft table loom, but I did get a couple pictures of his work.

His selvedges look great and he is being pretty consistant with his beat. He was easily distracted though, so he only got a little bit done. Guess Grandma will have to have him over again soon!

While Davey was weaving on his project, I finished up a rag throw rug made with wool fabric strips that a friend gave me. It was a design as I go type rug, with the stripe width being determined by the amount of a particular fabric. There were several different plaids and a few plain fabrics. I decided to seperate the different plaids with plain strips. To add a little interest to the plain fabric area, I twisted two colors together. That was ok for a couple rows at a time, but I wouldn't want to do a whole rug like that because the twisting takes too long.

I am pretty happy with how it turned out. After putting it down on the floor, I thought the colors would look nice in our bathroom, since the colors are similar to the colors on the "rustic" shower curtain.

With the rug done, I got back to the linen warp and wove another towel. This is still from pg 39 of Davison's book, weaving version II. It is a single shuttle pattern, and goes very quickly. Since I used a cotton varigated yarn with slubs, the pattern isn't real distinct. It shows better on the closeup photo. The yarn is varigated blue, turquoise, green, and lavender.
Hopefully I have enough warp for at least one more towel. I think I will do this version again with a solid color yarn.

All in all, I think I had a pretty productive last few days.

Question About Threading Front to Back (F-to-B)

2010-11-24T17:38:00.000-05:00

Sharon asked me why I used a raddle to thread my linen warp if I was threading F-to-B.

Actually, I didn't use the traditional method of threading because all I had was a large bundle of warp threads, about 4 yards long. It was cut at both ends and there was no cross. This would definitely be considered slow cloth!

Sharon, this threading was kind of a hybrid of front to back. I used a raddle because I started with threading the heddles first from the center out to each side. I put lease sticks in behind the heddles and threaded a cross with it as I was threading the heddles. I tied the warp to the bar on the back beam, and then counted the correct number of ends per inch in the lease sticks and placed them in the raddle. I did that from the center out to the sides also.

I didn't sley the reed till I was all done beaming the warp, so the raddle was used to keep it the correct width. The tow linen was so sticky, I didn't want more than one thing for it to catch on.

I don't usually thread f-to-b, although that is how I originally learned (from Deborah Chandler's book). The multicolored warp with lots of pattern changes that I did for towels a while ago needed to be threaded that way.

If you haven't finished threading your loom f-to-b, find a way to weight your warp as you wind it on the back beam. You can weight it in several bundles, as long as they all have the same amount of weight. Stretch the warp out a ways from the front of the loom to keep tangles to a minimum. Slap the warp to seperate any tangles. Don't pull on individual warp threads. Good luck. I'm looking forward to seeing pictures once you get going on the weaving.

To see Sharon's blog, go to: In Stitches

Linen Towel Project

2010-11-14T01:31:00.000-05:00

This week, I have been working on using more of my stash. I purchased quite a lot of yarn at an estate sale a while back, and one of the things I bought was a large bundle of linen that was a cut off warp with no cross. It was about four yards long, and a mix of a plyed smooth linen singles and tow linen singles.

It's a good thing I am not a production weaver, because it took forever, or so it seemed, to get it on my Leclerc Artisat loom.

Because the tow linen was so sticky, I decided to thread front to back so I could control the tangles better. I worked with small bundles of pattern units and threaded the heddles first. I wanted a cross, so as I threaded each bundle, I put the ends over and under my lease sticks attached to the back beam.

Once I threaded the heddles, added two floating selveges, and tied onto the backbeam, I was able to put some weights on the warp ends. I moved the lease sticks to the front of the loom and worked it slowly toward the end of the warp. The yarn was soooo sticky, and I was beginning to hope I wouldn't have to ditch the project. Patience!

It paid off! But very slowly. No warps broke while winding on the back beam.

The warp is spaced 25 epi in a 15 dent reed. It is sleyed 1-2-2. The first dishtowel I am working on is mainly plain weave, with a border at each end. The threading came from Marguerite Davison's book, Twill Miniature, on pg. 39.

I'm using the first half of treadling #1 for the borders, with a little bit of plain weave between them. With no tabby for this version, the weaving is going quickly. So far, with tight tension, I have had minimal warp sticking together, but have had one broken warp thread so far.

The weft is a turquoise blue 6/2 cotton, and seems to be working perfectly with the sett of the linen. I love it when my guess turns our right the first time. I wasn't planning on a towel with borders, but as I was spreading the warp and testing for correct threading, I kind of liked the look of it. It is pretty typical of me changing the pattern in some way after I get started.

I use the Golden Ratio to determine the length of the towel and then use adding machine paper for a weaving guide to my towel length. I can mark where the first borders are, and then mark where they should be on the other end of the towel. Once the towel gets wound onto the front beam, I can't look back at what was woven. I tend to get interrupted while weaving, and then forget what I did at the beginning, especially since I'm not a cookbook type of weaver. My adding machine paper has saved me many a time, since I write a lot of notes on it, along with the inch marks. It gets pinned to the edge of my towel while weaving with two pins. It is kept loose, so I can see the whole length of the tape. I use it again for the next towel if I am weaving something similar.
I'm hoping to get 3-4 towels out of this warp.

Back to Weaving

2010-10-25T23:43:00.000-04:00

After a bit of time off, I am back to my looms and it feels good! On October 12, 13, and 14, I took a trip downstate to attend a doubleweave workshop with a weaving friend. It was taught by Jennifer Moore. I had more information crammed into my brain that I will ever be able to use! It was a great class.

The class was run in a round-robin style, with everyone bringing their loom warped with an assigned pattern. There were close to 20 in the class, so most of the patterns were on two looms.

Jennifer gave 2 short lectures per day, and the rest of the time was spent weaving on each others looms. Since I wasn't a speedy weaver, I didn't get to all of the patterns, but I did weave on several that interested me.

The pattern assigned to me was a 2 block doubleweave windows. Some of Jennifer's samples of that structure are shown above and below.

My own weaving on the warp left over is going pretty slowly, since it is being done on my new table loom, an 8 shaft Glimakra Victoria.

I did a little weaving on it tonight after work and dinner. As can be seen by the length of the sample, it is slow going!

I chose to not weave the squares in the order they were threaded because I didn't want a diagonal line of solid color squares. They are a little more random, as can be seen if the photo is clicked to enlarge it. They are the colors I dyed earlier in the month that I wrote about.

Another project that I was working on was a set of 6 placemats. I finished with the weaving a couple days ago, and finished with the wet finishing and ironing yesterday. I was going to hem them, but decided to do a simple fringe after they were washed. I think hems would have been too bulky.

These placemats were part of my effort at stash reduction. Unfortunately, they hardly put a dent in the stash!

The warp was from a very large cone of 4 ply varigated blue, and the weft was from many cones of yarn used to make chennile bedspreads. The colors remind me of the old Fiesta dishes from years ago.

I have enough warp left on the loom for another set. I will think about it a bit, before I start the next set, since I don't want to do the same thing again, and I don't want a lot of yarn color changes, because I hate starting and ending yarn.

Preparing For a Doubleweave Class

2010-10-06T20:02:00.000-04:00

After a long hiatus from weaving and writing, I have started preparing for a class I will be taking next week. Michigan Weaver's Guild
http://www.michiganweaversguild.org/workshops.html
is offering the three daydoubleweave class with Jennifer Moore, author of a new book on doubleweave.

A friend from downstate told me about it and invited me to stay with her and go to class together. I'm really looking forward to the class and getting together with other weavers again.

After checking out the class, I realized I needed a loom with more shafts, so I started looking online and a couple days later, found this sweet loom.

It is a Glimakra Victoria 8 shaft table loom on a stand. This class is getting expensive already! I haven't even tried it out yet. One thing I would like to do with this loom is to convert it to treadles. If any readers have one like it with treadles, I would value your input on how they are hooked up. What little I have found about converting, is that the company only makes a kit for the 4 shaft table loom. I just need to see how they are hooked up, and I think Bob and I could make our own kit.

The doubleweave class is set up as a round-robin, which means everyone weaves samples on other class member's looms. I received my pattern draft last week, and since that didn't leave enough time to buy more yarn, I am using my stash.
The pattern calls for seven colors, which I didn't have, so out came the dyes last night.

Since the beautiful fall season is upon us, I chose a fall color theme. I took the few colors I had of a 6/2 weight cotton and overdyed them to get the colors I wanted.

I finished rinsing them out today after I got home from work, and they are out on the line drying right now.

As soon as they are dry, I will start winding my warp, maybe today, or possibly tomorrow after work.

I love working with color, and trying ones that aren't my favorites. It keeps me out of a rut, and have actually gotten some new favorites through the dyeing process.

Tips For Rag Rug Hems

2010-08-09T22:55:00.001-04:00

I was curious how my rugs turned out, so last night I cut them off the loom after using Kati Meek's method of securing the warp for the next rugs.

I showed the start of these quite a while ago. The first one is a little nondescript unless you get up close. Then it looks kind of interesting, because the fabric I used had quite a bit of color in it. From a distance, though, it just looks boring tan.

This rug was woven with five fabrics, with strips approximately 13-14" long and 3" wide. I seamed them together in a set order, although I think I reversed it a couple times. My loom was warped at 12 epi, in a 12 dent reed. That allows me to weave a hem on harnesses 1-3 vs 2-4. I weave the rags with harnesses 1-2 vs 3-4, which gives me doubled warp at 6 epi. I had a friend teach me this technique, and I think it makes a good sturdy rug, with hems that don't pull in too much.

Oh, and another technique I use with the hems is to arch the weft, instead of just angling it. I play around with the amount of arch until I get it where it isn't pulling in. If I owned a temple, I probably wouldn't have to worry about it so much. I made the mistake of weaving one hem on this rug the way like I wove the rags with the doubled warp. The doubled warp hem pulled in a bit.

Young weaver, sewer, knitter

2010-08-07T14:13:00.000-04:00

I spent a nice couple days with two of my grandchildren. Emily and David came over the other night and we worked on some projects, and of course, had to have a tea party or two.

I promised Emily that I would show her how to make a cloth wallet. We went through my cotton calicos and she picked her colors she wanted to work with. She is only 11, and I think just a little young to use the rotary cutter yet, so I did the cutting for her. I suppose I could have traced the pieces and she could have used scissors. Oh well, I never think of cutting patterns out that way any more.

Here is Emily, showing the inside of the almost completed wallet.

And the outside.

She did a fine job with the sewing and pressing. I did let her use the iron. My old Pfaff 1229 is a great machine for children to learn on. I've taught a lot of kids to sew on it. I can reduce the speed quite a bit, and the one stitch at a time feature is great when sewing corners or anywhere a lot of control is needed. I think Emily is going to take after her mother, Becky, since it seems to come very easy to her.

Emily did a bit of weaving on an ongoing project I have set up on my countermarche floor loom for the older grandkids. It's just a striped twill, but they are learning how to walk the treadles and how to tell where they are in the pattern. Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of Emily weaving.

A friend of mine that used to teach Montosori years ago, gave me a real nice rigid heddle loom so I could use it to teach. I try to keep a warp on it for the younger kids that can't quite reach the treadles on the floor loom yet. David took to it like a duck to water.

David is really concentrating on getting his angle and edges just right.

Emily recently made a sock monkey, and wanted to make a scarf for him, so we took a look at my yarn choices and she got started on that project after finishing her wallet. She decided about how many stitches wide she wanted to make it, sampled a little bit and decided it was too wide. It didn't bother her at all to rip it out and start over. I think she understands that sampling can be an important part of the process.

Here's Emily, showing "Joe" how to knit.

It was a good couple days. I love teaching anyone that loves learning.

Stash Reduction Rag Rugs

2010-06-25T00:13:00.000-04:00

I am on a stash reduction mission. I have so much fabric in my stash, from other people and stuff that I bought that I need to make some space to work. I tried selling some at a garage sale, but that wasn't too successful, so rag rugs should help get rid of some of it.

I own a nice book about making rag rugs (shown below),

so I've been using it for some ideas. I liked the idea of sewing strips a set length together to make a diamond pattern, like the photo from the book (below):

I'm still playing around with the length of strips that will work the best, since my warp on the loom isn't the same width as the one in the book. My first try wasn't with long enough strips, so the colors didn't advance enough.

The color change remained at the edges, and I didn't like the look. My next try was with strips that were about 4" longer than the first try, but I don't like that much better. I think I have to have a lot shorter pieces, with the total of them being about twice the width in the reed plus 3-5".

I will probably try that tomorrow after I get home from work.

I did a couple things differently when preparing my strips. I found that 3" wide strips worked the best. I also didn't want to butt the ends together and zig-zag them. I prefer a seam on the diagonal

as I'm demonstrating. Place the two strips at right angles, and then stitch from corner to corner. It reduces the bulk of the seam so it isn't all in one spot, and will be more secure than a butt join.

I'm too tired to work on this any more tonight, so I will wait till tomorrow and then unweave what I have tested and recut the lengths.

Colors of May At the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm, Charlevoix, Michigan

2010-05-31T23:56:00.000-04:00

I think that April slipped by me without posting photos of the colors for that month, but I've been out several times getting photos of the colors of May in Charlevoix.

To check out other colors of May from around the country, visit Sue's blog: Colors of May

She puts out a request for colors from each month to give everyone inspiration with their fiber arts.

Early in May, the three colors of lilacs were beautiful and the smell was wonderful.

Our granddaugher Emily (age 11) snapped this photo of bleeding hearts and lily of the valley.

Emily also took these two butterfly pictures.

Forget-me-not flowers are a beautiful blue color.

The columbines are beautiful this year. I wish they lasted a bit longer.

Yellow Lady's Slipper (a protected wildflower)

This mushroom cap is about 4" across.

The two photos above are of the pitcher plant, and are a protected wildflower. If you ever see one, please don't pick it. It also applies to trillium and lady's slippers. I have many more photos, but my computer is moving at a snail's pace tonight, so I'm settling on these.

Weaving With Old Video Tapes

2010-05-31T22:38:00.000-04:00

I came across some old video tapes today while decluttering the front porch. Since I just finished a rug, (at left, made with fabric found in my stash)

and hadn't started another one yet, I decided to try weaving a recycled bag with the tapes. I unscrewed the case and wound the tape onto a rug shuttle. I'm not sure if I like it yet. It is quite shiny, and only comes in one color-black. It is certainly easier to wind strips that are already cut to size onto a shuttle instead of cutting plastic grocery bags into strips. I'll see how it holds up after I get it sewn together. Unlike the other bags I have made, I am not weaving the straps in on this bag, since it takes a lot of extra time. Now that I have my heavy sewing machine semi-fixed, I will just sew straps onto the bag.

The twill section will be on the side, between the bag straps.

I started measuring and marking fabric, getting ready for my fabric stash reduction sale. Of course, looking at my stash, I started thinking of the rug warp on the loom and which fabrics I should keep for rag rugs. Now I have a big pile set aside. I may have to give myself a good talking to, or I won't get rid of much.

Rag Rug Weaving Tips

2010-05-23T21:08:00.000-04:00

I was reading a weaving friend's blog today, and she was having some trouble with weaving her rag rug. I thought I could put a few tips on here, that I have learned from other weavers.

I just started weaving a rag rug yesterday, so I will use it as an example.

First of all, my usual rag rugs are warped with rug warp or a similar weight sturdy yarn. They are spaced 12 epi in a 12 dent reed and threaded 1-2-3-4 or 4-3-2-1. (click a photo to enlarge)

Each warp yarn gets its own heddle. As you can see in the above photo, the warp is threaded 4-3-2-1 until the last 4 threads. Instead of threading them 4-3-2-1, I thread them 4-4-3-3. You will see why in a minute.

The last 4 warp threads are threaded 2 per dent through the last 2 dents in the reed for a sturdy selvedge.

Weaving for a hem can cause some problems, because the yarn used for the hem is so much thinner than the rags used for the body of the rug. There are a couple things that can be done to minimize the draw-in that can happen. If I'm using rug warp for my hem, I will double it. I quite often use a thicker yarn, such as Sugar and Cream yarn used to knit dishrags, and I usually use a single strand of that size yarn. I weave my hems with a standard tabby (harnesses 1 - 3 alternating with harnesses 2 - 4).

As shown in the above photo, I use my paperclip temple, which I have described in an earlier post. Anchor the hem weft and angle in the shed. Change sheds but don't beat yet.

(Sorry, this weft is angled in the other direction, but you get the idea)

With the shed changed, pull the weft into an arch, down to the opposite fell line and beat. Do this for each pick of your hem. It creates a bit of flex in the hem that doesn't happen with an angled weft. A bit of practice will help you decide how big of an arch you need.

I use different treadles from the tabby hems to weave the rags.

I raise harness 1-2 together, and 3-4 together. That gives me doubled warp threads sett at 6 epi.

I think it helps make a sturdier rug.

Here is the start of my latest rag rug that I'm weaving from a knit I found in my stash. I showed the fabric in my previous post. This fabric is the thickness of that icky old polyester double knit everyone sewed with years and years ago. I cut the strips 1 1/4" wide and it was just right.

I sew my strips together with the following method:

Place two strips at right angles, right sides together. For illustration purposes, I have marked my stitching line. I don't really mark my strips. That's what eyeballing is for!

Stitch from the top corner to the corner of the underneath strip. I like to backstitch a couple stitches at each end of the seam, but a small stitch length without the backstitch would also work. Add another strip to the end of the second strip and continue sewing ends together without cutting the threads. To avoid tangling your strips, wait to cut the threads until you are ready to wind them on your shuttle. When winding onto the shuttle, trim the seam allowance to 1/4", removing a small triangle. If I am folding my strips so only one side shows, I finger press the seam open to reduce bulk in one spot. If I'm not folding my strips, I don't do anything to the seam except trim it to 1/4".

Thick hems can be hard on sewing machines if proper technique isn't used. I will show my method of sewing hems on a home sewing machine in a future post, so stay tuned!

Rug Warp on Loom

2010-05-20T21:48:00.000-04:00

Bob made a warping trapeze for me out of an old door frame I picked up at a garage sale, and I was able to try it out for the first time a couple days ago. A friend that I have been teaching to weave came over, so I was able to show her how to wind a warp onto the loom with that method. I love the way the warp goes on the loom--it is so nice and tight on the beam.

I finished threading the loom last night. Now the loom is sitting there waiting for me to start weaving. I still have to get my paperclip temples ready, and I think I will use the live weight tensioning system for the rugs, so I still have to get that ready too. Before I do that, though, I have a major mess in the upstairs of the garage/studio that I need to finish sorting.

I was going through the fabric stash today and found some fabrics that could be good for rugs, and a whole lot more fabric that I'm hoping someone will buy at my yard sale. I haven't picked a date yet--I don't like making deadlines for things that aren't super important to get done. It will just happen when I'm ready.

Mother's Day

2010-05-15T09:43:00.000-04:00

I'm finally getting a picture on here from Mother's Day. Two of the linen towels in the previous post were given to my mom. I gave her the small finger-tip towel and let her pick another one. She chose the lattice weave.
Happy Mother's Day, Mom.

We finally took our computer to be fixed. Now Bob and I are going through our old, old hard drive and transfering files to our new external hard drive. It's pretty slow going, especially since I don't like to spend hours on the computer.

Right now, I need to get going out to the garage and start weeding out junk. We are definitely due for a garage or yard sale! First off, I'm going to see how many empty boxes I can get out of the upstairs. That should give me a bit more room to work. Wish me luck--I tend to get side-tracked and distracted! Hope it warms up a bit. It is a gorgeous sunny day, but only 48 degrees out. Running up and down stairs should make me warm though.

Linen Huck Towels Completed

2010-05-06T22:19:00.000-04:00

I think I mentioned before that I purchased a couple linen warps last summer at an estate sale. At the time, I didn't realize they were cut off a loom without preserving the cross. A few weeks ago, I took the four yard warp and picked the two ply linen out of the bundle and got my loom threaded with a huck pattern. I finally finished all four towels today.

I found the directions for these towels in a Handwoven magazine. I don't recall the issue right now, but I did mention it in a previous post after finishing the lattice design.

After wet finishing the lattice towel, I decided the floats on the back were a bit long, so I only wove one more from that article, since some of the patterns had even longer floats.

The huck spots towel turned out very nicely. I'm glad I took the time to do the ladder hemstitching. It really sets the towels off. And yes, all the hemming is done by machine.

This one, with the horizontal stripes, was not in the article. All I did was weave a row of spots followed by four tabby rows. The weave is not as dense as the other towels.

With the final bit of warp, I combined the horizontal stripes and the huck spots to make a fingertip towel. The hemming and stripes actually run down the sides of the towel.

All of the towels were woven with pieces of one ply linen that I pulled from the twenty yard warp. I think I accomplished enough with those two warps, so I will put the remainders away for a while.

I'm tired of no color, so my next project will probably have some. I finished winding my green rug warp today. I'd like to get Bob to help my make a trapeze before I wind that warp on to the beam. It goes on so much nicer that way, especially with long warps.

I will close with one of my colors of April pictures. I don't remember planting it, and I don't know what it is, but it has the prettiest blue flowers. Maybe someone can let me know what it is.

Does Weaving Have to be Expensive?

2010-04-29T09:37:00.000-04:00

I wish I had known how inexpensive weaving could be, way back when. This tutorial on Weavezine shows that just about anyone can start to weave on a loom with very little loom expense. The instructions are very detailed and include four videos. If you have about 30 minutes to spare, this is a great lesson.

http://weavezine.com/projects-your-loomBackstrap Loom Basics

I might try it with my grandchildren.

Huck Lattice Towel Finished

2010-04-27T22:38:00.000-04:00

I finished the first towel off the linen warp.

I wouldn't recommend using the treadling for the lattice towels unless the yarn was quite fine because of the long floats on the reverse side. The lattice variation had floats over seven threads. I wish I had put the pattern into Fiberworks ahead of time so I could check the other side. I did do that for the other variations and think variation #1 and #3 will be OK. The longest floats in those two designs are 5 threads.

I do very little hand sewing to finish items that I make, this towel included. I know many weavers are horrified that I would machine sew something that I took so much time to weave. I don't agree, since it also takes a great deal of skill to do a nice finishing job with the machine.

I love how the ladder hem-stitching turned out on this towel. The hemstitching was obviously done by hand, but the hems were sewn with the sewing machine. I'm sure that if someone got right down to the hem and really looked, they would be able to tell that a machine was used, but I like sturdy, and something that will hold up in the wash and through many years of use. Clicking on the photo will enlarge it.

Huck Lattice Towels

2010-04-22T23:54:00.000-04:00

The rug warp and the Atwater-Bronson lace warp are at a standstill, with half wound for each of them. I got a little sidetracked with a linen warp that I had. This warp is only about 3 1/2 to 4 yards long, and like the 20 yard warp, it had no cross. It was a mix of a two ply approximately 20/2 size warp and a tow linen singles. I laid it out on my carpet with a weight on one end, and pulled out the plyed yarn 10 strands at a time. Because there was no cross, I threaded the loom front to back. Once I got it threaded through the heddles and tied onto the back, I draped it over the counterbalance bar on the loom behind this one and added weight to it. Once it had the weight added, I was able to treadle two plain weave sheds and add lease sticks.

My chosen pattern came from the Handwoven magazine, March/April of 2002, page 44. (Check Interweave Press for back-issues.) The article was for weaving 5 towels, all different weaves. I started with treadling #5, a huck lattice.

This design calls for ladder hemstitching and the magazine had the instructions on page 14. The hemstitching is started from the right (right-handed) and groups 5 warp threads at a time.

This is a close-up of the second half of the hemstitching. It wraps around the same same threads. The loop of heavy yarn seen in the photo keeps a gap between the two rows and will be pulled out later.

I got a start on the weaving, completing about 6" of the first towel. I like the lattice look, and once the towel is wet finished, it will be more prominent.

Now to bed.

Two Warps

2010-04-15T21:36:00.000-04:00

The rug warp that I was winding on my warping reel is only half finished. The tan yarn I showed in my last post is also about half wound. I hoped to get them both done yesterday, but a disaster with my orange kitty, Hobbs, kept me busy for part of the day. Either he dumped used motor oil on himself or someone dumped it on him, but anyway, his back from his head to the tip of his tail was completely covered with dirty black oil, right down to the skin on his back half. He was pretty sick yesterday, so after giving him a bath over and over again with Dawn dish soap to try and cut the grease, I still had to check on him quite often. He is feeling better today, eating, drinking, peeing, so that is good. I had to coat him with Fast Orange to try and get the remainder of the oil off of him today, so he wasn't very happy with me. He's sitting on my lap now, though, so all is forgiven. Hopefully I can get the two warps finished tomorrow after I get home from work.

I can hardly believe that the daffodil blooms are already starting to fade. It just seems so early. The first tulips bloomed today. Yea, the deer didn't get them! I need to get out with my camera again.