New Toy (Tool)

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.

More Teddy Bear fabric

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.

Sampling Wool - Angora Yarn

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.