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.

Empty Loom

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.