A Gallery of Works

 

I'm just playing a little catch-up on my blog today, adding some photos of things I have done over the past two to three years.

Rya rug made for granddaughter Hailee.

One of a set of pinwheel towels. For this one, I changed out some of the green stripes and substituted dark brown.

 Daughters, daughters-in-law, and friends with Christmas towels, 2015.

 Towel choices.  I let them choose.

 Waffle weave in blue and yellow.

Waffle weave.

Close-up of Hanukkah table runner.

Below is the table set for dinner.

Full length.

Spring table runner, 2016, with close-up of Italian hemstitching.

Spring table runner.

Summer runner, 2016.

Close-up of zig-zag hemstitching and pattern.

Johanna D's No. 32 from Marguerite P. Davison's pattern book, pg. 97.

My inspiration for the pillows, on the reverse side.  They were needlepoint stitched by my grandmother, Gladys Truscott Hobbs, back in the 1970's.  The backing was deteriorated, so I wove new fabric to replace the old.

A very fine wool scarf.

Scarf on the loom.

Close-up after wet finishing and pressing.

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Tensel / Silk Scarf

After ten and a half months, I finally took this scarf off my Leclerc Artisat loom and finished it just in time for our weaving guild challenge, Fine For Me.  Everyone was challenged to weave something with yarn that was thinner than we ever used before.  Our guild has members with a wide range of experience, so it is going to be interesting to see the different items next Monday when we meet.

The finest yarn I used previously was a 20/1 linen.  I had to use something thinner than that, so I used a yarn that had been in my stash for quite a while.  It is a blend of 80% tensel and 20% silk and is quite shiny and a light eggshell color.

 This yarn is sett at 40 ends per inch and my scarf  was 8" wide on the loom.  That is a lot of tiny threads but hardly made a dent in my cone of yarn!

To keep it in control as I was putting the yarn on the loom, I used my pair of "angel wings" to keep the threads from tangling.  After measuring the yarn, I slipped the two dowels in the cross, which keeps the yarn in threading order.  The warp went on the loom without any problems.  I think the key to that is keeping tension on the warp while winding it on the warp beam.

The pattern I chose is from Marguerite Davison's book, A Handweaver's Pattern Book.  It is called Kay's Design, on page 144.  It is an overshot pattern, which requires two shuttles, one for the tabby (plain weave) background yarn and another to weave the pattern.  The pattern yarn is traditionally a thicker yarn than the warp and tabby yarn, so I utilized my double bobbin shuttle to weave two strands of the tensel /silk at the same time.  It works much better than to try to wind two strands of yarn on one bobbin.

I started off with a sample to check the pattern for errors before I started the actual scarf.  I could tell right away that the scarf was going to take FOREVER to weave!  I think I figured out I had to make 72 passes with the shuttles to weave an inch.

I hemstitched at the beginning and end of the scarf because I wanted to twist the fringe to help keep it from tangling and fraying.  Click on the photo to enlarge it to see the detail.  The hemstitching helps define the bundles that will be twisted and also holds the initial woven threads in place.

After weaving 60", I called it quits, finished the hemstitching on the other end and cut the scarf off the loom.  One end was finished and I was just getting started twisting the fringe on this end when I took this photo.  Each clip has four threads for a total of twelve for each fringe.  I was glad I hemstitched because it made it so much easier to separate the bundles.

The fringe turned out pretty nice and just a shake untangles it.

After the wet finishing process, I pressed the scarf to set the yarn.  I am not real happy with how flat it looks and am thinking I might try steaming it to see if I can raise the pattern threads a little.  I liked the look of it better before it was washed, but the wet finishing improved the softness and drape of the fabric.

If you look closely at this photo, you can see the slight bit of color from the Sulky rayon machine embroidery thread I used for the tabby yarn.  It is variegated pastel colors and the blue shows the most.  I wouldn't use it in a project again because it was so slippery and curled up a lot, especially toward the end of the bobbin.

I finished up my records and draft to share with my guild, but needless to say, there will be no samples to give to anyone!  Now I need to get my crackle project off another loom, write up those records and possibly weave some samples.  I should have some photos of that Christmas runner project soon.

Various Projects in Progress and Finished

UFOs.  Those unfinished objects that get set aside and never get finished.  I think it is a rare crafts person that never has any.  I came across one the other day, and decided it was too nice to not be finished.  This was a project that I think I saw in the Weaver's Craft magazine.  The yarns are fairly heavy, but a good weight for a bag.  The warp is a turquoise 3/2 pearl cotton, and the tabby weft is a heavier yarn, similar in weight to Sugar and Cream in a bluish green color. 
The weave structure is called Monk's Belt.  The weft used to weave the pattern is actually a thin, loosely woven plaid fabric, cut into bias strips about 3/8" wide.

I had the outer part of the bag done, and this photo shows how I formed the bottom of the bag.  The seams are on the sides.  With the bag inside out, I stitched across a triangle at each side.  When the bag is turned right side out, the triangle seams are at each end on the bottom. 

After a couple years on the shelf, I got it out and decided what still needed to be done to make it usable.

First of all, I needed handles, so I dug around in my yarns to find what I used for the tabby.  I threaded up a narrow warp on my floor loom and wove a strip long enough for two handles.  Then, I had to search my fabric stash to find the fabric I used, so I could cut the lining.  After sewing the lining on the regular sewing machine, I did all the finishing on my heavy industrial machine.  It was too thick to get under the presser foot on the regular machine.  I sure am glad I have that heavy old machine.
Click on the photos for more detail.

This rayon chenille scarf was completed in a few days, between other things I was working on.  The warp is a variegated reddish orange, and the weft is a dark red.  The weight is 1300-1400 yards per pound.  I used a 10 dent reed, and originally sleyed it at 20 epi, but that was too dense.  I resleyed at 17 epi (1-2-2) and that was just right. 

 The scarf is plain weave, but I did a short sample using 2-2 twill that also looks nice.

I am still working on my Autumn Leaves warp, and have four towels completed, and the fifth one is almost done.  I think I would like weaving it a bit better if it was on one of the larger looms.  I warped it the full width of my table loom, and ended up taking out one stripe on each edge. 

I am using eight colors in the warp, so I wound a warp long enough to make eight towels.  It was a bit too long for the loom, and I had trouble weaving the first couple.

The current towel is woven with light orange.

This rug is the first one on my second warp on the Weaver's Delight.  I set it up to weave log cabin using the plain weave cams.  My first attempt was weaving denim, but I couldn't get them tight enough with the plain weave, so I unwove it and tried the remainder of the polyester double-knit that I had cut.

That took some trial and error also, but I finally got something that I liked.  After I wove about a foot, I realized the error I saw earlier, but couldn't figure out what I did wrong, was very noticeable on the dark section.  I finally had to work the mechanism till all the warp threads were at one level, and then could see that I had sleyed two threads in a couple dents.  It's a good thing this rug is for me, or I would have unwoven everything again.  I can live with it.  Once this rug is done, I will cut it off and resley the reed to correct the errors.

I weighted my last four threads on each selvedge with 2 pound weights, because I think it helps me get an even edge, and the last rugs were nice and flat on the floor.  I do fiddle with the edges, because I don't like big fabric loops at each edge.  I get them snugged in tight to the selvedge by pulling on them. 

I have one more section of the dark to sew together and weave, and the last light section and the hem and this rug will be done.  Maybe I will complete it after work tomorrow.  Now it's time for bed.