Be Weave-Able

Karen

I call her the ”Rain Girl.” She comes from an illustration in a very old children’s book on our bookshelf. The small tapestry is cute. But with its many slits and single warp wrappings, it falls short of what it could be. I compromised best practices to make it work.

New small tapestry - Rain Girl.
Small tapestry gets its start on a camping trip. Paint stir stick holds the cartoon in place under the warp.
Weaving a small tapestry from the back.
Weaving from the back. Long car rides are good for portable tapestry weaving.
Cartoon is not going to work for this small tapestry.
Checking the cartoon again.
Small tapestry almost finished. Rain Girl.
Finishing up the weaving of Rain Girl just before pulling back into our driveway after a long trip.

The main fault is with the cartoon. It isn’t weave-able. The image is too small for this sett. There must be a better way to weave this image.

Mounting a small tapestry on foam core board covered with flannel and linen.
Hems are stitched down. 1/2″ foam core board is covered with a layer of cotton flannel, and then natural colored linen.
Mounted small tapestry. Rain Girl.
Rain Girl, first version.

I am starting over with a whole new cartoon! I have now learned that Affinity Designer (computer graphics software) gives me the ability to create vertical parallel lines equivalent to my sett. With those lines in view I can see exactly how each part of the cartoon fits the warp spacing. I am turning the image on its side and enlarging it, and then, cropping to size. This cartoon is going to be weave-able.

Affinity Designer to create a new tapestry cartoon.
Screen shot from Affinity Designer. Image from book illustration is positioned on its side, enlarged, and cropped. View shows vertical lines that match the sett for the tapestry.
Creating a new tapestry cartoon in Affinity Designer.
New Rain Girl cartoon is ready for printing.

All of us have gone our own way. We insistently follow our own cartoon, compromising best practices, while struggling to make it work. There is a better way. Jesus Christ gave himself so that the Grand Weaver’s cartoon could be written on our hearts. In his hands we become his beloved tapestry. Be weave-able.

May your cartoon be just right.

Hopeful,
Karen

10 thoughts on “Be Weave-Able”

    1. Hi Maria, There’s something about the simple picture that makes it heartwarming. The little tapestry, even with its flaws, is still sweet.

      Thanks,
      Karen

      Reply

  5. Hi Karen,

    Thank you for showing something that did not work the way you wanted it to. Sometimes redoing something is the best lesson. From the best teacher.

    Nannette

    Reply

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