I have new warp excitement! Having a new warp chain ready for the loom is much like coming into a season of gift giving. Every step of dressing the loom is like meticulously wrapping the gift, with some things completely hidden away. When the weaving begins, the gift is opened, little by little. The final unwrapping happens when the warp is cut from the loom, and all the delights are fully revealed.
Peace, grace, hope, and love. These are the gifts I wish for you, friend. These gifts are ready to be unwrapped! Watch the fabric develop before your eyes as you weave, and enjoy the wonder of opening the gifts.
May you receive gifts that are better than you expected.
Compared to other weaving shuttles, this band loom shuttle is tiny. But it is just the right size for weaving a narrow band. My left hand moves the shuttle through the changing sheds, finding a rhythmic fluency. Once started, the weft takes on a life of its own as it repeatedly turns and goes back into an open shed. It almost seems as if my left hand is merely following the shuttle. Likewise, kindness takes on a life of its own after someone starts it.
My feet operate the two treadles on this Glimäkra band loom. My left hand carries the shuttle; and my right hand uses a band knife to beat in the weft. When all the movements are synchronized, I find myself making swift progress.
Consistency is the key to successful band weaving. Warp tension matters, as well as how often you advance the warp; however, consistency in the weft makes the biggest difference. My best results come when I weave several inches without stopping. The momentum itself brings consistency of weft placement.
Kindness repeats itself. There is a certain momentum that occurs. When we experience someone’s kindness toward us, we often turn and pass kindness along to someone else. And especially, if we have tasted the Lord’s kindness, we keep the momentum going by fervently loving each other. A little bit of kindness, repeated over and over makes a useful and lovely ribbon in the sea of humanity, a woven band with endless possibilities.
Finish the finishing, please. I always have a pile of handwovens that need finishing. Don’t you? The finishing smorgasbord includes repairing skipped threads (unintentional floats), securing ends, fringe treatments, hemming, wet finishing, pressing, adding hanging tabs, embellishments, and more. You know you are finally finished when your handiwork is being used and enjoyed.
1. Twisted fringe on bamboo huck lace small tablecloth. This cloth covered an heirloom table, becoming the altar, at Melody’s wedding. (This short piece was at the end of the warp after weaving two shawls.) You can see the shawls HERE, and twisting the fringe HERE.
Twisted fringe gives an elegant finishing touch to this small huck lace table covering.
2. Added hanging tabs to handtowels. Installed Ikea rod with basket and hooks to hang handwoven handtowels in the powder room. (When you need tabs for towels, it helps to have a collection of inkle and band loombands.) You can see the most recent towels HERE – I kept one of the eight for myself; the rest became gifts.
Ikea basket and hooks hold assortment of handwoven towels for guests to use in the powder room.
3. Untangled the fringe of alpaca/tencel throw. (A wet finishing nightmare I don’t care to repeat.) You can see what it looked like before washing HERE.
Each strand of fringe was carefully separated one-by-one after leaving the alpaca/tencel throw in the washing machine a few minutes too long. Untangling took longer than tying the lattice fringe. Hours and hours.
4. Hand-stitched rolled hem on Swedish lace tablecloth. (I may use this as a curtain for my weaving studio window, hung on rings with clips, on a rod.) HERE are the long curtain panels that hang on windows in my home.
Swedish lace panel can be used as a tablecloth, or a curtain, or even a light, summery shawl. The hand-stitched rolled hem gives a delicate touch to this elegant piece.Swedish lace is shown to its best advantage when light is allowed to shine through the cloth. The pressed rolled hem adds a classy touch.
5. Hemmed small sample piece to carry around with me when I have a cup of coffee. (I grab this re-usable “scrap” instead of a paper napkin or paper towel. It also doubles as a coaster wherever I happen to sit down.) The original M’s and O’s towels are HERE; and HERE you can see what I mean about carrying my coffee cup around with me.
Scrap of handwoven fabric, from a cottolin warp of handtowels, follows my favorite coffee cup around.
6. Replaced nylon cord on handwoven Roman shades with a cord I wove on my band loom. (The “temporary” nylon cord stayed more than a year. We now enjoy seeing this on our kitchen door every day, finally fully finished.) The only place I have a picture of the original nylon cord, and of the fabric on the loom for the Roman shades is in my Projects on Weavolution HERE. (I’m not sure if you can see it without logging in to the site.)
Linen and cotton threads that match the handwoven Roman shades were used to weave the pull cord. Cord woven on Glimakra two-treadle band loom.Handwoven Roman shades finally have a matching pull cord. When the shades are lowered at night, the two-block twill structure is seen covering the whole kitchen door window. Woven on 8-shaft Glimakra Standard loom.Opening the shades to start the day and welcome you. Please come in!
May you reduce your finishing pile (I know you have one).
If I show you pictures of the bands and pieces of cloth I have woven, you might think they look perfect. That’s because the photographer (me) stages the photos so you get the best impression of the work. If you look closely enough for imperfections, trust me, you will find them. We all know that only God is perfect, so why are we so consumed with trying to reach perfection?
Nearly five yards of cotton/linen ribbon woven on the Glimåkra band loom. I had to finish this warp so I could start making a band to use for tabs on the towels I recently finished.
We think that if we are good or do enough good things we will make God happy. A lot of people have been practicing; so, if practice makes perfect, why isn’t anyone perfect yet? Most of all, me. How can I stand before my grand weaver and expect him to overlook all my imperfections? My camera tricks are useless.
Warp made with a few colors from the towels, this cotton ribbon will be a good match for making hanging tabs for the towels.Three yards of cotton ribbon, completely in harmony with the towels they will adorn.
Jesus takes my place before God. His perfection covers my imperfect deeds. My simple part is to put my trust in him. His cross took all my failures to the grave. Now, when my grand weaver sees me, he notices the perfection of his original design as seen in Jesus, his son.
New towel with hanging loop on display with Steve’s relief carving and hand-carved marionette. (Seven more towels to hem.)
My band loom has been sitting idle for a few weeks. Instead of continuing to walk wistfully by, I decided to do something about it. On a whim, I pulled colors of cottolin thread off the shelf. Within an hour the band loom was dressed and I was happily weaving. Finally! Why did I wait so long to put a warp on this loom? Do you ever avoid something, and then later realize the task is easier than you thought it would be?
Two-treadle Glimakra band loom with cottolin (cotton/linen) warp. Green thread on the hand-carved shuttle makes little green weft dots on the brown selvedge threads.
I used my warping reel to wind the five-yard warp. After tying the lease cross, and adding a few choke ties to secure the warp, I took it to the band loom and wound it on. Easy! Sitting at the band loom, sending the little shuttle back and forth, beating with the band knife to the rhythm of the treadles… it’s music; and it’s serene. Voicing our needs to our maker is something we think we do not have time for. We avoid this one simple connection that makes a difference.
Heartfelt prayer is our vital connection with God. He hears our prayer of need. Let us not fool ourselves to think it takes too much time or effort for this connection. The reward is too great to miss.
