This week I crossed something off my Weaving Bucket List: Use handwoven fabric to upholster chairs. Remember the color-and-weave linen fabric? It’s part of my collection of fabrics designed specifically for our Texas hill country home. I covered four barstool seats with this linen upholstery fabric!
Weaving the fabric is the easy part. But I’m a newbie at upholstering. As such, using my “precious” handwoven cloth is unnerving. But I was fortunate enough to receive terrific advice and encouragement from friends, including one who conferred on my behalf with professional upholsterers she knows. And another friend generously loaned her power staple gun to me. I also referred to a book (Matthew Haly’s Book of Upholstery, by Matthew Haly) that I picked up a few years ago in hopes that I might someday reach this item on my bucket list.
I count this as practice and a first step of experience. Eventually, I may work up the courage to reupholster our eight dining room chairs. Hmm… the thought of getting to design the fabric makes that challenge rather appealing.
“Mid” marks the halfway point on every pre-measured tape I make. I like to know when I’m starting the second half of something. It’s a target before I reach it, and a passing milestone after I cross that line.
Pre-measured twill tape has a line at the halfway point, marked “Mid.” Tail from a spliced warpend will be trimmed in the finishing process.
As I’m weaving this throw, my thoughts jump ahead. I will have a few skipped threads to fix, and spliced warpends to clip. I think about how I will hem the piece, and wash and dry it. In what special manner shall I present the finished throw to my beloved daughter-in-law? And, my mind goes to the twelve-shaftdouble weave towels for my daughter that are up next, with the flowery threads beckoning me from the shelves.
Double weave with eight shafts. 8/2 cotton.Do you see the aqua, poppy, marigold, and orchid cottolin threads that are ready to jump off the shelves and be woven into hand towels?
I’d like to know where I am in the span of my life. There is no “Mid” mark, though, is there? I’m not in charge of that measured tape. Faith in Christ, love, and perseverance—these form a foundation. A solid foundation is security for life. In this security, I think about what I need to repair and resolve and finish. And how to leave intangible gifts that outlive me. And I think about the glory that awaits. Imagine fabric of unbridled creativity in colors only heaven knows!
Here we go on this adventure! The yarn is plentiful, and sorted into color groups by value. I have tweaked and updated the cartoon, putting measurement marks along the edges and adding shading to places where I want texture. I wove a header after the sample, but it drew in too much. I pulled it out and redid it, making sure to use adequateweft this time. I am now ready! I’m walking into four-shafttapestry territory!
Background begins with wool butterflies in shades of black.Several butterflies are introduced across the beginning section of the four-shafttapestry.Linen weft is used between some of the wool picks.
Walking. It’s how we live our life. Step by step into an unknown future. To walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, we follow the Grand Weaver’s cartoon, which he reveals to us, sometimes row by row. And he supplies us with the yarn butterflies in the right colors and values to create the tapestry of his design. We may never see his whole cartoon, but we have the sure hope of seeing the finished tapestry in all its glory!
Two layers of cloth exchange places in this double weave structure. One layer of warp is solid deep plum. The other layer has stripes of bold colors. Clean lines occur where the layers switch places. So, with deep plum weft alternating with orange, blue, green, and red weft, we get a message written in clearly-defined blocks: Be invigorated with vibrant color!
Dark plum weft alternates with the blue weft. The reverse side of the fabric has dark plum squares in long vertical color stripes.Colors of the warp stripes are used as colors for the weft stripes. As a result, you can see the “pure” colors in a diagonal line–orange, blue, green, red–where the warp and weft colors are the same.Variance in the blocks of colors gives the cloth a dynamic appearance. Not including the dark plum background, there are sixteen different colors of blocks as a result of the four colors being used as warp and weft.
Message. We have a message from heaven. When Jesus came to earth, he not only brought the message, he was the message. Not that we should try to be good like him. Nor that we are already good enough. But that he, the direct link to heaven, would suffer the consequences for all our misdeeds. And rise again. He willingly switched places with us—the great heaven and earth exchange. This good message brings hope and grace to all of us who live on this earthly layer. Thanks to our Grand Weaver’s faithful love, we are woven into a vibrant-color existence through faith, on this layer and the next.
Alignment, security, and visibility are the main things I think about in regard to attaching and supporting the cartoon. In order to weave a tapestry this size, or any size for that matter, you need a good way to manage the cartoon. My cartoon is drawn onto a thin Pellon product (Pellon 830 Easy Pattern, 45″ wide) that is meant for pattern making. This material is easy to pin, doesn’t tear, and only barely wrinkles.
Alignment Align center of cartoon to center of warp.
A blue dashed line from top to bottom of the cartoon marks the center. I also have a pencil mark on the exact center of my beater. When the blue line on the cartoon is perfectly aligned with the center warp end, as seen from the mark on the beater, I know my cartoon is in the correct position.
Pencil mark on the beater is above the center warpend.
Security
Pin the cartoon in two places on each side of the woven tapestry.
This warp is too wide for me to reach all the way to pin the cartoon in the center. So, on both sides of the weaving I place one flathead pin near the selvedge, and another one as far as I can comfortably reach toward the center. I move the pins forward each time I am ready to advance the warp.
Two flat-head pins hold the cartoon under the tapestry weaving on the right-hand side.
Hang a support slat under the cartoon.
I learned this from The Big Book of Weaving, by Laila Lundell, p. 239, 2008 edition. I used this method previously for a rag rug that had a cartoon for a large inlay pattern. It also works well for holding the cartoon for a woven transparency.
Seine twine loop with rubber band hangs from beater cradle. Slat holds cartoon up against the warp.
Supplies: 12/6 cotton seine twine, 2 rubber bands, long warping slat
1 Make a loop with the seine twine to hang from the beater cradle to just below the warp, with a rubber band on the loop.
2 Tie the ends of the loop with a bow knot or a weaver’s tie-up knot (this useful knot is described in How to Warp Your Loom, by Joanne Hall, p. 39).
Top of loop tied in a bow knot.Weaver’s tie-up knot is perfect for this application, since it is quick and easy to undo and re-tie if repositioning is needed.
3 Make another loop the same way, with rubber band, and hang it on the other beater cradle.
4 Place the warping slat in the hanging rubber bands, underneath the cartoon.
5 Adjust the length of the loops so that the slat lightly presses up on the cartoon and the warp.
Rubber band gives flexibility to the seine twine loop that is holding up the cartoon.
Pin the rolled-up cartoon underneath.
I roll up the Pellon cartoon under the warp and pin it once on each side. As the warp and cartoon advance I can reposition the pin as needed.
Under the warp, the cartoon is loosely rolled up and pinned.
Move the slat toward the breast beam, out of the way, to beat in the weft.
Because of the rubber bands, the slat support has flexibility and does not impede the movement of the beater.
With the slat under or near the fell line, it presses the cartoon up to the warp. By doing this, I can easily see what comes next as the tapestry weaving develops row by row.
Placing the slat under the fell of the weaving raises the cartoon to visibility where it is needed most.
I wait for my ordered yarn to arrive. Meanwhile, I dream of this tapestry becoming a reality as cartoon meets wool.
May you have the alignment, security, and visibility you need.
