Do you ever feel like you are just not making progress? Stopping bad habits and starting good ones can feel like that. Or, what about that craft project you meant to finish before Thanksgiving? The loom is one place where progress is visible. You can’t fool yourself; the cloth beam shows you how far you have progressed. I find it encouraging to see the fabric that has been woven. What starts with an idea shows up as cloth.
It all started with an idea and eleven colors of wool.
As we settle into the very end of this year, we know that time keeps rolling on. The warp keeps advancing. This is a great time to look at the cloth beam of our life and see the progress. Like this blanket, much has been accomplished, but there’s more work ahead before it is time to cut it from the loom.
Bottom layer is spread on the loom.Upper layer is spread on the loom; and the two layers are combined on the back tie-on bar. Two sets of lease sticks keep all the ends in order.Beaming on two warps at once. After removing the choke ties, I beamed on with the warping trapeze, slowly and carefully. I stopped every few inches to check everything, to make sure nothing was getting hung up anywhere.Threadingheddles.Sampling helps determine weft colors, as well as checking the sett and weft density.Sample is cut off and warp ends are tied in bundles, ready to re-tie to front tie-on bar.Sample piece, after wet finishing, air drying, and brushing.Fringe, twisted on the loom, goes over the breast beam as the body of the blanket is being woven.Progress is revealed. The beginning blanket fringe has reached the cloth beam! The fold edge of the blanket is in view.Dusk dims the colors, yet enriches them at the same time.Glad-hearted Christmas to all! The camel is this year’s new figure in the hand-carved Nativity by Steve Isenhower. Bound rosepath provides the backdrop.
May you enjoy reflecting on the progress you have made this year.
This is exactly what I had hoped for! Wet finishing made textured textiles out of flat fabric. One look at these pot holders and you know they have been through the washer and dryer. The rag weave table runner tells the same story. It’s true, wet finishing made positive permanent changes.
Rag weave table runner on the loom. M’s and O’s, with Cottolin warp, and narrow cotton fabric strips for weft.Time to celebrate cutting the pot holders and table runner from the loom.Textured textiles, after wet finishing and hemming. Twisted cording was added to pot holders for hanging loops.Creative treadling for two pot holders produced design variations.
Christmas is a true story. Love came down. You have heard the story: Jesus came as a baby, grew up, and gave up his life to save us, all in the name of love. When this Jesus story is written on our hearts it changes everything. This love story is the wet finishing we need. It is the only thing that can truly complete us. Your life already tells a story. It is an open book that people read. When we let the Christmas story of God’s love shape us, the fabric of our life becomes characterized by the texture of love.
May your loved ones enjoy reading “your” book.
(Shoppes at Fleece ‘N Flax in Eureka Springs, Arkansas is carrying a few of my rugs. If you are near the area, drop by the shop and say Hi to Debbie!)
This nine-inch-wide (23 cm) warp looks pretty on the loom, but just wait until you see it finished off the loom! With M’s and O’s weave structure, the character of the fabric will change from flat and linear to puckered and textured. The cottolin warp and the cottolin plain weave hems are ordinary, but wet finishing will cause the unbleached cotton mini string yarn (stränggarn) to showcase the interesting structure as threads shrink into place. The finished textured square should be just right for a handy pot holder or hot pad. I will add a woven hanging loop on the corner, as a useful embellishment. A few pot holders will be given as Christmas gifts, and the rest will go on Etsy. (The draft for a project similar to this is found on the 2014 Väv Calendar.)
Weave structure is M’s and O’s. When off the loom and wet finished, everything will draw in, creating textural prominence.
Once this fabric texture changes through the wet finishing process, there is nothing that can make this cloth revert back to its original state. Nothing can separate us from God’s love. When we receive his love, it makes irreversible changes in us. God’s love is inseparable from those who find it. It’s forever a part of who we are.
This warp for the double-width wool blanket is taking some down time while I complete a finishingsample. The five-fold purpose of the sample is to 1) check the sett and 2) the weft density, and 3) to examine the fold to see if I need more, or less, weft at the turn, and 4) to test the wet-finishing process, and 5) to see the effect of brushing the finished piece. I am thankful for family, friends, fellowship, and finishing. (Thankful for blog friend Marie for first suggesting a finish sample.) I hope you, friend, get to have time with the ones you love, and have some down time to enjoy. Happy Thanksgiving!
Sample piece is cut from the loom. Warp will be tied back on to the front tie-on bar.One half of the double-width blanket sample. The fold is at the yellow.Other side of the double-width sample. The fold is at the yellow.Blanket fold revealed. Weaving double width means you only see one half until it is cut from the loom.Wet Finishing. Sample has been washed and dried. Washed on delicate cycle in washing machine for 3 minutes, no spin cycle. Air dried flat.Examining the fold after wet finishing. Also, notice the improved weft density in the final segment (brown weft at the bottom), when I applied a lighter beat.Blanket finishing sample.Blanket sample brushed on one side, using a stiff dog brush.Compare the brushed top side on the left to the unbrushed bottom side on the right.Brushed double weave finishing sample. Hmm… Could this be my new Christmas tree skirt?
May your family and friends experience your thankfulness.
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).
