Cross Country Samples I

On a somewhat smaller scale but almost as much fun I have been facing the challenge of my CCW group to provide samples in a honeycomb weave.  I have never been excited about honeycomb as it seemed to be very restricted in use being a one-sided fabric (I thought) only useful for upholstery or lined bags or cushions where the back was not seen. How wrong I was.  When other people's samples started arriving (while I was still thinking) it was apparent that it could be woven double faced and perfectly reversible. Why did I not know this?  I went to the book the draft had been taken from and did a 5 minute research.  As well as the double faced draft there was also one for a double layer honeycomb.  I still have no idea what I would use such a fabric for but the structure of it was a technical challenge and all of a sudden I was keen to try it.  Instead of warping up in stripes each the width of a cell, I warped  light and dark threads alternately across the width. This resulted in all the white warp on one surface and all the dark on the reverse. So white weft weaves with white on top, dark weft weaves with dark underneath but opposite cells are mixed dark and light so it appears as though there are stripes anyway. Here is my sample, back and front. 

Now I am keen to try a different type of honeycomb for my 'own choice' samples. 

Finishing the Blue Tablecloth

This is more like me. School holidays often see me away from my loom, spending time with my special grandson Liam.  I always have to take hand work with me to do . . . there has to be more in life than ironing shirts!  This time I had the finishing to do on the big blue tablecloth, first hemming the ends and then faggoting the panels together with a featherstitch insertion.  When I have done this before I have 'just done it', keeping the spacing even in my hands without any device to keep the width even.  This time I felt that it may prove troublesome in such a big piece with the weight potentially causing a problem so I invented a system with a small, slim book and a couple of bulldog clips . . . like this.

It progressed well till about the last half metre when Puppy Piper tried to make a meal of the absolute last of the cotton.

Here is the before and after.  No, it did not fade in the wash, I just took the 'after' photo in bright light.  The cotton survived well enough but one of my precious LeClerc bobbins is gone forever.  Those splinters are sharp so Piper was lucky not to do herself an injury.  She is usually very well behaved but anything on the floor is fair game and I must have let it roll off so I guess I can't blame her.  How could I growl when she looks at me . . . .

Anyway, all's well that ends well, and here is the end of work on the blue cloth.  What will I do with it?  I hope it will end up in an exhibition of some sort sooner or later.

PWN Exhibition at Fibre Spectrum, Nelson

For the month of January Peg and I, along with Sue Broad and Jane Clark, are exhibiting as the Top of the South members of the Professional Weavers' Network of NZ. The venue is Fibre Spectrum, a cooperative shop run by fibre enthusiasts for over 20 years.  The space is small but there are great nooks and crannies to show work on the walls or on plinths. Here are my exhibits.

There are more photos on the Marlborough Weavers' blog, marlboroughweavers.blogspot.com and on pegsweavingblog.blogspot.co.nz

Happy New Year

For some years now friend Meg has encouraged her weaving colleagues to post an update of 'what's on the loom(s)' on the first day of the year.  For the first time I have a blog of my own to do this. It's just a pity I'm not in a better space to show my work.  I have two looms and they have both ground to a halt waiting for me to make decisions or find different weft yarns.  On my countermarch loom I have been weaving a table runner for a family commission.

Colours were intended to be predominantly red, grey and black with small amounts of other colours taken from an art work on the wall behind the table. What transpired was nothing like my original intention and just proves that I am a weaver, NOT a designer.  I cut off this piece, washed and pressed it, then went back to the loom and dropped off warp ends, changed others and re-sleyed.  I don't know that I am any happier with the result, but will find a different yarn for the weft as this piece has slub linen/cotton both ways.  But I think it needs to be back to the drawing board completely.

On my jack loom I have a similar story, but not quite so messy.  It is warped up with white cotton for napkins which I hoped to team up with a blue tablecloth.  I wove six in plain weave with a small lace motif in one corner and then ran out of yarn.  I cut off the six and have them washed and pressed and ready to hem next time I go to visit family and need to take  hand work to do.  I would photograph them if I could find them! (Yes, I do seem to be having a senior moment.)  The warp is now tied up and ready to go again but I'm not happy with the two alternative wefts I've tried. I think I need to re-sley it as it seems a bit too close. 

I hate all this indecision; it is not characteristic of me and I hope  it is not an omen for the year to come.

My table loom is in hibernation mode, wrapped in a blanket in my garage where it will stay until our weaving group decides they would like another workshop. Who knows what that will be about.

I'm looking forward to seeing what other people are doing and hoping for inspiration.

Back to Weaving

It's time I showed a few photos of weaving again.  These are the projects I have been enjoying lately.

This is now off the loom but will be a work in progress for some time as I have to cut three panels to join together for a tablecloth.  I've started a narrow tatted lace insertion which I intend to use between the panels. That will take a little while as well.  As always, this sort of work takes hours of wishing/planning/warping - then getting more yarn as the project grows! Then there's threading sleying and re-sleying to fix errors. When it all comes together on the loom the weaving is so quick and easy it seems to be all over in a flash.  Watch this space for the finished cloth . . . but not too soon.

Another quick and easy project was a table runner, the colours inspired by the aqua colours in a glass fruit bowl.  Surprise, surprise, I just happened to have some yarns the right colour.  I used huck spots within squares outlined with a textured yarn. I tried to add in some blue as a supplementary warp but gave up after about four attempts as they all appeared to turn purple in the weave.   Here is the warp

The small mat has the blue but it was replaced with the ground colour for the runner.

Here is a photo of the fruit bowl superimposed on the small mat.  In due course I will get a proper photo when the recipient gets over her surprise.  This is an interim runner while waiting for yarns for a 'proper' one for a brand new table.

Diverging into Book Making

Finally worked this one out of my system . . . temporarily anyway.  It's a fabric book pinning down not only various bits of fabric significant to me (handwoven jacket, shower curtain, favourite old t-shirt . . . ) but also giving a home to various mementos from Festivals and other gatherings. Here are a few of the pages.

I invented the binding to allow for the bulk of some of the items. The little book at the end is a cute 8 page model folded from one sheet of A4. It contains the information about the book and its contents, stored in a shirt pocket I will never have to iron again!  I had such fun doing this. Now I will go back to the loom.

And something different again!

Today I made a book . . . 96 pages, exposed spine with three different types of stitching, handwoven fabric covers.

It is ages since I have done anything like this but I thoroughly enjoyed a whole day with other people also enjoying themselves. It reminds me of several ideas I've had for a while but never get time to work on.

Here is a view of most of the 14 books produced in today's course. Covers ranged from felt and handwoven fabric to velvet and paper.