On and Ready

Got this on and am ready to try out different tabbies! 

Through the Heddles

This Bamboo is really yummy! It feels like butter. This isn't a very wide warp, but it has taken me a while to get it this far. Hopefully I will get it beamed tomorrow and tie up the treadles so I can start throwing the shuttle. I think I should have enough to do some major sampling and get one scarf.

This is a single two-tie weave (summer and winter).

I hope you can see the two different colors in this photo.

Guild Program

On Monday, I gave the guild program on the Theo Moorman Technique and Tying on with Shoelaces. They found the Theo Moorman Technique interesting, but were really interested in tying on with shoelaces.

Here I am trying to explain how to tie on your warp with shoelaces.

Here is Vicki giving it a try.

Guild Meeting in August

What a wonderful show and tell we had. Sorry there are so many photo's, but just wanted to share all the wonderful things we have been up to.

 

Through the Reed

I have my tied weave scarf through the reed. Next I will need to count my heddles and then thread them. I always thread front to back. I know how to thread back to front, but my way works for me!

Since I have allowed for the two edges to have plain weave, I will not need a floating selvedge. Had I carried the summer and winter blocks to the edges, I would have.

Still thinking about what I will use for the tabby......

Complex Weavers - Samples Arrived

Got my sample packet from the Complex Weavers Sample Exchange - The Old Fashioned Way.

According to our coordinator, Judy, "although we have not set plans, assignments or instructions in this study group, it is always a surprise to see how trends are expressed in the samples." What a great learning experience to see what other weavers are working on and have them share their explorations with me.

(the pink/black is my Dimity submission)

New Project - Tied Weave

I happened to see these two red's of Bamboo on the shelf and thought they would make a nice scarf. So I pulled out a draft and started playing around in the tie-up and came up with a design that should work.

I know I will for sure use the black Bamboo for the pattern weft, just not sure about the tabby... I will have to play with that and see what works best. Gold? Pink? Something else?

Here is the threading.

Utility Fabric - Fustian

This has a really nice drape to it. I think this would make a nice yoke for a blouse or nightgown. This is cotton/cotton (48").

Surprisingly this also has a nice drape to it. It would make a great vest or shirt for any man. This is cotton warp and linen weft.

There is three yards of this. Again, nice drape. I can see how using cotton and linen would give you a nice utility fabric to make a shirt, dress, or even a petticoat. This is cotton warp and linen weft. 

Weaver to Weaver

Please check this out..... our friend Martha at Thistle Rose Weaving!!!!!

Martha has entered the Martha Stewart American Made 2013 Contest and hope to be recognized as a maker who is helping to revive lost art forms and a person who is helping to push the American made movement forward.  I am in the running to win $10,000 which I plan to use to upgrade my looms and open a working studio where I can demonstrate and teach weaving.

Voting begins August 26th.

You can view my entry at:

http://marthastewart.com/americanmade/nominee/81691

I know this is a long shot, but I hope it is the first step to making my dreams come true.

Please vote August 26th.

Happy Weaving! 

Martha



The Cutting of the Web

Well, well, well.... I thinks I am done with this yardage. Then next step is to throw it into the washer and dryer and see what I get. Below is the original draft. The blue, on which I have been doing some  'dancing' is either a straight twill or .. well.. dancing.

Dancing With Thread

Now onto some dancing... on the treadles that is.... Since I am all out of linen, I am weaving with some really nice blue 10/2 cotton. Proof positive that the numbering system for linen and cotton aren't the same. This thread is really to small for this 8/2 cotton warp sett at 20 epi. . But maybe it will shrink up to something nice. Only time will tell. Right now I am just "going with the music" (in my head). Weave On!

More Tips

While I weave a simple treadling, my mind wonders.

I may be teaching a beginning weaving class later this week, so I have been thinking about some of the tips I might share that have made weaving a bit easier for me.

Using a tape that shows inches, I center this on the loom on the shuttle race. It helps me get my work centered. You loom needs to be balanced to work correctly. This tip came from Dawn S. I found this tape in the sewing department.

Now this little 'gismo' is from the bathroom area of a store. It hooks on the tray on top of my big loom. If you are using several shuttles, it is a handy place to keep those you will need soon, out of the way. This tip came from Marilynn M.



Here it is up close. I am not using this on this green linen/cotton project, but thought it was a nice tip to know.

Introducing A New Thread

Overlap your threads close to the edge.

While there are several different ways to add a new thread, I am joining by overlapping. Since this cloth that I am weaving is considered to be  as "utility goods", I didn't see any need to get real fancy. According to my notes, "this cloth while woven with cotton and linen was referred to as fustian", it had many different threadings and treadlings. Fustian was a catchall name.

Not very noticeable with this choice of sizes of threads.

Progress

Now that I am back into the rhythm of getting to weave a little each day, I am zooming along. (Well, for me.) Check out  the front , the back, and the progress..... I see pine trees when I look at the pattern. Think of mountains and snow and a cup of hot coffee with cream. Of course my mountains in Missouri are really just hills, but I can squint and pretend.

New Color for Fustian

Back to my large project: Fustian. Now that I have finished with the one tube  of fuchsia linen, I have moved onto the only other color of linen I have - green. I think I bought these two tubes just to see what 10/2 linen looked like. I am getting about one and one half yards out of each tube. So maybe someone will be able to make an old western type vest out of this yardage.

 While I treadles the red as 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4-1-2-4-3-2-1-4-3..... this green I am treadling just plain-old 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4....  makes a nice change.

Surprise, I am back.

Surprise, I am back. And yes, these flowers are in my yard and me and my mom call them 'surprise lilies'.

And just so you know, I do have a few other interesting things in my yard.... Poke and Roses. Maybe not in the same area, but anything I can grow is a big deal to me. LOL

I like to take photo's that will help me later when I need some color ideas. Nothing like Mother Nature to combine the perfect colors.

Resuming . .

Weaving For Fun will resume tomorrow....... August 16, 2013..... I have missed you! What have you all been up to????????

Vacation

I will be taking a few days off.  Thank you all for following me.... Check back in a week.

Keep those shuttles flying!

Ann

Computer drafts

Still looking for the next project. I went back through some of my old paperwork and found these. Looks like some four and eight shaft work...overshot and summer and winter.

I don't think I have woven the blue-pink draft. I believe it's eight shaft summer and winter. Hummm................