Diva Show and Tell for April 2015

It is fun and a learning activity. It is called : Show-And-Tell. We discuss our pit falls, problems, success stories, and excitement of the finished article. We get tips and tricks and even have a few to share.

Here is some of my show and tell. I still need to hem the purple runner!
The green towel is a sneak peek of next months stripe challenge. 

Rossanna had another awesome Kumihimo necklace. 

Marty used handpainted Tencel for this sweet scarf.

Marty hand spun the wool/silk blend for both warp and weft for this undulating shadow weave bed shawl. 

Just look at the colors! She also hand dyed her fibers.

Marilynn brought two 5-end advancing twill scarfs. She got that awesome blending of colors with a graduation formula she dreamed up.  And the drape is to die for. 

Carol says that Marilynn's scarf is perfect for her outfit. 

Guild Program - Plain Weave

Plain Weave is a vast subject. Linda gave a very informative program on just some of the possibilities of this weave structure.

She did have help when showing her sample of using crammed denting with plain weave.

The plain weave fabric can be altered by color, fiber, twist and thickness and the proportion of warp sett to weft picks. And using warp-faced or weft-faced patterns using plain weave is just a small drop in the plain weave bucket. 

"Plain weave fabrics can tell a story about the weavers who wove them and about the world around them. The special characteristics of different weaves reveal the history of textiles and plain weave fabrics have many names." Linda went on to have a list of 65 different names linked to plain weave. Some were familiar, but most we had never heard of.

Just a few of the names: Batiste, Bainin, Bandle, Cambric, Burlap, Nainsook, Sailcloth...the list goes on and on.......

Purple People Eater

Wasn't there a song about a purple people eater? On this towel I am crossing the blue warp threads with purple. A friend of mine is a purple person, so I had her in mind when I picked these colors.

I might have an orange towel coming up next for a friend who is into orange! Stay tuned!!

Am I Blue?

These towels are a combination of plain weave, basket weave and twill on 8-shafts. I had used some 8/2 cotton and dented it at 24 epi..... wrong..... I mean, they are OK, but not great. So instead of being blue about it, I will keep exploring this draft.

I am tying on some 10/2 cotton. I am using my handy-dandy cross holder. Works great when you need both hands free to tie knots. 

And another thing I noticed.... I did not tie up the treadles per the directions from "A Weaver's Book of 8-Shaft Patterns", edited by Carol Strickler. (page 227)  Like I said, the Christmas Ribbon Candy Towels are OK, the pattern is OK, and I will use them. But they are not 'what she wrote!'

This warp is blue 10/2 cotton and I am crossing it with white 10/2 cotton. I have kept the 24 epi. It is a one shuttle weave and is going very quickly. I am using a temple to keep the warp spread. I move it about every 1/2 inch.

A Lesson Learned - EPI and Me

These towels are woven with 8/2 cotton in the warp and weft. At an epi of 24 they turned out a little to stiff for my liking**. I was thinking about the twill, but I think between the plain weave and the basket weave I should have dented for them. The dent should have been 20 - maybe...

So another lesson learned. Think about which is the most dominant when having more than one structure in your project. I had basket weave and plain weave and just a little twill. So should have dented for the plain weave. But what is the fun if you don't learn while creating fun stuff?

I like the tracking that shows up in the plain weave area. Gives the towels a homestead look. A towel you won't be afraid to use.

**amyfiber did tell me that this was sett to close.

Christmas Candy for the Kitchen

Weft color is white.

How about these great towels using Christmas colors and strips? I have some plain weave, basket weave and point twill going along with some striping on this warp of hand towels. If you like this draft, it can be found in the book "A Weaver's Book of 8-Shaft Patterns, edited by Carol Strickler. If you have this book it is on page 227.

I have used two shades of green, a red and a white to create some strips while using only one color each for weft. I didn't do a towel with the lighter green, it just faded out. I wonder what other color combination I could come up with???

Weft color is red.

Weft color is red.

Weft color is green. 

Christmas Candy

This next run of towels could be called Christmas Candy. I found the draft in the book "A Weaver's Book of 8-Shaft Patterns", edited by Carol Strickler. This is a great resource book. This draft has plain weave, basket weave, and some point twill all in the mix. The first order of business is to get the candy, I mean, the threads on the loom.