Sunday, May 27, 2012

Cornucopia of Weaving Ideas




Diana presented this lovely diamond patterned scarf at the May meeting.  I'm going out on a limb here, but I think she said that it was a silk warp.  At any rate, she used 8/2 variegated yarn, and 3/2 purples, greens and blues in the warp and used a lavender weft.  It isn't obvious in the photo, but this pattern gave an embossed appearance to the textile which is very eye catching.  Should you want to weave your own, Diana found the draft in A Weaver's Book of 8-Shaft Patterns, page 115, pattern 420.  It's called an 8 block, point repeat twill.




Gus was inspired by the lace workshop she recently took from Suzie Liles.  She put on a 6 yard warp and used a pleasing neutral 3/2 perle cotton for these place mats.  These mats were designed by Suzie  Lyles.  Gus sett her project at 12 epi.


Here is an idea from Dee.  In her stash she had some sari silk waste yarn.  It is sometimes hard to use in a weaving project because it can make the fabric very heavy and almost impossible to use in the warp because of the fuzzy nature of the yarn.  Dee's solution is inspired and can also be used when you have a fancy yarn and only want it to show on one surface of the cloth.   Here is the recipe. Take a four shaft loom and thread in  a straight draw ( 1-2-3-4).  Weave two shots of tabby with yarn similar in weight to the warp yarns.  Then raise shaft 2 and throw a shot of sari silk, two more shots of tabby with your finer yarn and finish up the sequence by raising shaft 4 and another shot of sari silk.  All of your fancy yarn (in this case sari silk)  lies on the surface of the cloth.  Dee sett her piece at 12 epi and plans to use the fabric for a handbag.

I'll save more ideas for another post.  We have two weavers doing bead leno and another contemplating a double width lap robe to talk about.  Plus there are lots more pictures in my Not 2 Square photo folder that need to be shared with the weaving world.

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