Bead Leno

Ingrid recently wove this cotton shawl using a technique called "Bead Leno".  See her blog post for additional details on the actual process.  The shawl was woven for a group that donates prayer shawls to those who need comfort in their lives.  Ingrid felt that the cotton fiber and the open weave from the leno twists would make it suitable for summer time wearing.  And, what a beautiful color.  I know the recipient will love this.

Catching up

I've got some special pictures in my meeting folders that need sharing. So this post is a little gallery of recent projects from the Not 2 Square weavers

Here is Betsy's shadow weave shawl; she made two and traded a loom for one of them!  The directions are in Handwoven, Issue 158.  I believe that Betsy used bamboo for her shawls and added a border that wasn't in the original directions.  The one she brought to the meeting was gorgeous.

And - another striking scarf from Betsy's loom.  This has a couple of shots of novelty knitting yarn every so often.  What a good idea!

Here is a pairing of tick-tack-tow placemats and napkins from Diana's loom.  The placemats are double weave pick up from Jean Scorgie's  Weaver's Craft #21.  Diana and I were totally baffled by the instructions for the pick up, but finally e-mailed Jean to get an explanation.  Once explained , Diana finished weaving the four mats and then designed a huck lace pick up design for the napkins. 

Ingrid is working her way through the twelve months of a colorful calender, using the colors for each month for a series of towels.  These are April towels and sitting next to them is a pine needle basket that Gus is working on.  She is just zooming along with baskets these days and they are looking really nice.

To end up our gallery showing we have an homage - or could it be un hommage?  Dee bought one of Ingrid's towels (the middle piece) and was so taken with the color combination that she wove a scarf (on the far right) and a shawl (on the left) using the same color combination.  Dee refers to her inspiration as an homage to Ingrid's original piece.  Dee was correct in thinking that color combination was worth repeating, don't you think?

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.

Ingrid's Studio

The group met at my house last month and I've been remiss in posting pictures of my studio.  This is probably do the fact that it was a bit of a mess.  It's not a whole lot better, but much more presentable.  I have enough room for a couple of looms, plus a stationary bike and weigh machine.  Overall a great place to create.

My favorite loom - Cranbrook countermarch

I am lucky enough to have a dedicated studio in my home. 

AVL Studio loom

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are lots of windows and overhead lighting. 



10/2 cotton ready for current towel projects.  It's like a set of paints.



I share the space with my husband, Warren who is a watercolor painter.  I solved the perennial problem of where to put the warping board.  When I can, I use his easel. 

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

Can you believe that this is a rag rug?  Jackie Hervey is a German Shepherd owner and lover of the breed.  Her current shepherd is called Cooper and he did the modeling for the cartoon.  Jackie posed him lying down as he might do on a rug.  She then photographed the posed dog, put a grid over the photo and made a cartoon, elongating the dog silhouette so that when the rug was finished she hoped it would be an accurate replica of how Cooper looked in the photo.  In the next photo, Jackie is holding the cartoon and the stripe plan for the rug.



Jackie used old sheets and some of her fabric stash for the main body of the rug.  She also bought some cotton seine twine in black for the warp.  The black  made it possible for the German Shepherd silhouette to remain a solid black and also toned down the other fabric wefts.  The technique used is a brocade weft and was  a very time consuming process.  All the time Jackie was weaving the rug she wondered if the proportions would be accurate once off the loom.  And, once off the loom the dog was still elongated and the ball not quite round.  After several days - everything slipped into place and  turned out as intended.   Yes, Cooper will be allowed to sleep on this special rug made just for the kitchen.

The reverse of the rug showing a shadow dog

rug detail

Since we are talking German Shepherds and weaving, Jackie completed a table runner as an auction piece to benefit German Shepherd Rescue of Northern California. She used a Theo Moorman technique and came up with a piece that reflected their logo photo.

Linen and Lace Details

It is somewhat hard to photograph lace weaves, especially in situ and in florescent light. But here are a few examples of what we're weaving.

8-shaft huck diamonds

Bead Leno

Handm Manipulated Laces

Alphabet Bronson Lace

4 Shaft Bronson Lace

Basket weave with tabby border

Linen and Lace Workshop

Sue

Several of the Not2Sq group are taking advantage of a workshop with Suzie Liles of the Eugene Textile Center. The topic is Linen and Lace. All of the warps are using linen and a lace structure of some variety.

Gus

It's a three day workshop - mostly weaving round robin.

Diana

Dee

Betsy

 The drafts included huck lace, bronson lace, basketweave, swedish lace, and hand manipulated lace. There were 4 and 8 shaft designs.

A Tour of Gus' Studio

One of the great things about our meetings is that we get together in each other's homes.  So, in addition to sharing what we are working on; brainstorming weaving problems; and stretching our brains around group challenges, we can see the spaces we use for our weaving.  Each person's area is unique. Many of our group have the luxury of a dedicated room or area for weaving.

Gus has a combination guest bedroom and weaving studio. Sometime the weaving takes over and when guests arrive she has to do some shifting to find the bed.

Gus is working on lap blankets for the Holiday Cheer project for this coming December.  These will be two blankets. The first is already finished.  The warp is cotton and the weft is a verigated chenille. It is fairly fine (see detail in picture below).




(If I was a good note taker like Beryl, I would have remembered more about this piece.) 

It does look pretty nice.  Gus used some slub cotton for the yellow stripes.  That yarn turned out to be not strong enough for warp yarn.  She paired it with a perl cotton thread and it worked great.  

Some of Gus' Stash

Gus is VERY organized.  Nice storage, well labeled.  Hmmm, maybe she can help me with my organization.  She's pretty creative.  She has an unused chest freezer in the garage that she used to store roving.

She obviously can find what she's looking for quickly. 

Gus in her studio

It is always nice to have company while weaving.  I'm not sure how much time Carl spends helping Gus, but I'm sure he's good company.  This rug is an example of the many woven items in Gus' Studio.

Weaving at Joanne Tallarovic's Studio

detail of  Carol's rep weave using print yardage as weft

Way back in January, we had our monthly meeting at Carol Phillip's home.  She had taken a  rep weave class with Joanne Tallarovic in Arizona.  It turned out she was the only student and so it was a chance to get some in depth knowledge about rep weave and its possibilities.  Carol says Joanne has a whole house devoted to studio space, so it was a real luxury to work with the master in her surroundings.

Carol wasn't sure what to take with her to the class, so she brought some colorful printed cottons.  Igor is holding up one of the pieces she wove during her stay in Arizona.  It looks like three different fabrics were used in this piece.  Joanne has a procedure for cutting her fabrics and getting them to line up in sequence during the weaving process so that the original fabric design shows through in a blurred representation of the original cloth. 

This is a towel woven with sewing thread and 8/2 cotton.  It is wonderfully flexible cloth and not at all what might be expected with rep weave.  Joanne specializes in rep weave clothing and the fabrics Carol wove in her stay with Joanne are very suitable for use as yardage.

If you aren't familiar with Joanne's work, her book Rep Weave and Beyond is a fabulous introduction.  However, when I looked for copies I saw that it is no longer in print and used copies are very expensive. This is a good book to see if your guild library owns, or maybe borrow a copy through interlibrary loan. 

Special Rug and a New Shawl

Way back in December, Gus showed us this rug that she wove for her daughter. Gus keeps rovings for spinning in a spare freezer and started digging around to come up with weft for an all brown rug (her daughter's requested color).   It was woven on her Gilmore loom with a 4 epi linen warp;  the roving completely covers the warp.  It  weighs a lot, so she got rid of plenty of roving.  To finish the rug, she put it in a bathtub, got it wet and stomped on it.  Her daughter was thrilled with the present and Gus may actually have room in that freezer for more roving.

At our last meeting, Gus brought in her latest shawl in which she used up odds and ends of lots of different luxury fibers.  She used an 8 shaft draft that Ingrid shared with the group.  It is a 1/1/1/1/2/2 twill  (see our drafts section).  The colors are gorgeous and the hand is wonderful. 

Fabric Analysis of a Handwoven Towel

As a child, Sue spent several years in India.  While she was there, the family bought some handwoven towels (made in Calcutta).  Each one was a different color and they used them for beach towels.  Sue still has her towel, and despite a little wear and tear, it is still functional.  She set out to analyze the weave structure so that she could recreate something similar on her four shaft loom.  The towel has pile, so she isn't going to attempt that on the first trial but says maybe that will come later.

Here is Sue's thread by thread analysis.

It will be great to see how she does with the re-creation and I'll be sure to add it on to this post when it is completed.

April 17 Addition to the towel story.  Here is the first sampling that Sue has woven from her analysis of the towel from Calcutta.

I think that this is an accurate draft for the towel.  I have interpreted it in two blocks and separated the blocks with color changes.