More County Fair Entries

It's September already but there is a lot more to share from the County Fair. Two more members entered woven items in this year's "Wool, Fibers & Textiles" Division. 

This year, Wendy-Marie entered a table runner and a jacket.

Wendy-Marie's Thanksgiving Table Runner was created for a family with a very long table.  The warp is mainly 8/2 organic cottolin (3360 ypp) and the weft is 8/2 Tencel - color "Fire". The structure is twill.

Thanksgiving Table Runner

The twill design was based on Jean Sparkes’ table runner in Handwoven, Nov/Dec 2013.  Wendy's variations included substituting 8/2 and 10/2 cotton (not cotton linen) for the warp stripes and instead of hemming, she hemstitched the ends and left a short fringe of about 1 inch. 

The cotton-linen warp provides strength, the two block twill gives the design stability and repetition, while the variegated tencel weft provides drape, shimmer, and variation.

Wendy-Marie's Peacock Jacket was woven using a rayon chenille warp in "Ocean Combo" and turquoise and a 10/2 perle cotton weft.  The weft inserts were also rayon chenille.  The fabric was woven in plain weave.

Peacock Jacket

 

This piece is based on Judith Shangold’s "Splash! Jacket" described in Handwoven, Sept/Oct 2010. 

 

Her variations are as follows: The jacket length is determined by the width of the warp. Conversely, the jacket width is determined by the length of the warp. To resize this pattern for a friend, she increased the length, using (2.5” plain weave-4” insert weave) instead of the pattern’s (2”-/-3”) version.

One pick of the chenille insert weft was compensated for by eye, approximately 2 cotton picks for 1 chenille pick.  The chenille cloth was too thick for the rolled seams suggested by the pattern. Instead, she used regular seams stabilized with twill tape. There was some fraying at the neckline which was corrected with a double floating selvedge, and post weaving buttonhole stitch.

 

Marcy entered two items as well - a towel and baby blanket.  The blanket is woven in plain weave with a slubby yarn from Henry's Attic.  It is a blue version of a pink one she wove for a new addition to her family at the beginning of this year.  This lovely blue version garnered a second place in the Baby category.

  

 

Marcy's Towel - detail

Marcy also entered one towel of a set she wove as an exploration of plaids.  She entered the towel that was woven as a plaid but others in the set were woven with occasional weft stripes or as just warp stripes. The yarn was 8/2 cotton woven in a twill design.

Marcy's Towels - The Set