Napkin Exchange

The napkin exchange finally took place after having been postponed for a couple of months. Here are the napkins Gus wove using the bumberet draft featured several blog posts ago. The colors for each set were different and she designed the stripe variations as she wove.

Sue H. brought the colorful stack of napkins pictured above. She used 8/2 cottons from her stash and warped two threads at a time in colors that were very close in color. This added attention to detail gives the napkins lots of color depth.

Sue R. wove these two pairs of napkins in soft, natural colors. Sue used her four shaft loom and even though Sue is a relatively new weaver, they are superbly designed.

Marcy's napkins were also woven on her 4 shaft loom. She used a different color weft on each pair and what a variety she came up with. My particular favorites were the set woven with dark red weft.

Diana brought three sets -- all different. If you look at past blog posts, you will find the source for the celtic knot pattern and for the blue and white design. The magenta napkins were woven as a sampling journey using different tie ups with her new 8 shaft Mighty Wolf.

This is one of Dee's napkins. It looks like a two block twill to me and if I'm wrong -- I'll correct myself. These look like they will be very absorbent and I added a pair to my collection.

These are one of my two sets (Beryl) and I have featured the material on Banner Mountain Textiles blog.

Dee brought this bag (the handle is still being knitted) that was woven with an 8/2 cotton warp and with one shot of Sari silk and one shot of cotton in plain weave. This technique made a more supple material than weaving the sari silk every shot.

At last month's meeting, Jackie showed us some textured yardage that she wove for a future garment. The 8 shaft draft is a two block threading. Block One 1-2-3-4 and Block Two 5-6-7-8. I've just posted the tie up here and you will see that the draft is a two block twill except that the diagonal lines are not turnd in direction. The effect in woven cloth is one of texture, rather than pronounced pattern. Dee wove two scarves and a shawl using this draft. The scarves were treadled 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8.

For this fantastic shawl, Dee did treadle in blocks. The lines are faint between block changes , but more obvious when viewed from a distance.

Ingrid has promised that her napkins will be forthcoming and she will do trades with several people once they are completed. By the way, her towels in the slide show were woven on her new 24 shaft loom but they are a 16 shaft point twill design (they are the dark green and white diamonds).

Be back next month for more virtual "show and tell"

May Gathering

We met for the first time at Kerry's studio at her Alpaca Ranch Kerry also sells yarns and equipment, so there was a lot to see before we settled into the meeting.


Kerry brought out a weft ikat sample that she did in a workshop with Mary Zikafoose. The pattern is planned and the yarn resisted and dyed so that color changes will fall into a pattern as it is woven. It is hard to get the pattern to fall exactly where you planned and Kerry says that you need to constantly adjust your weft yarns as you weave.


Kerry is working on this Navajo style tapestry in her studio. The work is beautiful -- but oh, so slow to weave. Below is a shot of the small loom she is using. We asked Kerry if she sat on the floor as she wove -- but no, she places the loom on a table and sits in a chair. Well, I guess we didn't really expect her to be that authentic in her weaving style!




Diana told us about her Theo Moorman inlay place mats at our last meeting. Now, she has woven four of them and says the process has become much more intuitive for her. With images all marked for each item in the place setting, Diana hopes they will help her young granddaughter learn how to set the table. With the assistance of a cartoon, Diana managed to get the plate and glass markings woven into almost perfect circles. Great job! If you are lucky enough to have the a collection of old Handwoven magazines, the directions are in the Sept/Oct 1992 issue on page 35.

Carol came back full of news about the CNCH conference that was held in Sonoma this year. She took a class called "Oh, Dry Up" with weaver, Joanne Tallarovic. The class covered Swedish towel structures and techniques. The samples below are woven in a rep weave technique. The warp and weft are 8/2 cotton and the tie down weft is sewing thread. I believe this is a two block design. A thorough explanation of the process is in Joanne's book Rep Weave and Beyond

Carol came back from her class with a big binder full of samples and drafts for future reference. The green and white sample below is false damask. When this is woven in multiple colors, there is a wonderful ribbon effect of colors going over and under one another. On my list to try!



Jackie has a stash of 16/2 cotton and thought she would kill two birds with one stone. Get rid of
some of her fine thread stash and weave yardage for a lightweight top. She found an interesting draft in Carol Strickler's book of 8 shaft patterns and once weaving was underway, she discovered that it was going to be a textured piece of cloth. There are two similar value colors of thread so enlarge the picture so you can see it a bit better.

I have playing around with designing tie ups that will give a mock lace effect on a non-lace threading. In trying to explain myself at the meeting, I found I wasn't able to convey what I do to get a lacey effect by altering a twill tie up. I promised to put a draft together that would illustrate what I meant. Below you see a twill tie up that has little white and black crosses in it. These can be added or subtracted however you like in any twill tie up. In the drawdown, you see these little crosses appear in the cloth. The threading in this draft could be mirrored and repeated for an interesting design and treadling could be straight, point or tromp as writ.




Here is an example of a mock lace tie up for 20 shafts. The larger version makes it easier to see where I have added black and white crosses in the tie up. It is similar (but not identical) to the tie up I used for the shawl below.

Next month we are finally going to have our napkin exchange. Some of us are done weaving our napkins -- and some have found spring pulling us into our gardens doing other fun stuff. See everyone in June!

It's Really Spring

What a show and tell we had for our April meeting. Jackie has been busy weaving for her new travel trailer. She brought two bound weave rugs that she wove last fall and have already been put into service in the trailer. The warp yarns are cottons from her stash, and what lovely colors they are. The thick weft is wool and similar to a felted roving. Jackie says she has washed one of the rugs and there was no problem with the cotton and the wool behaving differently. These rugs lay perfectly flat on the floor and are beautifully finished. We were all very impressed.



Dee brought a towel to the exchange last fall woven from this draft. Jackie's interpretation was woven with boucle yarns in the warp and weft. The texture is much like a terry bath towel. The two colors of green come from the structure showing one face and then another with the different shade of green weft. This is a great draft and can be found in Handwoven Issue 141 pg. 56

Sue H. was commissioned to weave towels for someone with a new kitchen decor. The recipient wanted something to match her new granite counters and specifically asked for white, black and gray. Sue's idea was to pop the color with a bit of turquoise, but deferred to her friend's color choices and wove this stunning waffle weave towel. The design can be found in the Design Collection No. 5: Dish Towels (Handwovens Design Collection Series) which is now, unfortunately, out of print.

Ingrid has been very busy experimenting with her new 24 shaft AVL. Her first warp was threaded on a 16 shaft point. This towel and the one that follows are from the same warp. She also wove some in all white, which are lovely but don't photograph easily.

Diana also has a "new to her" 8 shaft Mighty Wolf loom. For this series of napkins, she got down under the loom after each napkin and changed the tie up. What a variety of patterns can be woven on a straight draw threading.

Here is a sample from my most recent Baby Wolf warp. I used fabric shown in the picture for a Complex Weavers sample exchange. The remaining warp was used for napkins for our weaver's exchange in June. Different colored wefts were used for the napkins and I'll photograph those when we do our exchange in June.

Dee showed a special vest, which couldn't be photographed until it has appeared in a magazine article later on this year. It's a real beauty -- but you'll have to be patient. We will tell all later. Also, Marcy had napkins in progress on her loom but I forgot to get a picture. We will see them in June.

See everyone in May!

A clean well lighted place for weavers

Weavers need friends -- maybe more than other artisans. We work alone for the most part and what we do is fraught with problems. Often we have as many failures as we do successes. For several years, a group of weavers in my area have been meeting on a monthly basis to share our mutual joy and frustrations.

I've had this empty blog for years, having signed up so that I could post to other people's blogs. It occurred to me that it would be a good place for our weaving group online meeting place. Several of our members can't come to meetings because they live too far away or work for a living. So, this blog is dedicated (for now) to an online meeting place for show and tell and updates on what we are doing.

Stay tuned for the November Towel Exchange. I've got some pictures, but want to be able to show a sample from everyone's offerings before I post.