Innehållsförteckning för May - June 2016 från Handwoven

From the first time I threw a shuttle, I was hooked, and I wanted to know everything about weaving. I came home from my first weaving class and immediately subscribed to Handwoven. Each issue, I would study every project, looking at the drafts and photos, wondering how the color blocks changed in rep or how spot Bronson got its spots. For a long time, I suspected there was some magical key that would instantly unlock the mystery of every weave structure in my brain, and I wished that someone would just hand it over. It would have saved me so many mistakes. Many happy years of weaving later, I know that the keys to weaving knowledge are time, study, and experience, including the mistakes that I learned from. Why did…

This article is the first in a new series in which we will explore the draft of one project in each issue of Handwoven in order to understand the weave structure well enough to create original designs. In this issue, we’ll look at “tied overshot,” the block weaves used in Judy Stewart’s scarves, pages 50–53. THE SUMMER AND WINTER CONNECTION Tied overshot belongs to a category of block weaves called “tied unit weaves,” structures with a plain-weave ground cloth with a supplementary weft that floats over the cloth to create pattern in a block or under the cloth to create background in a block. Regularly spaced tie-down warp threads “tie” the floats to the cloth, both on the face and on the back. The most basic tied unit weave is…

The first inspiration for this rug was a table runner by Jane Evans in Handwoven’s Design Collection No. 8: Just Rags. My uncle asked for a small rug “just like that runner.” I couldn’t find the cloth for the rag weft in the colors I wanted, so I used bundled 8/2 and 8/4 cotton yarn instead. My next variation was a colorful rug for a young granddaughter, and I altered the draft to eight shafts. While weaving her rug, the idea of a black, white, and gray rug for my daughter’s bathroom came to me. The combination of weft -faced and warp-faced blocks gives great opportunity to play with mixes of color. It can also be a great stash-buster. Two strands of 8/2 cotton may be substituted for one strand…

Summer & Winter Kitchen Towels These towels were inspired by a project I designed for Handwoven in 2013. For that project, a set of kitchen towels in polychrome summer and winter, my design process centered on exploring the possibilities of color interaction with multiple colors in both the warp and weft . For this set of towels, however, I focused on the combination of structure and fiber, using only two colors, to create the desired cloth. Summer and winter is a traditional weave known for its use in Early American two-color coverlets, predominantly dark on one side and light on the other with the plain-weave ground cloth woven in a finer thread than the pattern thread. For a more balanced effect between the light and dark colors, I used the…

A cherished image for American handweavers is that of a colonial housewife in New England weaving an overshot coverlet at her 4-shaft counterbalance loom. There is some question, however, whether any overshot coverlets were woven before the American Revolution. Most were woven in postcolonial America in the mid-Atlantic states, not in New England. While overshot coverlets and other textiles could have been woven by housewives working on 4-shaft looms, most were probably woven by professional weavers, mostly men with large multi-shaft looms, who took commissions from their neighbors. These weavers kept hand-drawn books of weaving patterns so that their customers could choose from a variety of designs. Many of these pattern books survive today (see Resources). Most were profile draft s from European commercial pattern books, so they could be…

Living in northwest Washington, I am fortunate to belong to the Whidbey Weavers Guild, which has a collection of original samples from Dr. Bateman. For two years, our Samplers study group has been studying the Bateman manuscripts. We also took a field trip to the Seattle guild’s library to see their large collection. There I found a beautiful sample of an extended divided twill, Draft 246-5. It looked like a lace overlay on fabric, and it was woven as honeycomb but on a twill diagonal. Dr. Bateman used cotton threads in most of his samples. This one was 20/2 cotton warp and 20/2 and 3/2 cotton weft . I wondered if it could be woven to make fabric for a garment. As the name implies, our study group requires making…

LOVE FOR JAN/FEB ISSUE I’ve enjoyed, and already used, info from Madelyn’s article “Understanding Lace Weaves” in the Jan/Feb 2016 Handwoven issue. Great article, with very helpful text comparing Atwater-Bronson lace (what I’m currently doing) to huck. I am still inspired by and learn from Handwoven, despite being an experienced weaver. I am amazed at all the reuse of many of your articles these days, as seen in the Facebook weaving groups. Perhaps it’s always been this way, or perhaps I’m just learning about it, due to these groups. Certain projects are being done so much that I’m almost tired of seeing them! Perhaps you should have an article about “tweaking” designs? I don’t think I’ve ever made an exact project from any article or book. The only time I’ve…

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WEAVING INNOVATIONS FROM THE BATEMAN COLLECTION Robyn Spady, Nancy A. Tracy, and Marjorie Fiddler ATGLEN, PENNSYLVANIA: SCHIFFER. 2015, HARDBACK, 272 PAGES, $34.99, 978-0-7643-4991-1. Many weavers are drawn to the craft by its endless possibilities, called by the lure of exploration. Dr. William G. Bateman was a modern explorer par excellence, a Renaissance man who retired from a distinguished career in chemistry only to forge new paths with warp and weft, yarn and color. For years, weavers have explored his work through the black-and-white monographs published by Virginia Harvey. Now this gorgeous book brings a selection of Dr. Bateman’s drafts and samples in vibrant color, so that we can fully appreciate the scope of his innovation and be inspired in our own explorations. William Bateman’s interest in weaving began with a…

1. Warp color order 2. Draft As a novice weaver, I was both intrigued and intimidated when my aunt called asking if I thought I could weave a scarf of silk and cashmere for a Christmas gift . So far, I had worked almost exclusively with cotton, and I was still struggling to read draft s, much less write one. But I was introduced to huck lace at Madelyn van der Hoogt’s Weavers’ School in 2014, and I had adapted a project from the class, so after my aunt’s call, I began to think about a scarf using this structure. I asked Madelyn her recommendation for sett, especially because the silk and cashmere yarns for this scarf are different thicknesses. Her advice was as follows: • A sett of 16…

Low-tech and high-tech ways to make stunning images in black and white. Cityscape in a Scarf PEG CHERRE In 2011, I watched in amazement as weaver Ngaire wove a piano keyboard on her blog ( dustbunniesundermloom.blogspot.com)! At the time, I’d never heard of clasped weft and had no idea how she achieved this magic. It took a few years before I learned how to do this technique. I started with some semi-random horizontal stripes. Once I felt reasonably competent at the technique, I wanted to do something more representational, like that piano, but I wanted it to be my own original design. After a bit of consideration I decided that a cityscape would be a good project. GRASPING CLASPED WEFT Clasped-weft weaving isn’t particularly fast, but with a bit of…

Dark and Light of the Moon Towels While thinking about a theme for this project, Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon crept into my mind. I couldn’t help but ponder the dark and light sides to everything in life, be they animate or inanimate: how light hits an object then casts shadows on the other side, the depth of lights and darks in the moon’s craters, and flowers fading in the fall and then bursting into bloom in the springtime. The list goes on and on. This color-and-weave block houndstooth caught my eye. With areas of total darkness, brighter light, and a blend to create the illusion of shadows and movement in the twill design, it fit right along with my thoughts. In the directions, you will notice…

Last spring, I needed special gift s for two weddings. Both couples will be living where the winters get cold, so I chose the warmth, softness, and lovely natural colors of alpaca to create two blankets on one warp. I used two color-and-weave patterns from A Weaver’s Book of 8-Shaft Patterns that have the same straight-twill threading, though different tie-ups. I made a warp long enough for two blankets. The use of three grays plus black and white creates a soft color blend while providing enough contrast for the color-and-weave structure to be clear. Alpaca is a treat to work with. It feels wonderful, from the warping stage to curling up under the finished blanket. But on a project this big, alpaca’s slickness and tendency to stretch can also be…

I wanted to explore the summer and winter weave structure, and so when the “dark and light” theme of this issue was announced, it seemed like a good time to begin. Because summer and winter is a two-tie unit weave, blocks can be made as wide as one likes and still only have 3-thread floats. This made it a good fit for the wide asymmetrical stripes in my design. I decided to use silk for my scarf because I also wanted to become more comfortable weaving with this luxurious fiber. Susan Du Bois of Treenway Silks helped me pick a noil yarn with a dull sheen for the warp and tabby weft and a shiny bombyx yarn for the pattern weft . The combination of shiny and dull yarns contributes…

As a new weaver, I was fortunate to have access to some of the Seattle Weavers Guild's notebooks of Bateman samples. I knew nothing about Dr. Bateman, but the samples were interesting and beautiful, and I wanted to weave them. I knew enough to follow a draft and understand most weaving articles, so I picked a sample to weave. The samples each came with a draft and notes about threads, colors, reeds used, and ends per inch. The notes referred me to Shuttle Craft Guild Monograph 38, Boulevard, Chevron and Combination Weaves, edited by Virginia Harvey. I bought the book, selected my threads, and turned to the appropriate page. It was written like no book I had seen, and the photos were all black and white—nothing like the beautiful samples!…

PROJECT DIRECTORY YARNS This chart gives yards per pound, meters per kilogram, and a range of setts (wide as for lace weaves, medium as for plain weave, and close as for twills); no setts are given for yarns not suitable to use as warp). For a complete directory of yarns used in Handwoven, see the Master Yarn Charts under Resources at weavingtoday.com. 8/2 pearl cotton; 3,360 yd/lb (6,775 m/kg); 16, 20, 24 8/4 cotton carpet warp; 1,680 yd/lb (3,390 m/kg); 10, 15, 18 Cabled cotton; 1,183 yd/lb (2,387 m/kg); 10, 12, 14 18/2 merino wool; 5,040 yd/ lb(10,170 m/kg); 20, 24, 30 18/2 wool/silk; 5,040 yd/lb (10,170 m/kg); 20, 24, 30 8/2 wool; 2,240 yd/lb (4,520 m/kg); 12, 15, 20 3-ply alpaca; 1,330 yd/lb (2,680 m/kg); 8, 10, 12 DK…