Innehållsförteckning för January - February 2017 från Handwoven

Who among us has not heard the siren call of fancy yarns, whether luscious silk or some hand-dyed or textured creation? My siren call came before I even learned to weave. Interweave’s Marilyn Murphy invited me to the 1996 Convergence conference, determined to get me hooked on weaving. In the Lunatic Fringe Yarns booth was a gorgous handpainted novelty warp, full of slub and ribbon yarns. I bought it and resolved then and there to become a weaver. A few years later, I went to the Weavers’ School, wove some practice projects, and then warped up with that amazing novelty yarn, ready to weave a masterpiece. Unfortunately, I had somehow decided that the key to good selvedges was to crank up the warp tension until the loom groaned. “Zing!” went…

INNOVATIVE WEAVING:A GUIDE FOR STUDY GROUPS Mickey Stam AUSTIN, TEXAS: WEAVER AND SPINNERS SOCIETY OF AUSTIN. 2016, PAPERBACK, 156 PAGES, $24.75, 978-0692657331. As a teenager living near Paris, Mickey Stam was fascinated with the Impressionist painters and wondered about their inspirations and their creative process. So as an adult weaver, she tried to start a weaving study group to create “ART,” weaving worthy of exhibition in museums and galleries. She unwittingly stepped into the great divide that exists in weaving and other craft communities, between those who see art as something higher than craft and those who cherish and defend the artistry of functional creations. She set out to find the synergy between artistry and craftsmanship, and in doing so, created a remarkable book that could be transformative for any…

What comes to your mind when I say novelty yarn? I think of textured yarns with slubs and bumps or a loopy bouclé. Novelty yarns are very familiar to knitters, but not something you find in a hard-core weaving shop. Why is this? I think it’s because knitters have a much easier time working fancy yarns into their projects. A word of caution about novelty yarns: a little goes a long way. In the early 1980s, I wove scarf aft er scarf for holiday gift s using a very pricey yarn, a loopy, variegated, wool-blend bouclé, as both warp and weft . They washed up so soft it felt like you were holding a kitten, but I could have easily combined that yarn with another, less expensive one and had…

Just the word “silk” implies luxury. Silk is soft , shimmery, and luscious, yet weavers seem hesitant to try weaving with it, either because of the expense or because they believe it is difficult to work with. Silk is more costly per ounce than other fibers, but a little silk goes a long way, and the pride in having woven something special is worth it. Silk is also not difficult to handle, although I do recommend removing rings or bracelets while weaving and moisturiz- ing your hands to avoid snagging it. Atwater-Bronson lace has been a favorite of mine since my early days of weaving. This draft was created using computer soft ware. This mobius has the elegance of a shawl but has no cumbersome ends that need containing while…

Unique yarns draw the eye to handwoven fabric. The hand-dyed yarns in my vest were purchased at a weaving conference in 2015, and while I didn’t know exactly what I would do with them at the time, I did know I loved the colors and the bit of copper metallic thread that ran through one of them. When Handwoven announced the theme for this issue, I knew the time had come to use the yarns. Looking for a weave structure that would allow me to highlight the two yarns, I remembered a treadling variation of bumberet that creates a vertical ridge in the fabric. The threading is simple; one unit of three ends is threaded 2-3-2 and alternates with a unit of three ends threaded 1-4-1. Three ends seemed just…

The variable-dent reeds for rigid-heddle looms can be wonderful tools for creating cloth for different needs within one project. A friend showed me a bag that she uses for some of her weaving tools. It sits on the table without collapsing and can stay open during use so all the goodies inside are easily accessible. Of course I decided to weave one for myself.  The challenge was to create cloth stiff enough that the bag would stand up without falling closed, yet still be flexible. With the variable-dent reed, I knew I could weave a dense, stiff fabric on one side of the cloth to use for the bottom edge of the bag, while the other side of the cloth could be a medium-weight fabric flexible enough to pull in…

Blue as a Guatemalan sky, these towels were inspired by Guatemalan textiles with ikat designs. By using a space-dyed yarn in warp stripes crossed with a solid weft , I was able to form areas of pattern that contrast with solid areas, without the ordeal of wrapping and tying yarns for ikat dyeing. I changed the treadling for each towel—plain weave, basketweave, and two twill variations—to play with the contrast between the solid and the space-dyed yarns. 1 Wind a warp of 212 ends 3. yd long following the warp color order, Figure 1. Measure 2 floating selvedges of the Brilliant Blue and set them aside. Centering for a width of 178⁄12" in a 12-dent reed, warp the loom using your preferred method, following the draft in Figure 2. Thread…

WEAVING THE POETIC Editor emerita Madelyn van der Hoogt shared this sweet poem with readers of the Weaving Today newsletter, and we enjoyed it so much we wanted to share it in the magazine as well. It was written by a recent student at the Weavers’ School. —The editors Things I Learned at The Weavers’ School A reed doesn’t just grow in a swamp. A tabby isn’t just a kind of cat. A beater isn’t just for making eggs. Sleying isn’t just something you do to a dragon. A castle isn’t just where a princess lives. Baby wolves don’t just come from mommy wolves. A draft isn’t just a cold beer. A profile isn’t just what someone looks like from the side. A pick-up doesn’t just happen in a bar.…

More than two hundred years ago, John Hargrove published The Weavers Draft Book and Clothiers Assistant, a collection of fifty-two drafts for weaving. He points out in the introduction that the “weaving trade” has long been a mystery, since those in the business wanted their patterns kept secret. He remarks: “The secret has lately fallen into the hands of one who is willing that all concerned should share in the benefit,” resulting in this little book. A lice Schlein, in an article in Weaver’s magazine, translated Hargrove’s draft ing method into our own for four of Hargrove’s weaves: bumberet, velveret, thickset, and ducape, all of which can be woven on the same threading. The draft s she derived are shown here for three of these weaves. Although all four are…

Sumptuous threads catch the light, bringing cloth to life. Overshot has always been one of my favorite weave structures: I love the complex, geometric patterns that can be created on a 4-shaft loom, and I love its history. When I sit at the loom, I am reminded of the weavers before me who designed and wove coverlets. For this project, I browsed through my two favorite resources for smaller overshot motifs, Weaving Designs by Bertha Gray Hayes: Miniature Overshot Patterns and Josephine Estes's Miniature Overshot Patterns for Hand Weaving. Searching for something that looked like flowers and butterflies, I finally chose Rosette (Design 91) from the Bertha Gray Hayes book. I selected natural yarns with different finishes to highlight the motif: Yōmō, a wool/silk blend with a matte finish, for…

With the increasing popularity of bamboo yarns and the wide range of vibrant colors available, I decided to weave a pair of absorbent kitchen towels. Rayon made from bamboo has the ability to wick liquid quickly and to hold it until thoroughly saturated. Thinking of something easy to plan and easy to weave, I picked an 8-shaft satin draft with a straight-draw threading and treadling. Satin weave gives the towels a brilliant finish, and the weave structure has lots of color possibilities. Everything about this project is straightforward in terms of math, threading, treadling, and color coordination. When weaving this project, you’re actually viewing the “back” or weft -dominant side of the towel because you are only lift ing one of the eight shaft s at a time, which makes…

“So, taught by love and sorrow, Jo wrote her little stories and sent them away to make friends for themselves and her, finding it a very charitable world to such humble wanderers, for they were kindly welcomed, and sent home comfortable tokens to their mother, like dutiful children whom good fortune overtakes.” — Louisa May Alcott, Little Women One of the best things about being a designer is the joy of finding my designs “in the world” and seeing how other weavers interpret them. Yvonne Smith took my Orange Peel Scarf design and added a touch of sparkle by weaving it with Blue Heron’s metallic yarn. I decided to return the favor by taking her idea, as well as her name, and designing a scarf using her name and mine…

I do most of my weaving on a 20-inchwide rigid-heddle loom. It’s the largest loom I can fit in my little house, and I have designed and woven clothing on it. When I was invited to write an article about designing garments for a small loom, my first reaction was that it was the same as designing clothing for any loom. If I had a larger, multishaft loom, would I be weaving different garments? The answer is “Yes and no.” A rigid-heddle loom has both benefits and limitations that do affect my clothing designs. But unless you have a loom wide enough to weave yardage and all the shaft s you could ever dream of, your designs also need to take account of your loom. The beauty of limitations is…

Tapestry Artist Takes Top Award at International Biennale I n September, tapestry artist Celina Gregor was awarded the prestigious Excellence Award at the ninth "From Lausanne to Beijing" International Fiber Art Biennale for her tapestry Reunion. Winning such an award is no small feat in any competition, but given that From Lausanne to Beijing is the world's largest fiber biennale makes Gregor's win all the more impressive. To win the Excellence Award, Gregor's work was chosen from nearly one thousand other pieces. 963 artists submitted their pieces to the biennale with only 221 chosen by the jury for the competition. Gregor's winning tapestry, Reunion, is a large-scale piece woven in neutral tones including black, off-white, and various shades of gray. When asked about her inspiration for Reunion, Gregor said, "I…

SNIP YARN IN STYLE Carefully snip yarn from the cone, skein, or your weaving without fear with the Yarn Snip from Cocoknits. Originally designed for knitters, this tool is perfect for weavers as well! The snip is hand-forged from black steel in one solid piece. It's designed specifically for snipping yarn and thread, and only yarn and thread, so it's less likely to get "borrowed" by friends and family looking for some scissors. The snip comes in a sturdy cardboard tube so you can slip it into a bag to take on the go without worrying about unwanted snipping. www.cocoknits.com SCHACHT END-DELIVERY SHUTTLE Weavers love end-delivery shuttles because they release yarn with a nice, even tension, which can lead to better, more even selvedges. Made from maple, these lightweight shuttles…

Aft er decades of spinning and weaving, I have an almost embarrassing wealth of yarn and spinning fibers in my stash. Most of the yarns are the workhorses of weaving—lots of sizes and colors of cotton and wool plus tubs of Tencel and bamboo. I also have a healthy supply of handspun skeins waiting for their turn in a project. Thus, whenever I go to a yarn shop or the “candy section” (aka vendors) at conferences or fiber festivals, my practical side sternly tells my creative side: “You do not need any more yarn or spinning fiber! You must use what you have. Be strong!” But my creative side is very persuasive: “Ooooooooo, exotic fibers! Just buy a little. It will be so pretty spun up.” This is usually followed…

I’ve been interested in honeycomb for a while now. It shows up a lot as alternative treadlings in A Handweaver’s Pattern Book by Marguerite Porter Davison, but it doesn’t have its own chapter. It seems to be a treadling that can be used with many threadings. In the book, honeycomb is listed in the index sixteen times and is woven on twill, overshot, and monk’s belt threadings. The common feature of those threadings is long and short runs of two-shaft repeats, e.g., 1,2,1,2 or 3,4,3,4. I’ve woven 4-shaft honeycomb that was very organized and repetitive like a bee’s honeycomb. I have also woven it on eight shaft s in an advancing twill-type pattern that seems to ebb and flow. I love the look of the cells: organic and rounded with…

“Sparkle and shine” was my mantra as I imagined a scarf in turned twill using shiny Bambu 12, sparkly metallic threads, and beads in the warp. I completed this scarf in early July, and the beads in the finished scarf remind me of cascading fireworks when I hold it up to the light. I hope the twinkling bits of sparkle evoke summery celebrations for you even if you are reading this in the darkest months of winter. Putting beads in the warp is quite easy with a few tools. I recommend a beading needle and Nymo size 0 nylon thread. Beads are kept between the reed and heddles until needed, then they are advanced through the reed. 1 Wind a warp of 236 ends 2. yd long following the warp…

Some time ago, I attended the annual show and sale of the Central Coast Weavers in San Luis Obispo County, California. A woman there was demonstrating, weaving an undulating twill pattern, and I was mesmerized by the ebb and flow and beauty of the design. Then and there, I decided that I was going to learn 4-shaft weaving. I was hooked! Eight months later, I was the owner of a used Schacht Wolf Pup loom and taking weaving classes. Then the instructor announced that our next project would be an undulating twill scarf. Just what I wanted to learn! Our project scarf was woven from very fine silk that we handdyed in class. My dye job was less than perfect, but the scarf turned out well, and I was determined…

No Mayan woman in Guatemala would feel well dressed without her huipil, (blouse) and her corte skirt, made of yards of cloth wound around her waist and tied with a cinta (belt). The huipils are oft en handwoven, typically embellished wiThelaborate embroidery or sometimes beading, and there are as many styles as there are villages in Guatemala. Cortes also vary from place to place, but the most popular fabric for cortes is jaspe, a plain-weave cloth with ikat designs. Among Mayan weavers, the term jaspe usually refers to the simple warp or weft ikat designs wiThevenly spaced color changes (similar to Suzie Liles’s towels on page 60), whereas more complex ikat portraying birds, animals, flowers, or people, is referred to as labor, reflecting the specialized skills required in the dyeing…