This was a project for our annual guild challenge – to take some donated alpaca fiber and make something from it, spinning the fiber. I used grey and white alpaca fiber, washed it, drumcarded it, and then spun it into a two ply yarn. I wove it using clasped weft. Once off the loom, I washed and lightly fulled the fabric and made it into a lined tote bag with leather handles.
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At MAFA 2023, I created a shirt pattern in my class with Cal Patch. I wanted to use that pattern again, but for a different style of shirt. I plan to make this new shirt more like a tunic and possibly with a square neck. The front and back will be three pieces with two bird’s eye pieces on the front with one plain piece. The back will be the opposite.
In October 2024, our guild did some indigo dyeing. I decided to dye a warp at this event for my shirt. I found a commercial shirt pattern that helped me figure out what I wanted to do with my own shirt. This pattern involved two different fabrics – which I could create on one warp.
I made a six yard warp that has 1056 ends set at 24 epi. Half the warp was woven in a Bird’s Eye pattern beat at about 16 ppi. I used some 10/2 cotton that I had dyed at a different workshop for my weft. It was also dyed with indigo. The second half of the warp is plain weave woven with a mill end light blue cotton.
I did attempt some space dyeing on my warp, but I did not allow enough dye to get into the plain weave half of the warp. So the whole warp looks somewhat space dyed. I also should have been more patient and let my warp sit in the dye bath longer. I would have liked for the blue to be deeper.
The beat for this fabric was challenging for me. I like a firm beat. I usually match my epi and ppi. This was a good exercise for me. The fabric is loose and should be a good summer weight.
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This towel is based on Erica de Ruiter’s Shadow Towels. I have added 12 warps ends on each side to improve the selvedges. Veronique Perrot and Lisa Hill have also been valuable for information for this project.
This can be woven on a 2 shaft or rigid heddle loom.
When weaving, use the outer two threads as a floating selvedge. The 12 ends are used double as 6 working ends in the heddles and reed. You will weave as many as three picks in the same shed and you will need to rely on the outer threads.
I used white 8/2 Brassard cottolin for one of the yarns. The 22/2 Bockens cottolin was from Vastuga in 8 different colors that I had in my stash.
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I have started into Jane Stafford’s School of Weaving and this towel is a variation of the Asymmetry sample from the second season. I substituted turquoise where Jane used red, and enlarged the graphic to get the size towel I wanted. I played with the warp colors to get my own design.
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My weaving Study Group had a plan for a towel exchange this year. I was inspired by bright colors and designed a very colorful warp to include a mixture of smooth cotton yarns and boucle. I planned some color mixing in the warp with sections of warp alternating between a smooth cotton and a cotton boucle thread. As I came to the end of my warp, I decided to experiment with some zanshi weaving using the thrums saved from my other weaving projects. I had to use care in what I chose as weft to ensure the colors did not clash with the very colorful warp. I wove a little and planned my further wefts by how the color of the woven wefts interacted with the warp. As the cloth developed, I tied more thrums to contrast the previous wefts, using care not to create a muddled mess. As the cloth grew I realized I had enough warp left to weave a whole towel! Wefts used varied from 6 strand embroidery floss (used sparingly), 10/2, 8/2, 8/4 cotton and cotton boucle.
Upon completion, I decided to enter this towel in the MAFA exchange with the hope that it will inspire others to use thrums to create cloth that not only is useful and fun, but is environmentally friendly as well. I hope you will enjoy this towel.
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Wanted to make the towel look like the sunrise I see most mornings from my garden window. It also was a stash buster. I hope when you are stuck drying dishes the towel will make you smile and think about the peace of nature.
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The wider stripes in the warp are randomly placed, as is the order of the 4 pinstripe colors throughout. The warp is 506 threads plus 4 FS, 2 on each side.
The weft repeats two more times, using a different color pattern (Chambray/Denim/Natural) of Plain Weave and reversed the treadling of the Balanced Twill in the middle section. The third section matches the first section. I designed and wove so each section was section 11″ on the loom.
Edges were a struggle given the different draw in of PW and Twill. Two Floating Selvedges on each side helper keep the edges neat but not straight.
Chambray Blue is the only actual color that matches between warp and weft.
Colors used were all Maurice Brassard.
Warp: Chambray, Jeans, Honey and Creme. Weft: Chambray, Natural, Juane and Denim.
I used 20/2 Cotton in Natural to weave 1.5″ on each end for a less bulky hem.
Finished size is 20″ wide by 28.5″ long.
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440 ends
This was a really fun project, putting 4 threads through 1 heddle gave a really neat texture to the towel.
Tom had a new to me suggestion for hems. Weave your hem length and then put 2 picks in the same shed to create a fold line between the hem and the body of the towel.
Hems were sewn using a zigzag stitch with mitered corners.
Towels were machine washed and then put through the dryer.
MAFA2021-029
I varied Jane’s original design, but started with her ideas. My fiber is actually cotton boucle and cottolin.
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I just started weaving in August 2020. My fiber friends, who are also weavers, encouraged me to join Jane Stafford’s Online Guild. I fell in love with Jane’s boucle towel kits and bought two for the colors. However, I wanted to try something I had not seen, towels woven with 8/4 cotton as warp, with the goal being a thick absorbent towel with texture. For added texture, the warp in the center was created by alternating 8/4 cotton warp with a matching boucle yarn. I wanted to see if there would be much difference between the combo 8/4 cotton + cotton boucle versus 8/4 cotton alone.
The towel weft was woven with boucle alone, alternating colors and weaving inches to follow Fibonacci sequences (1, 2 ,3, 5, 8, 5, 3, 2, 1). Color progression: aqua, orange, light green, fuchsia, and purple. I wanted the colors to play together in the towel to create visual interest. While I was very reluctant to weave with purple boucle as part of my design, I found this color series one of my favorites. Interestingly, after finishing, there did not seem to be a great textural difference between the areas woven with the 8/4 cotton + boucle combo or in the 8/4 cotton warp alone.
The hems were woven with 16/2 cotton and hand stitched. I hope you will enjoy this towel as much as I enjoyed weaving it!
Warp: 12epi 8/4 carpet warp, 266 warp ends total.
Sley: 20 ends peacock, 6 black, 45 jade, 6 black, 56 each peacock and peacock boucle, 6 black, 45 jade, 6 black, 20 peacock
Weft: cotton boucle in aqua, orange, light green, fuchsia, and purple