EPI: 20
MAFA2023-018
Our weaving study group had a challenge to design and weave something using a given simple profile draft.
I decided to give myself a further challenge by using a weave structure that I had not or had rarely used, and chose turned taqueté.
I used three colours in the warp – white/blue for one block and green/white for the other. I wove three tea towels each using one of the three colours for the weft and chose the one with white weft for this exchange.
The towels seem a little soft to me. So, if I were to weave these again, I might try using a sett of 22 epi and 22 ppi.
MAFA2023-005
I used the Brighton Honey Comb towels in Handwoven as a starting point for my springy towels. I decided on 7 stripes of each 3 colors. Each group of three colors was separated by a thinner stripe of white and every stripe had a border color of navy blue. There are a total of 458 ends. The Honey Comb structure lends a nice texture to the towels as well as an interesting jagged edge to each stripe. I enjoyed weaving these towels and the challenge (for me!) of planning all the stripes/color layout.
MAFA2023-001
This towel is woven in the colors of the Norwegian flag to reflect Caroline Halvorson’s 1904 pattern and my Norwegian heritage. The selvedge has a denser sett, as described by Dixon in her book, A Handweaver’s Pattern Book. Ends Ends 5-8 and 400-403 have two 8/2 threads through each heddle instead of one, and they are sett at 4 ends per dent. Therefore, 407 ends show in this pattern, yet 815 are warped in order to fill the double-threaded heddles.
Weft: Tabby weft – 16/2 unmercerized cotton, color – natural. Pattern weft – 6/2 unmercerized cotton, doubled in each pick. Colors: Royal blue and Cranberry red from the Woolery. The pattern weft overshot throws are shown, also use 16/2 tabby.
I wove the hanging tab of 16/2 unmercerized cotton in a warp-faced plain weave.
MAFA2019-072
This has become one of my favorite towel warps. It is draft #246, false damask check. I call it woven ribbons, as that is what it looks like to me. Although it uses two shuttles, it is actually a very rhythmic weave.
On my ten-yard warp, I was able to get 11 towels.
MAFA2019-059
Really enjoyed Tom Knisely’s “Weaving on a Straight Eight” class taken during the 2017 MAFA conference. Wanted to weave something from his class booklet and chose the pattern ‘Ribs of Twill and Plain Weave’. It’s a nice easy piece to weave, and the treadling is super simple on a floor loom, just 1,2,3,4. The threading is also super easy, being a straight 8.
This pattern makes a great dishtowel, very thirsty so it works beautifully. I used 20 epi with 8/2 cotton because I find this makes an absorbent dishtowel.
I warped 20 inches wide in reed and wove 34″ in length. 1″ hem at each end – twice folded hem, hand stitched with cotton sewing thread. Washed and dried twice in washing machine on warm, and dryer on regular heat. Size of finished towel: 17″ x 27″.
MAFA2019-053
This was a warp and project that was my first exploration of a complex (for me) gamp.
While a newer weaver, and always trying new things, I loved working on a twill sampler with friend and weaving mentor Jane Stafford via her Canadian Online Guild. The resulting gamp for this set of four towels was inspired by Cally Booker’s step-by-step instructions and used some of my favorite colors. The project sampling on a Guild loom was great fun!
There is a band of mixed colors in the center of the towel that is playful, but I would not include that again…love the playful darker bands that are two colors interacting with each other.
Editor’s Note: Since we are missing a photo of Bethany’s towel, the green photo here is courtesy of Cally Booker. See Cally’s website at https://weavingspace.co.uk/blog/designing-a-twill-gamp-part-1/
Also, note, the draft here is a generic gamp draft.
MAFA2021-055
Name draft created from the title Bellwether, a book by Connie Willis.
Because the warp threads alternated in color every two threads, it was easier to see any errors in the
blocks as the weaving progressed.
I only had a 15 dent reed with this loom that I borrowed for the pandemic, and would have preferred a 10
dent reed.
There were 360 ends in the warp, six repeats of 60 threads each with the addition of a floating selvage at
each edge; hemming was done by hand. The hem was woven for 24 shots with Guttermann cotton sewing
thread to reduce bulk.
The towel was washed on a regular cycle in a mesh bag and dried on the cotton heat setting in the dryer.
MAFA2021-054
Hand-dyed warp, dyed in the skein using fiber-reactive dyes, undyed weft. Woven on a new-to-me Bexell Cranbrook countermarche loom.