The treadling was adjusted to allow squared blocks, with 8/2 Brassard cotton used for warp and weft. After being washed, the texture is nubby and more pronounced. The weaving width in the reed was 20.75″. I like the look and enjoy the process of hemming by hand. Changing weft colors gives so many different variations and shades and made it a fun project to weave.
EPI: 24
MAFA2021-018
I wanted to weave a linen towel but with this design the linen weft didn’t work well, so I changed to cotton and was well pleased. This can be woven on a 4 shaft loom also—Davison has many patterns.
MAFA2021-010
This towel represents the many towels I have woven on the straight 8-shaft twill threading using many tie-up and treadling variations in preparation for the MAFA class I am teaching. The threading offers so many options for weaving with the 8 shafts or 4 shafts tied-up and woven as block weaves. This threading offers the weaver so many options on a long warp saving yards of warp waste. There are myriad published options plus it is so easy to create new designs using a design program. I am charmed by the possibilities!
MAFA2021-007
I like weaving turned twills and find that towels woven with the design have a nice texture as well as visual pattern. I had a partial cone of variegated 8/2 cotton that would not be enough for a full towel, so I started placing stripes in the warp. After weaving the towels on this warp, I found that there are similar striped designs everywhere.
MAFA2021-006
Name draft created in Fiberworks. Name for threading is: PatCapogrossi.
487 ends.
2 inches of plain weave at each end.
Machine washed and dried.
Yarns are Lunatic Fringe perle cotton.
MAFA2021-005
It’s been several years since I wove this towel and I have no memory of where it came from. I think it came from a breast cancer awareness publication.
MAFA2019-069
According to the monograph, shadow weave is basically a balanced weave but the patterns are derived from twill. The warp arrangement and weft picks alternate light and dark and the greater contrast, the greater visual impact.
MAFA2019-048
Using the idea that if six colors is good, 60 would be better, I chose yarns from the blues and greens in my 10/2 stash, included cotton I had hand dyed, and wound various stripes onto the warping board, trying to balance colors and vary width of stripes. Although I warp back to front, I then threaded different designs grouping and separating as I thought looked nice. I varied stripes and complimented plain weave with two-two twill, sometimes rising, sometimes falling.
What has resulted is a one-of-a-kind towel that I couldn’t reproduce if I wanted to!
The towel is machine hemmed, but with a foot peddle powered sewing machine, which I take to be about as hand made as using my loom.
The draft file I have attached is a sample, not the whole towel.
MAFA2019-045
I saw this color palette on Pinterest and chose 4 different colors for the warp. (WEBS: Black Forest, Burnt Sienna, Tobacco and Eggplant.) The width of the stripes and colors can be adjusted to whatever you should desire. Each color stripe was 34 end wide on my towel and I just alternated the two twills and arranged the colors symmetrically. I originally had planned to sley at 20 EPI but got carried away with the stripes and would have had a very wide towel. Changing to 24 EPI brought it back to a reasonable width. Either sett would work fine. Use a floating selvage on both sides.
MAFA2019-032
I did not put the different colors of the used threads, it’s up to you to use any color.