This was the first project I wove on my first loom, an older 12-shaft Macomber that took me over 9 months to refurbish. The towels turned out better than I had hoped, so of course I put them away “for posterity”. I couldn’t bear to let my husband misuse / stain them! Now, many weaving successes and failures later, I realize how silly that was, so I’m giving them away.
MAFA2019-041
Dark stripes always begin & end on harness 4 in any number of repeats.
Light stripes always begin & end on harness 1 in any number of repeats. The color order is given in the accompanying chart.
These yarns blend Sally Fox’ green and brown special breed cotton with the finest Upland white cotton from the southern US. The deep shades are 50% colored cotton, 50% white; the pale shades are 12 1/2% colored cotton with 87% white. Once washed the yarn blooms and the colors darken. This towel has been washed.
MAFA2021-016
I am learning more and more each time I weave. I am taking classes this time around to help me learn how to more efficiently warp my loom. And this was the first time weaving on my new-to-me Leclerc table loom.
I really enjoyed watching the pattern emerge as I went. My towel is based on the eight-shaft threading, treadling variation #5 in the workshop booklet. I miscalculated on how many repeats needed to be in the warp so the towels came out very narrow. I am still learning on how to make what dents I have work with what I want to produce.
I really enjoyed working with the colors and hope to do more with this pattern and loom in the future. And special thanks to Robyn Spady who taught us all about shadow weaving and was so patient with me.
MAFA2019-061
I wanted to use the ‘Netting A’ from Davison’s book page 95, but didn’t want to have to move heddles, so I used shafts 7 and 8 to substitute for shafts 2 and 3 when necessary. I also wanted a small selvedge and used shafts 5 and 6 for those. I tried three treadlings, but found the point twill treadling gave the best all-over texture I wanted. I had purchased the multiple shades of gray at the last MAFA Conference and used them for another project. I still had enough to weave this towel. I did have to fudge on the weft as I alternated white with what grays I had left. I used the Fibonacci sequence to design the red stripes for an accent and used a heavier thread for added texture. I am satisfied with the ‘modern’ appearance of the towel and may do more, though I think I’ll use a smaller accent thread as I’m not sure the 8/2 worked as well as I had hoped.