Adding a quarter inch of plain weave at each selvage makes weaving this a lot easier. you don’t have to worry about floating selvages and oddness at the edge because of floats. Same goes for the plain weave at the ends. It’s much easier to hem a plain weave towel on the sewing machine. I have also found that adding some fray check in addition to zig-zagging the raw edge of the finished towel, makes it easier to hem the corners. Also, do not attempt to machine hem this towel unless your sewing machine has a heavy duty motor.
MAFA2023-025
I’m a beginner, so while the pattern called for 20 ppi, I was unable to beat that close. So I adjusted the pattern’s weft instructions and used 16ppi. I wove this on a 4 shaft table loom.
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.
MAFA2021-048
Woven in Valley Yarns 8/2 variegated unmercerized cotton in the ‘Cotton Candy’ colorway. It was interesting to weave because of the variegated yarn. Six towels were woven then zigzagged on the sewing machine. They were washed and dried in the dryer then cut apart and hemmed. The hemming area was plainweave.
MAFA2021-028
I made 6 towels on this warp. For all the towels except this one, I used 8/2 cotton. On this towel, I used a thicker cotton (Conshohocken ‘Softball’ cotton, color 088 – cherry). It made the whole towel very fluffy and I loved it.
MAFA2021-029
I varied Jane’s original design, but started with her ideas. My fiber is actually cotton boucle and cottolin.
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.
MAFA2021-020
This draft is a color and graphic exploration as part of the Jane Stafford Textiles Online Guild. This was created though her design influence. Consider using your interpretation of Fibonacci numbers. One thing that has become clear as I have worked with Jane Stafford is that we must not be hesitant to weave plain weave. Make what you weave creative with color and design and embrace it!
Technical information on the loom:
12 epi
262 ends
6 dent reed
Warp length: 7.5 yards/8 towels
Width on loom: 22″
Length on loom: 30″
Finished towel approximately 18 x 26″
Yarn purchased from Jane Stafford Textiles in the following colors:
Limette
Pale Limette
Peacock
Turquoise
Royal
Sold in 1/2 pound cones with 1150 yds/cone.
MAFA2021-004
I played around with the threading by adding some bands of straight twill between sections of the rosepath threadings. I also used sewing thread for weaving the hem sections.