Initial cut at 8-shaft Ms & Os.
Enjoyed the color play of the variegated warp against the dark weft.
Hand – hemmed, 398 ends.
MAFA2025-3901
MAFA2023-026
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.
MAFA2023-017
This was from a warp that I put on to make thank you towels for my neighbor. She picked colors outside of my comfort zone, so my brief was to make towels that I liked out of colors that weren’t my favorite. I was pleased with this warm and rustic interpretation of the colors. Warp is 402 ends including fs with natural, dark brown and gold elements. Weft for the piece is a warm yellow-gold and a lighter, whiskey colored brown. Hems are 20/2 cotton in rust, and are machine hemmed. I used all 8 shafts, threaded straight draw because I wasn’t sure what treadling I would use, but for this one, I just used a 2/2 twill to let the plaid take center stage.
MAFA2019-056
I started out with Strickler #246, and as I was working with two different shades of red in the weft, I realized how much it reminded me of watermelon. I decided to add some lines in shades of green to represent the rind, along with the reds in the center (and the little bits of black like seeds).
MAFA2019-006
This draft is a standard basic twill with plain weave borders at each end. The twill combined with color sequence for the warp was devised by Beth Willson, Purcellville, VA. I have woven a number of towels using this draft, changing the color sequencing in the warp. This gives a family of towels…all related, but each a bit different.