Pattern from Handwoven May / June 2020
Tom Knisely
Huck Lace Napkins adapted to make towel
8/2 cotton warp/weft
578warp ends sett at 24 EPI. 2/ dent in a 12 dent reed
Hand stitched hems
MAFA2025-3964
MAFA2025-3962
RIC RAC STRIPE TOWEL
Number of warp ends per color
Royal – 160 ends (includes a floating selvage thread not shown on draft)
Flax – 229 ends
Black – 8 ends
MEASUREMENTS
Warp in reed = 20”
On-loom = 18.5” x 33”
Off-loom = 18” x 31.5”
Hemmed and washed = 17.25” x 28.5”
Machine hemmed.
The ric rac effect in the stripes is prominent on one side than the other. I used that as the right side of the towel.
MAFA2025-3957
The warp is a randomly arranged assortment of yarns in the brown and tan family with a black weft. Warp measured in groups of 6 and then threaded randomly through the heddles. 504 ends.
MAFA2025-3955
There are roughly 18 picks per inch. I chose a slightly warp faced weave in order to show the warp colors a bit more than a balanced weave would.
The broken twill ground was threaded on harnesses 1-4, and the point twill stripes were on 5-8
19.5″ in the reed, 34″ long under tension
16.75″ x 27″ after hemming and machine washing in warm water, partially dried in dryer on high
I used two floating selvedges on each side, each in its own dent
MAFA2025-3954
This design is a combination of the well-known tumbling blocks on sixteen shafts and a pattern I designed for the “other” eight shafts since I was working with a 24 shaft point on the loom for several other purposes.
And yes, I was pushing the deadline for my 2025 Cross Country Weavers sample for the theme “Turn, Turn, Turn+ and the tumbling blocks “turn.”
MAFA2025-3953
The folded portion of the hem was woven as plain weave without the pattern weft to reduce the bulk of the hem section.
The tabby pick of the warp yarn between each pattern pick is used to help create stable fabric with longer end floats of the pattern weft yarn. The tabby picks need to alternate 1 & 2 in sync with the pattern picks to get a good tie down. The tabby picks are not shown in the book treadling, but by treadle numbers from the book (top down) treadling would start as 1, 10, 2, 9, 1, 8, 2, 7, 1, 8, 2, 7 … and so on with similar insertion of 1 & 2 between the pattern picks that are shown.
For weft yardage needed, PPI, and weaving time expectations, treat similar to other 2 shuttle weaves with tabby (e.g. overshot or summer winter).
MAFA2025-3952
I was intrigued by this pattern and I call it “Bubbles”. It doesn’t look like the pattern pictured in the magazine – probably because I chose to use a ground weft in between each pattern weft. Using a variegated royal blue, gold and aqua for the ground created an interesting pattern.
The size was 19″ in the reed and 28″ woven was the length on the loom; but after wet finishing, its size is 15 1/2″ X 23 1/2″.
Total number of ends was 457.
I used white sewing machine thread for the hem (turned under 1 1/2″ on each end and machine stitched it in place.)
I think it makes for an absorbent towel.
MAFA2025-3945
188 Warp Ends; remember when following Dixon’s patterns that the draft does show the threading needed to “balance” the stripes.
MAFA2025-3940
I made 4 towels, each with a different color weft. The warp was 19″ wide x 160″ long on the loom with 384 ends (4 floating selvedge threads). The finished towels were 16″ x 25″ hemmed. I lost 3″ in width and 6″ in length after removing from the loom, washing and drying the towels.
MAFA2025-3914
This draft was fun to weave and I love the texture of the finished towel (machine washed and dried). I wove some on this warp with 8/4 cotton as well, the squares were bigger, but they were nice as well.