Archive: May 2021

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...

MAFA2021-001

I am a novice weaver, and this is my 10th project. I had initially planned this project for 40/2 linen, but I was unable to find colored linen in that grist. Scaled up for 16/2 linen the pattern is more dramatic and the cloth is...

MAFA2021-002

I used several colors of Bluegrass Mills’ 6/2 unmercerized cotton yarn for my towel. Plain weave for turned hem, sewn by hand. I love this weave, and have used it several times for towels. I varied the stripes in warp and weft for more visual...

MAFA2021-003

This towel is a design to combine waffle and tabby. I used five shafts for the waffle areas and three shafts for the tabby areas. For the waffle areas I sett the ends at 32 epi, tighter than the tabby areas of 24 epi. I...

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....

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....

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....

MAFA2021-007

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...

MAFA2021-008

Huck draft used from page 12 of The Best of Weaver’s: Huck Lace; treadling on page 15...

MAFA2021-009

This draft is from a terrific issue of Heddlecraft titled “Wicked Good Weaving—Squares and Grids.” This particular draft, in what Robyn Spady terms “x” style, was a lot of fun to weave. I was really drawn to the “X” motif between the tables. Please note...

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...

MAFA2019-074

This was my 2019 Cross Country Weavers sample. The assignment was “Stripes in Structure.”...

MAFA2019-076

...

MAFA2019-080

The color block design is based on Fibonacci relationships. The blue area is 8 inches wide (160 Ends). The lime green area is 13 inches wide (260 ends). In the weft, there is 3 inches of lime green, then a ¾ inch stripe of blue....

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...

MAFA2019-062

Towel is 8 repeats plus 18 ends to balance. Was 17.83″ in 15 dent reed. The warp had 418 ends of white 20/2 @ 30 EPI and 272 ends of 16/2 blue @ 60 EPI. From the manuscripts of J. P. Meyer and F. Walbert...

MAFA2019-063

I followed one of HW patterns for exchange towel. For others on warp I randomized- using 3 colors, adding alternating stripes etc. Made towels more fun in my opinion....

MAFA2019-064

...

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....

MAFA2019-071

This is based on a towel in Handwoven, but modified by me....

MAFA2019-051

I like towels as usable samples of structures that are new to me because even a failure will probably still dry dishes. Diversified Plain Weave (using Madelyn Van der Hoogt’s “new DPW threading and treadling” see Weaver’s Summer 1997) is a really fun structure I...

MAFA2019-052

Towels are a bit on the wide side. Could have made them narrower and/or longer as they came out rather square. Treadling: Woven in plain weave for40 picks white, Turq/White, White/Turq 5 times, 14 picks white, Pink/White, White/Pink 5 times, 14 picks white, Orange/White, White/Orange...

MAFA2019-054

Block Twill is fun to play with, especially with colorways. Used only one color for warp, but is great fun in color stripes. I chose this pattern particularly to reacquaint myself with profile draft, though the draft attached is a full draft/draw down. Started and...

MAFA2019-058

...

MAFA2019-042

I modified this draft off of the towel created in the Vavstuga Basics class....

MAFA2019-043

Making the graphic square is more important than the actual PPI. If 19 PPI gives you a square graphic, then it’s good. It was fun to weave, my first attempt at using cottolin. The draft actually calls for 18 EPI. I only had a 10...

MAFA2019-044

This was fun to weave because of the color way of stripes, but the weave structure would be lost if just a single color were used. The 20/2 linen was too fine to use with cottolin and 8/2 cotton....

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...

MAFA2019-047

I used cotton (unmercerized) for both warp and weft. Length shrinkage was close to 20% while width was a more expected 10%. I added a band woven using a tabby treadling at one end of the towel. An easy weave and the design is pleasantly...

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...

MAFA2019-021

...

MAFA2019-022

This is my first weaving project using the M’s and O’s weaving structure....

MAFA2019-023

...

MAFA2019-024

It was fun to play with color. It was difficult to keep the Monk’s Belt pattern areas from drawing in....

MAFA2019-025

I learned how to choose 2 block textures for a 4 shaft loom. This was woven on a warp from MAFA 2017 Rosalie Neilson’s class “Color & Design in Huck Lace Towels” I enjoyed weaving Huck for the first time, and enjoyed learning about motif,...

MAFA2019-026

...

MAFA2019-027

...

MAFA2019-028

Used 1 floating selvedge on each side...

MAFA2019-029

The warp alternates 2 threading blocks with 3 thread colors. This is a two shuttle weave and each block of the 2-block treadling uses two colors in the weft, and the color combination changes with each block change. All 3 of the warp colors are...

MAFA2019-030

I used what color yarns I had on hand, the numbers on the warp order were for my purpose to keep track of my color selection that I wound on card while winding my warp....

MAFA2019-031

I really enjoyed weaving this towel and the fabric that was produced. As I used a very different color way than suggested, my towel looks not a lot like the gingham checks in the pattern. I hope whoever receives this towel enjoys it for many...

MAFA2019-032

I did not put the different colors of the used threads, it’s up to you to use any color....

MAFA2019-033

I was looking for some ideas to help me mix colors and found this draft in a Weavers Magazine. I ended up making 4 towels and used the various suggested treadling options to create alternate patterns and a sampler towel for future reference. Weaving this...

MAFA2019-034

I simply played with random striping in both the warp and weft. While the pattern is technically from Gist Yarn, the point draft is from page 71 of Ann Dixon’s Handweaver’s Pattern Directory....

MAFA2019-035

I did notice that my warp drew in more for the point twill than the plain weave. Next time I will use a temple for that part. Warp color is white. Weft colors- -plain weave is pale yellow, point twill chevron is orange and point...

MAFA2019-036

I somehow reversed the blocks on both edges of the towel, but I like the way it turned out....

MAFA2019-037

The texture was more subtle because of the variegated weft color....

MAFA2019-039

The color sequence (Chasing Rainbows) comes from The Weaver’s Weevil by Rebecca Fox and the warp yarn is 10/2 mercerized cotton from Lunatic Fringe (color spectrum). I used black for the weft and threaded on a straight draw....

MAFA2019-001

This was done at a somewhat loose sett in the workshop as an experiment. I really liked the soft hand. The workshop towel was too narrow for this exchange so I made another. I hope you like it. Color and weave pattern was 2-1 dark-light...

MAFA2019-002

The colors and pattern I used were based on a towel that I saw at Red Stone Glenn last year. The pattern is from Jane Patrick’s _The Weaver’s Idea Book – Creative Cloth on A Rigid Heddle Loom_. I have used this pattern many times...

MAFA2019-003

Pattern was a plain weave towel with pick up stick details. I used organic colorgrown cotton. Light green/dark green. The colors will show the more it is washed and used....

MAFA2019-004

Woven on rigid heddle loom, with pickup stick used as third shaft. I was exploring textures available on a rigid heddle loom and tried to develop a threading and treading to get a Bumberet texture. This turned out to be almost impossible because Bumberet depends...

MAFA2019-005

Woven on 3 shafts on a 4-shaft loom....

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...

MAFA2019-007

I followed the pattern as published, except for these changes: 1. I used 22/2 Cottolin for the weft instead of 8/2 Cotton 2. In order to comply with the Towel Exchange rules, I removed the outer 32 threads on each side of the towel, a...

MAFA2019-008

This was my first project that I started and completed all on my own after taking several weaving classes. I followed the warp color and threading order in the kit (from Halcyon Yarn), but quickly changed up the weft color order and treadling after weaving...

MAFA2019-009

Use plainweave for hem in finer cotton so hem doesn’t splay....

MAFA2019-010

I used Mastering Weave Structures by Sharon Alderman, which is a great book to brush up on your structures…. Had fun weaving it....

MAFA2019-011

Detailed instructions for doing the mock damask are in the 1994 May/June Handwoven magazine. Take your time on pick-up work. Wrong threads can occasionally get caught resulting in very long floats and it’s difficult un-weaving pick-up work . The instruction don’t indicate it but you...

MAFA2019-012

Picked 3 pairs of coordinating colors and used twice in warp by reversing color order within each pair of blocks. Wove off by rotating through all 6 colors of warp and also varying sizes of blocks to make each towel in the warp unique....

MAFA2019-013

This twill is threaded and treadled based on draft on Heinrich Woolhever’s 1821 Pattern Books Draft. It represents further use of a pattern I chose to explore for the Early Weaving Books and Manuscripts Group of Complex Weavers. The cheerful stripes are my addition....

MAFA2019-014

Page 31 of the BGH book shows a skeleton drawdown of Wishing Well for a bookmark that is significantly different from the Wishing Well draft on page 97 (the book suggests it may be due to a treadling variation). Using the skeleton drawdown, I determined...

MAFA2019-015

Use tabby. I used a jack loom so I reversed the tie-up shown in the book....

MAFA2019-016

A 4-shaft point twill sounds boring but when you add warp stripes of tan, red, green and bright yellow separated by white stripes edged by a single navy thread there is hope. Add an interesting tie-up and treadling to create an interesting texture you have...

MAFA2019-017

Tip: Use a temple. Note that the draft shows only four stripes of the 16 I used in the towel. I basically flopped the draft several times. This resulted in two wide green stripes on the sides and one wide purple stripe in the center....

MAFA2019-018

...

MAFA2019-019

I recorded this draft in iWeaveIt quite a while ago as Simplified Damask from Marguerite Davison’s Handweavers Pattern Book. However, this is not that draft so I now have no idea where the pattern came from. I repeated the pattern 8 times and added 28...

MAFA2019-020

I am a beginner weaver and this is my first project. The cotton thread I used tangled easily and I struggled with setting the warp. And then making sure it was not twisted or mis-threaded. There are a few (many) mistakes....