This was a project for our annual guild challenge – to take some donated alpaca fiber and make something from it, spinning the fiber. I used grey and white alpaca fiber, washed it, drumcarded it, and then spun it into a two ply yarn. I wove it using clasped weft. Once off the loom, I washed and lightly fulled the fabric and made it into a lined tote bag with leather handles.
MAFA2023-009
410 warp ends total. 408 for pattern, plus one extra at each selvedge. Draft adapted for cotton instead of linen/cotolin.
Woven using picks of sewing thread at each end to create fold lines for the hem. Sewing thread was removed prior to turning and sewing hem by machine.
Warp was standard 8/10 cotton, unmercerized.
Weft was 10/2 Peru Naturtex Partners 100% organic cotton.
MAFA2023-003
440 ends
This was a really fun project, putting 4 threads through 1 heddle gave a really neat texture to the towel.
Tom had a new to me suggestion for hems. Weave your hem length and then put 2 picks in the same shed to create a fold line between the hem and the body of the towel.
Hems were sewn using a zigzag stitch with mitered corners.
Towels were machine washed and then put through the dryer.
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.
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 in both the warp and the weft.
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 both in towels and also scarves. It is easy to follow and looks way more complicated than it really is. I love the versatility of the rigid heddle loom as I also did a plain weave towel on the same warp without the pick-up stick. The only difficulty I had was trying to translate the rigid heddle structure to the drawdown documents suggested. I hope this all makes sense to anyone wanting to weave this same pattern.
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 on sequences of 3s. Only some of the color stripes show the typical Bumberet design. However, I’m pleased with the texture which will be absorbent.