Shafts: 4

MAFA2021-015

I was inspired when Judith, a member of our guild, wove this for our April 2021 newsletter sample.

This was fun. I put on five yards of warp, total of 562 ends (used floating selvages). I had a 20 inch width and wove 32 inches in length. I threaded one inch plainweave on each side and wove two inches of plainweave at the bottom. I wove the 1/2 inch hem in finer cottlin so that it would have less bulk.

The weave is a standard huck lace and is very versatile. Lots of different treadling patterns.

My stripes are based on Fibonacci numbers. I started with one repeat in cottolin, then a blue stripe of one repeat, then one beige repeat again, then a blue stripe, then two beige repeats, blue stripe and lastly three cottolin repeats and a blue stripe. The beige cottolin stripes are following the Fibonacci sequence of adding the last two numbers together – 1,1,2,3. The next number would be 5. I use this sequence often.

Judith has taught me a lot over the last few years and it seems appropriate to share her weaving pattern with others. If you want to see what Judith wove and other weaving that the Richmond Weaving Guild has shared, go here: www.flickr.com/photos/128696390@N07.

MAFA2021-014

This is a popular draft for kitchen towels with good reason. It is a fun weave and produces a good looking towel. I hope you enjoy using it as much as I enjoyed weaving it.

The Schacht website describes the “Friendship Towels” pattern: “This is a project originally designed by Mary Ann Geers which we published in the May/June 1985 issue of Handwoven magazine when I was editor. I loved it so much that I included it in A Handwoven Treasury, a collection of articles and projects from the first 10 years of Handwoven magazine. The threading is huck-a-back blocks from Marguerite Davison’s A Handweaver’s Pattern Book.”

MAFA2021-012

Traditional twill threadings like the Ms & Ws I used lend themselves to treadling variations. This towel includes straight, point, as-drawn-in, and several variations I “unvented” while playing around with Fiberworks. In the MAFA Samples Database, there is a second .wif file showing all the treadlings I considered when designing this towel. (Remember to add tabby if you used the overshot treadling at the end.) Of course, you can also create treadling variations at the loom by alternating odd and even treadles as the spirit moves you, or by applying concepts from structures such as overshot. I hope that this towel inspires you to create something that is uniquely yours.

I’m also using this warp to weave my swatches for Jockey Hollow Weavers’ annual exchange; this year’s theme is “Red,” for the guild’s 40th (ruby) anniversary. (2021 is also the ruby anniversary of the first MAFA conference; JHW’s founders were inspired to create a guild in their area after attending the conference.) And, being a lazy weaver, I’m also using this warp to weave additional squares for Violet Protest, a public art project created by Ann Morton. (www.violetprotest.com/about)

Sett: 20 epi (2/dent in 10-dent reed)
Ends: (22 ends/repeat * 16 repeats) + 11 (M to balance) + 24 (border) = 387 
WIR: 19.65″
Hem: 1/2″ turned hem -> 1.5″. Wove in a scrap piece of 5/2 to mark the folds; pulled this yarn right before pressing the hem just prior to machine-sewing.
Border: 12 picks, about 1/2″
Edge pattern : 3.5″
Band pattern: ~ 2″ (49 picks)
Body pattern: 12.5″
4 picks of plainweave metallic to separate patterns
Mirror second half (which I did not do as precisely as I had intended.)

Used a weighted floating selvage. Draw-in was greater than expected; used a temple. Shrinkage after machine washing and drying was 10% widthwise and negligible lengthwise (which makes me suspect I mis-measured when it was on the loom; I would have expected 10-15%).

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I am delighted by the possibilities of such a simple weave as Monks Belt!

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 that my submitted draft corrects a threading/treadling error in the published draft.

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.

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. The following green and blue stripes are 5 pics each. The remainder if the towel is woven with lime green. The stripes are only on one end of the towel.

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 dent reed available, so I went with 17.5 EPI.

Loom width 18.89 inches in the reed, 17.5 inches off loom, and 16.5 inches finished. Loom length 34.75 inches off loom(before hemming) and 29.75 inches finished and hemmed.

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 on my towel and I just alternated the two twills and arranged the colors symmetrically. I originally had planned to sley at 20 EPI but got carried away with the stripes and would have had a very wide towel. Changing to 24 EPI brought it back to a reasonable width. Either sett would work fine. Use a floating selvage on both sides.

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.