Warp (10/2 organic cotton) was 513 ends including floating selvages. Used #3 treadling. A rolled hem was machine stitched.
Shafts: 8
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This is a draft that blends overshot and huck with plainweave in between. It was very hard to beat the overshot to square, so I ended up using sewing thread for tabby.
418 ends; 2.5 yards long. 8-shaft loom, 21″ weaving width; 10 dent reed.
The towel was washed in warm water and dried. Pressed hard to set the pattern. The hem is handsewn.
Warp is a mix of 8/2 natural Bockens cotton and 8/2 Bockens Nialin (2003 gray).
Weft is 8/2 black cottolin.
The overshot border is 5/2 Valley Yarns perle cotton for the pattern (8990 black). The tabby is black linen sewing thread.
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I used the napkin patterns in the Handwoven article and adapted them. I used the treadling for towel 1.
I began and ended the towel with 1 ½ inches of 10/2 weft to make the hems a little less chunky.
20″ in reed; 30″ long. Warp ends: 488 + selvages.
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Twill blocks in 4 warp colors (red, black, grey, white) with block changes not coinciding with color changes. Blocks were woven as 3/1 and 1/3 twill rotating the same four colors as the warp. Color changes were made every 16 picks, alternating which side the new color started on to reduce bulk of weft ends.
Width in reed was 24″. The towel finished width (draw-in and shrinkage) was 21.5″. Towels were woven with 1 3/4″ hem, 36″ pattern, and 1 3/4″ hem under tension. Finished towel length after hemming was 30.5″. PPI were approximately 22 under tension.
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My towel has a combination of twill treadling with narrow strips of basketweave to outline the weft color changes. This was a simple project with lots of opportunities for different outcomes by changing tie-ups and treadling.
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I always loved the look of turned twill and Jane Stafford renewed my interest with her lesson in her Online Guild. The colors in the towel were inspired from a clothing tag that I’ve held onto for years. I also love purple and green and they remind me of spring. In hindsight, the natural color section in the warp is probably too wide. I did have some issues with the combination of cotton and cottolin yarns in side by side groups. The 8/2 cottolin appeared to be at a tighter tension, making the natural 8/2 cotton slack, and creating some difficulty with missed threads while weaving.
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I created this draft as a sketch and then modified it as I wove. I had intended to warp it in three sections: ABA. Somehow, my B section became 2 sections when I inadvertently went from beige, white, beige to white, beige, white in my threading.
I love my “happy accidents,” but they are difficult to share with others.
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I wanted to weave a linen towel but with this design the linen weft didn’t work well, so I changed to cotton and was well pleased. This can be woven on a 4 shaft loom also—Davison has many patterns.
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I am learning more and more each time I weave. I am taking classes this time around to help me learn how to more efficiently warp my loom. And this was the first time weaving on my new-to-me Leclerc table loom.
I really enjoyed watching the pattern emerge as I went. My towel is based on the eight-shaft threading, treadling variation #5 in the workshop booklet. I miscalculated on how many repeats needed to be in the warp so the towels came out very narrow. I am still learning on how to make what dents I have work with what I want to produce.
I really enjoyed working with the colors and hope to do more with this pattern and loom in the future. And special thanks to Robyn Spady who taught us all about shadow weaving and was so patient with me.
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Hems are in plain weave using quilting weight sewing thread—weave 1/2″, insert thicker white yarn, another 1/2″ and another thicker yarn, and the last 1/2″. That gives a crisp fold line (after pulling out the thicker threads) for your hems.
Cotton bouclé (teal) in warp is a bear to wind on—lots of patience needed! You will need floating selvages. This can easily be converted to 2 or 4 shafts.
Colors were inspired after seeing a picture of a colorful snake: pin.it/54e2cww