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 tied-up and woven as block weaves. This threading offers the weaver so many options on a long warp saving yards of warp waste. There are myriad published options plus it is so easy to create new designs using a design program. I am charmed by the possibilities!
Shafts: 8
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 in the warp. After weaving the towels on this warp, I found that there are similar striped designs everywhere.
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.
MAFA2021-003
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 also added several different colors for the waffle stripes while the majority of the warp is a dark neutral color.
Warp: 22/2 cottolin. Colors: tobacco 2017, maize, gold 2054, orange 2015, aqua 2032, pine 2065
Weft: Hem: 16/2 cotton, orange 62. Body: 22/2 cottolin. Colors: ochre 2011, maize, gold 2054, orange 2015, aqua 2032, pine 2065
Dimensions
Before washing: 21 7/8 inches wide and 36 1/4 inches long
After washing: 20 inches wide and 32 1/4 inches long
Warm water; regular cycle; iron while damp; no dryer
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 robust. This wasn’t what I envisioned when I planned the project, but I am satisfied with the outcome. It’s not perfect, but it is perfectly functional. I hope it will provide many years of service.
I wove on a Glimåkra Standard using 8 shafts. A ladder hemstitched section was added after a partial pattern repeat and it was reversed to duplicate the design on the second hem. Both hems are hand sewn with linen thread.
Initial size was 33.5″ x 19.5″; hemmed it was 31″ x 19.5″ and final size after washing and pressing is 29.75″ x 18.5″. I hard pressed with a heavy iron to give the linen a polished appearance.
There are 392 ends in the warp with a partial repeat at one end to have similar left and right sides in the finished towel. This is in the attached WIF. Likewise there is a partial repeat and a reverse in the hems, for the same reason. It’s shown on the beginning of the file only. I sleyed 1 end per dent in a 20 dent reed. I wove with a temple and the weft was wetted on the bobbins to help it beat in well and make a more dense cloth.
I wove this without floating selvages but the pattern would benefit from them. The colors do not alternate 1:1. Because of this, to make sure all the warp ends were caught in each pick, the shuttles had to cross sometimes in one direction, other times the reverse. It made for slower weaving and uneven selvages.
The original source of this color-and-weave design is: Die Färbige Gewebermusturung by Franz Donat, published in 1907. This particular draft is a figure from Master Plate XLVIII No. 6A, Motif 4.
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 interest.
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 5 and 6 for those. I tried three treadlings, but found the point twill treadling gave the best all-over texture I wanted. I had purchased the multiple shades of gray at the last MAFA Conference and used them for another project. I still had enough to weave this towel. I did have to fudge on the weft as I alternated white with what grays I had left. I used the Fibonacci sequence to design the red stripes for an accent and used a heavier thread for added texture. I am satisfied with the ‘modern’ appearance of the towel and may do more, though I think I’ll use a smaller accent thread as I’m not sure the 8/2 worked as well as I had hoped.
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.