Innholdsfortegnelse for November - December 2018 i Handwoven

5-in-1 Fiber Tool The Loome might look simple, but it packs a powerful creative punch. With one tool, you can weave miniature tapestries, make a variety of bracelets, and create cords, pom-poms, and tassels. Use it to create custom purse straps or other embellishments for your handwoven projects. For the weaver on the go, the Loome‘s small size makes it perfect to toss into a bag with a bit of yarn for weaving and crafting pretty much anywhere. The Loome comes in four sizes and styles, so you can pick the one that best matches your area of focus. www.theloome.com Double-Ended Threading Hook Thread the most finicky threads at the finest of setts on your rigid-heddle loom without fear using the Kromski double-ended threading hook. One end features a standard…

WEAVERS OFTEN GUESS that the “lace” on this sweet dress is a complex doubleweave, whereas nonweavers simply assume there’s a lace overlay of some sort. So what’s the truth? The lace is actually humble four-shaft honeycomb, fun and easy to weave. I altered a commercial sewing pattern to minimize sewing, replacing the zipper with shoulder snaps and leveraging honeycomb’s stretchiness to make a one-piece bodice. Then with data from sampling, I planned the treadling of this dress for my grandniece Ruby. I plan to weave this project again using hand-dyed shaded yarn for weft and balancing the woven motif at the dress center front. RESOURCES ◆ Berger, Alexander. Jämtlands-och Härjedalsvävar. Östersund, Sweden: Author, 1928, p. 17. 1 Wind a warp of 1,548 ends 23 yd long, holding 2 ends of…

A FASCINATING SWEDISH LACE TABLECLOTH appears in Else Regensteiner’s book The Art of Weaving. Designed by the author, it uses varied thicknesses of weft threads to add artistic innovation to the woven cloth. My aim was to capture that innovative style by reinterpreting the tablecloth into something new—a lace-weave cotton scarf. The photo of the tablecloth in the book is in black and white, so I took the author’s bold use of color from other parts of the book as permission and incentive to make a splash with vibrant colors. Sapphire blue gradations in the warp provide a backdrop for the main attraction: bright bands of crimson-to-coral gradations in the weft at both ends of the scarf. I applied the concept of varied weft thicknesses in these bands of rich…

PROJECT DIRECTORY RH = rigid-heddle loom. Levels indicate weaving skills, not sewing skills. AB = Advanced Beginner, I = Intermediate, A = Advanced. “All levels” includes very new weavers. SUPPLIERS Brassard, Maurice, et Fils, 1573 Savoie, C. P. 4, Plessisville, QC, Canada G6L 2Y6, (819) 362-2408, www.mbrassard.com (Fry 32–33; Hill 34–36). Camilla Valley Farm Weavers’ Supply, PO Box 341, Orangeville, ON, Canada L9W 2Z7, (519) 941-0736, Fax: (519) 941-0804, www.camillavalleyfarm.com, nmanners@camillavalleyfarm.com (Rimsha 44–45). Cotton Clouds, 5176 S. 14th Ave., Safford, AZ 85546, (800) 322-7888, www.cottonclouds.com (Hill 34–36; McKibben 40–43). Fancy Fibers, 406 McKinney St., Farmersville, TX 75442, (972) 616-3276, www.fancyfibersstore.com (Berry 30–31). Paradise Fibers, 225 West Indiana, Spokane, WA 99205, (888) 320-7746, www.paradisefibers.com (Deeds 46–48). Treenway Silks, 2060 Miller Ct., Lakewood, CO 80215-1325, (888) 383-7455, (303) 383-7455, www.treenwaysilks.com (Wilton 52–53).…

THOSE WHO KNOW ME KNOW A MAN who is passionate about studying fabrics and weaving cloth. In my opinion, weaving is much more than the physical process of throwing the shuttle; it includes the (for me) more exciting aspects of making good cloth or rugs: planning and warping my loom. When I get an idea for a project, it often sits in my head and percolates, taking on different forms. Buying the thread, winding the warp, and then finally threading the loom are my favorite parts of weaving, but two or three repeats of the pattern are all I usually need to satisfy my curiosity. Then, as I weave off the rest of my warp, I’m already thinking of the next project. My family has always been big on family…

I STARTED THIS PROJECT WITH THE GOAL of exploring the warp and weft floats of Swedish lace. In Swedish lace, tie-down threads allow you to create repeating blocks at will without creating long warp and weft floats. You can tie up and treadle so that one block is weaving warp floats while another is weaving weft floats on the same side. As with all lace weaves, if you have warp floats on one side of your fabric, you will have weft floats on the other side. (See Resources for more information about designing with Swedish lace.) I began my eight-shaft exploration with a profile draft of trees. Using weaving software, I converted the profile draft to Swedish lace and then adjusted the treadling to weave taller trees. For fun, I…

I MUST CONFESS THAT I used to be a doup leno snob. I assumed the only way to get fancy patterning in leno weave (aka crossed-warp or gauze weave) was to add doup heddles to my loom. Bead leno, although much more common, is only used for featuring highly textured or unusual yarns in a simple 2/2 crossed-warp structure—or so I thought. I realized that if I was going to hold this biased opinion, I should at least give bead leno a chance. After all, how could I believe such a thing if I’d never even tried bead leno? The beads in bead leno are used on the loom, not in the final product. They create the sideways movement of some warp ends under others. Imagine my surprise when I…

Silk and linen have been treasured for centuries because they both provide the look and feel of luxury, fashion, and durability. Imagine a yarn that has the shine and softness of spun silk with a touch of the refined crispness of a fine linen and you have Treenway Silks Resilience, a blend of spun silk and retted bamboo. If you love weaving with silk and like the added elegance of linen, you will like Resilience, which carries the best of both. THE YARN Treenway Silks Resilience, 8,200 yd/lb, 1,800 yd/3.5 oz, 60% silk/40% retted bamboo. Unlike rayon bamboos, retted bamboo is treated in the same way flax is to produce linen, hence the linen-like quality that is imparted to this wonderful blend. Bamboo absorbs moisture yet dries quickly, giving it…

WHEN I AM FEELING PHILOSOPHICAL, sometimes I like to play “What if?” What if I were marooned on a deserted island with a treadle loom and plenty of yarn, but only allowed one weave structure to use? What would that structure be? Although I’ve considered many structures, I always seem to end up choosing huck because it can be applied to so many different projects and fibers, from heirloom linens through garments and blankets to mosquito netting. (Mosquito netting, you ask? Really? Well, maybe.) Much of the reason huck is so versatile lies in the fact that it is based on plain weave, with the added benefit that it can make warp and/or weft floats in addition to plain weave. And those floats are almost magical. They increase the surface…

COME SUMMER, HOMES IN DELHI, INDIA, sport delicate patterned woven bamboo blinds called chiks (pronounced chicks). There are several woven varieties available, some using grass, but the ones that stand out for me are the delicate weblike blinds handwoven using humble bamboo and cotton. Made of thin bamboo strips and bound together by cotton threads, the chiks are available in varying lengths and widths. To the average onlooker, a chik is simple bamboo splits bound together with cotton, but the weaving is time-consuming. Chiks are useful blinds, allowing light and air into the home. They are also low maintenance, needing simply to be wiped with a cloth. When heavier curtains are required, the chiks are lined with a backing of cloth, or even plastic if they are to be used…

AS A WEAVING INSTRUCTOR for a local community college, I find assisting new students with the purchase of a floor loom challenging. After years of rehabilitating older looms, I realized that although there are many resources available describing loom mechanisms and price points, there isn’t something that takes account of weavers’ physical size or limitations, capabilities, available room, and weaving budget. The usual place to look for used looms is online, and I confess that I’ve brought home many used looms and resold several on Craigslist. New weavers are apt to look for the lowest price, without any knowledge of the important details involved in a loom purchase. So consider this a guide for weavers who want a good starter floor loom that will last but aren’t sure where to…

I DESIGNED THESE TABLE MATS in Bronson lace with the goal of showing how a single threading can yield different results based on tie-up, treadling, and which side is deemed the right side. In Bronson lace, there are tie-down picks every sixth pick, causing the pattern picks to pack in more tightly. Learning how to adjust your beat to achieve a balanced cloth may take some time. I suggest adding extra length to your warp so you can practice. To keep myself aware of my beat, I often include plain-weave selvedge edges, which I did on these mats. In eight-shaft Bronson lace, shaft 1 is lifted for tabby a; shafts 2 through 8 are lifted for tabby b. The treadling is tabby a, pattern, tabby a, pattern, tabby a, tabby…

AFTER SAMPLING CASCADE YARNS’ ROSLYN for the September/October 2018 Yarn Lab, I knew I wanted to weave some scarves with it. The 65% wool/35% silk yarn makes fabrics that are ultrasoft and warm with a lovely drape. For a little pizzazz, I added a border pattern inspired by an idea in Jane Patrick’s The Weaver’s Idea Book, combining supplementary weft floats with just a touch of lace. I used Silver, doubled on the shuttle, for the supplementary weft color. The border requires only one pick-up stick that can remain in the warp at the back of the loom for the entire scarf, so weaving went quickly. As I wove, I noticed the yarn shedding tiny neps, but wet-finishing washed them away. As I neared the end of the grape-colored scarf,…

KNOWN TODAY FOR HER INNOVATIVE WEAVING and her classic book The Art of Weaving, Else Regensteiner’s involvement with weaving came about by chance: a meeting at an Afternoon tea when she was 39. The journey to that meeting began on April 21, 1906, when Else Friedsam was born in Munich, Germany. Else, an only child, was cared for by governesses and nurses. Although her mother wanted her to go to finishing school, Else refused. She wanted to do something practical and eventually returned to school for a degree in early childhood education. In 1924, she graduated with grades good enough to allow her to apply for a city teaching job, only to be told that she couldn’t expect to get such a job because she was Jewish. Else’s father, who…