Textiles for Celebrations

 

rose border on table runner

A friend went to Romania, and she found this lovely table runner.  It is a 'heritage' piece, and I would not be surprised if the linen had been domestically grown and spun.  The pattern threads look like mercerized cotton, therefore most likely not hand spun but purchased.  The teal has transferred some dye to the ground, which would not be surprising.

The cloth is quite long at about 90" in length and about 17" in width (2 meters 28 cm by 43 cm).

The foundation cloth still holds the reed marks, and there are minor 'errors' here and there.  But the beat is very even and the selvedges straight with slight reduction in width in the areas of the patterning.  And the borders at either end are not entirely 'perfect'.  The patterning is largely 'perfect' and it is obvious that someone spent a lot of time weaving this cloth.  The ends have been rolled and hand stitched down, then a crochet loop/filet on each end is used to tie a tassel fringe to it in both white (looks like merc. cotton) and red (merc. cotton).

I have no idea if they used a pick up stick or if they had a loom with loom controlled patterning, but it doesn't matter.  It was a lovely and thoughtful gift, and I am delighted to have received it.

The size and the way the cloth has been woven puts me in mind of a cloth I remember from a Ukrainian dance.  As I recall they do this dance in celebration - a successful harvest, weddings and such.  It is generally used to hold a 'loaf' of bread (memory may not be accurate) and a small container of salt.  

On the cloth that was given me, the pattern is a border of roses, so if it was intended for a special occasion, perhaps it was meant for a wedding?  

Speculation on my part, as I don't know if Romanians had the same kind of ceremony although the motif is very similar to those I am familiar with in Ukrainian textiles (no, I'm not Ukrainian heritage, but there is a large Ukrainian population in my town.)

We can learn a great deal from what our ancestors have done.  And while this cloth isn't particularly old (using merc. cotton I suspect late 19th, early 20th century) but the care and attention to details tells me that it was made with care and attention, but neither is it 'perfect' - which doesn't make it any less appreciated then - and by me - now.

It's Snowing!

 

Snowflake border tea towel

Over all I'm pleased enough with these. 

They are 2/16 warp and weft, woven in a snowflake twill around the border with a plain/basket weave centre field

They are not 'perfect'.  It's difficult to control the beat when changing between two weave structures with such different take up rates (and resistance to beating!)

But if you can't be perfect, be consistent, and I did the best I could given the challenges.

I also found weaving them rather tiring, given I'm not over the brain injury.  On the whole, everyone (in the health care field) assures me I'm making an astonishing recovery.  Since I'm only just 4 months (as of the 31st Dec.) out from the injury with a projected 24 month recovery, I can't complain.  (She says, wanting to complain!)

Anyway, I decided I would sell these after all so I have uploaded them to my ko-fi shop.  There are just 4 of this design in this colour, so if you are interested I would suggest that you act quickly.  :)  

In the meantime I am threading the loom (slowly, so, so, slowly) as I am trying not to stress my back too much.  I get my next injections in January (Merry Xmas to me?) and I'm hoping that the new pain medication will keep things more 'comfortable' - and what will help is *not* stressing my back too much.  So instead of threading for 45-60 minutes, I'm limiting my time at the loom to about 30.  

In the meantime I'm working on another article for WEFT.  I started writing the current article yesterday and it seemed to go well enough.  Now I'm facing writing up the weaving records with all the instructions and...math.  Never my strongest suit, now I'm finding it particularly difficult.  But that's what calculators are for, amirite?

The folk at WEFT are making great progress and are on track to have the spring edition on schedule.  Stay tuned!

Window of Opportunity

 

The snow isn't as deep as this - yet - but it will be a white xmas!

There is a tiny window of opportunity for USians to continue to benefit from the US-CDN dollar exchange rate but it will be closing very soon.

I will be posting new tea towels to my ko-fi shop (hopefully today) and if you want to get the US$ discount, purchase before the end of the month so I can mail the parcels early in January.  Once the promised Trump tariffs kick in (25% according to the president elect) that will essentially wipe out the exchange rate differential.

And we have zero idea what is going to happen to post office/mail.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

(There will be no tariff on the 3 books on blurb.com as they are printed and shipped within the US.)

Only a Hobby

well used padded gloves I needed when I was dealing with nerve pain from a pinched nerve in my neck

 

I saw online this morning that someone was giving another person a 'hard' time because they were working on their 'hobby'.  How could they when the world was going to hell in a basket?

I got similar comments after I had been a weaver as my profession for about 25 years when I would once again show up at the local craft fair with thousands of dollars of hand made textiles for sale and one of the 'ladies who lunch' would come by, notice that I was standing in my booth, look around and then say something to the effect of 'oh, you're still weaving?'

I would smile and say "Yes, I am."  And more than once I would get a confused look and then the person would say 'oh, I guess you need something to keep you busy.'  And off they would go.

It was always confusing to me.  Do lawyers practice law because they need something to keep themselves busy?  Do doctors?  Does anyone work at something because they can't think of anything 'better' to do?

Even now, in 'retirement' I still weave - for all the reasons that the craft captured my interest right from the start - I keep learning.

But also?  I like the physical act of weaving.  I like sitting down at the loom and throwing the shuttle.  I get endorphins (yes, because I weave that energetically).  And at the end of the day, I feel as though I have been productive.

Right now I weave because it is an act of creation, not destruction, and we have more than enough people 'out there' trying to destroy our world, the very planet we live on, and it may not be much but the world can use all the creative energy it can get.

I fear that we are going to see huge changes in our society, most of them very bad for the average person.  Will I be able to keep generating an income from weaving?  Maybe not, but I *hope* I can keep learning, and writing about what I learn.

Ultimately, with the general feeling of 'burn it all down' wafting around, we may just get our wish.  And then people like gardeners, spinners/dyers/weavers and all manner of textile workers, may find they need to do these old crafts as survival skills.  Just one more reason for people like me to keep digging, trying to understand the craft, and share that knowledge with others.

I heard that Canada Post will be starting back to work today.  My books are still available at blurb.com, tea towels at my ko-fi shop, and online classes at Long Thread Media and School of Sweet Georgia.

As a person I may be pretty much powerless, but I can stay creative, stay learning, stay sharing what I learn.  And that's not a bad way to end my days...

A Long History

 

Ars Textrina is a publication very few people knew about but I collected as many as I could.  During a purge of my library a few years ago, I sold off all of them - except for these two.

Patricia Hilts had obtained some weaving books from the 1600s or so, from Germany, translated them and provided updated weaving drafts.  I use them for inspiration, and a jumping off place to transfer my intentions into the cloth I want to make.

And that's the thing.  Almost nothing is 'brand new' when it comes to cloth (apart from the new technology fibres and cloth for medical and industrial purposes).  There are only so many ways a weaver can thread the loom and then tie the shafts up to create functional cloth.  It is *how* we apply those things to our own designs/intentions that make them 'new'.

Of course I could start from 'scratch' every single time I design a warp, buy why should I?  Our ancestors did exactly the same thing - they might see a textile from a different country/culture and then apply their creativity and make something 'unique'.

The fact is that humans have been creating string/thread/yarn since the beginning of time.  The archeologists now recognize that there are things that can be learned by studying those bits of string that might be left on a body or tools.  They recognize that sculptures depict the use of 'string' adornments (the Venus goddesses and their 'string skirts' being a prime example), and there can be traces of textiles left in things like pottery.

We stand on the shoulders of giants.

As I near the end of the current warp I am paging through the Ars Textrina books.  I've noted a couple designs that I find interesting but I also need to adapt them to what I will make.  Borders, sides and ends, how large (how many repeats across/down) and, of course, the colours I will use.  Since I want to weave up more of the fine singles linen, I need to use a density appropriate to the yarn I will use and the function the cloth is to serve.

So yes, I will 'copy' a draft that was published originally in the 1600s or so, but then I will adapt it to my purpose.

And all the while I will thank the two German weavers who so faithfully recorded what they did so that I could reference their work and bring it into the 21st century along with Patricia Hilts to brought it to light.  And feel part of the same creativity that also drove them.  A long thread of knowledge and skill, still in use now.

Jump Through Hoops

 

A number of people have commented that they don't have enough shafts to do Swedish Snowflake with a border so today I offer people with 8 shafts a way to do a border with centre field.

Any four shaft threading can be treated the same, once the technique is understood.  To do it loom controlled you do need four shafts per block so a loom with 8 shafts.  Since the treadling is a bit complicated, it is easier to weave if you have a dobby, but it's not entirely necessary.  One doesn't need to choose *this* threading draft, but any of the simpler twills from Davison, or other books with threading drafts.  

This technique equally serves well for overshot.  One can place the design motif within the cloth where you want it.  Ultimately you can weave the overshot with loom-controlled pick-up and put it wherever you want.  I designed a font that could be woven - but it's for 16 shafts loom-controlled.  If you don't have enough, loom assisted pick up works well.

I think Nancy Hoskins has written a book doing this, or you could take my class at School of Sweet Georgia, where I included Bronson Lace pick up as part of the lace class.

(The above link gives a small discount for joining, if I recall correctly.  I have 4 classes there and there are several articles/blog posts plus I hang out to answer questions.)

Coming up to 50 years weaving and I'm still learning.  :)

oday I offer you

Not Set in Stone

 

 snowflake twill towel

I cut the blue/grey warp off the loom last week, wet finished and started hemming them.

Since I have made significant changes to the draft to the current warp, and some to this previous one, I'm not sure I can any longer call it 'Swedish Snowflake' (as we know it in North America) or just that I used a fancy twill in the category of 'snowflake twills'.

I think it was the day I realized that threading drafts are not written in stone that I began to see the potential for designing things.  It felt like I slipped the coils of gravity and was able to 'fly'.  Well, not really, but I felt like the horizon had suddenly got exponentially bigger.  

I began to play with the elements in the design, once I could see what they were and how to make them 'dance'.  Right away I knew I wanted a lot more shafts.  A Jacquard would have been ideal, but way out of my budget (still is.)

So I bought a 16 shaft loom, which - other than a draw loom - was the most that handlooms came in, until after the computer interface dobby became more common.  By then, however, I had gotten used to 16 shafts, and while I sometimes cast a longing eye at looms with more, the reality is that I don't really 'need' more.  I have far from explored everything there is to do with 16.  And the creative 'limitation' is good, too.  It forces me to really think about what I want to achieve and think through the best way to achieve it.

I didn't make it to the loom yesterday, but last night was 'better' and I aim to continue weaving on the beige warp today.  And decide on the next warp since it looks like I can't order the yarn I need yet, for the next article.  But that deadline isn't 'tight' so I've got time to get back to 'usual' and keep weaving off the fine linen singles.  And keep working on stash reduction.  And hopefully Canada Post will come to an agreement with their employees soon.