Tencel Scarf

The middle 200 threads are variegated red/black 8/2 Tencel.  Basket weave selvages in black Tencel added 12 threads to each edge.  The weft was black 8/2 Tencel.  The sett was 24 EPI and the AVL Auto-Advance was set to 24 PPI.

Painted Warp Scarf

This is a 10.5 yard Blazing Shuttles Black Dahlia warp (10/2 mercerized cotton; 400 threads) sett 30 ends per inch.  The weft was 20/2 bright blue silk.  The pattern used 36 shafts and 4 shafts were used for black cotton basket weave edges.

Diversified Plain Weave

I am a member of a Complex Weavers study group called The Sixteens.  This year's topic was Diversified Plain Weave. The 14 pattern blocks afforded by Diversified Plain Weave (DPW) on 16 shafts created the opportunity to render a favorite knitting machine pattern in woven cloth.  Many of the old knitting machines used 12-hole or 24-hole punch cards for pattern input.  A 24-stitch symmetrical knitting machine pattern can be adapted easily to a 13-block point profile.  A 13-block profile draft was derived from American Indian designs adapted to knitting by Regine Faust, (Regine Studio, 1980, 225 pages, ASIN: B0007C3PGW); pattern on page 108.  I converted the profile draft to 14 blocks.   Below is a partial threading draft.

Towels for September weddings. These patterns are all based on 3-1 & 1-3 twills while next towels will be patterns created with broken twills.

Handwoven Wedding Dress (May 3, 1992)

As a fearless beginning weaver, I designed & wove the fabric for my wedding dress.  My husband's Aunt Ingrid designed & sewed it.  My dress made the centerfold of Weaver's Magazine ("Lace Wedding Dress" Issue #21: pp31,33)  in 1993.

It all started in early 1990 when I realized I had always wanted to learn how to weave and had never been able to figure out where & how to start.  I did not even know what a harness or a heddle was, but it made sense that it would be easier to figure these things out (including how to weave) if I owned a loom.  My father was a big believer that one could avoid a lot of implementation problems by using the highest quality tools.  I bought a 4 harness modular 40" Folding Dobby Loom from AVL and followed the AVL weaving instructions precisely.  Within a couple of months I had upgraded my AVL to a 16 harness dobby.  Because it was a spectacular loom & I followed instructions carefully I never had any technical problems.  My tension was even & selvages smooth.  The books I bought from AVL (e.g., Handbook of Weaves by Eleanor Best) helped me learn how to draft.  I did, however, have a lot to learn.  My early weaving featured flimsy place mats & stiff napkins.  The color choices that worked so well in needlepoint & machine knitting rendered woven fabric that looked like a muddy mess (2 different hues with the same color value).

This is the draft for a towel that will be a September wedding gift.  The warp is 5/2 natural Mercerized Egyptian Combed Cotton from RM Yarns sett 20 EPI.  The weft will be blue 5/2 mercerized cotton from Webs at 20 PPI.

Weaving Underway

I'm weaving shawls with the AVL auto-advance set to 20 picks per inch..  The warp is from Blazing Shuttles.

The first shawl has a weft of black 6/2 un-mercerized cotton from Yarn Barn of Kansas.

The second shawl has a weft of dark blue 5/2 mercerized cotton from Webs.

Draft for Painted Warp

The painted warp is represented as pink for contrast.  Tromp As Writ (aka Woven As Drawn In - I had Fiberworks copy the threading to the treadling).  Side borders are black 4/2 cotton from Yarn Barn of Kansas in basket weave. Weft is black 6/2 cotton from The Woolery.

Painted Warp - beamed & ready to thread

Warp hand painted by Blazing Shuttles wound onto loom ready to thread. Mark held the warp while I wound.  400 ends of Blue/Purple Warp (4 Ply Cotton, 2,200 ypp) which will be sett 20 epi.

Hot Yoga Mat in 40-shaft Turned Taquette

My AVL40's first 2 projects were plain weave to make sure the loom was set up properly.  Then my son mentioned he was taking hot yoga classes and needed a towel. I created a Turned Taquette (aka Jin) draft following instructions in the Margaret Coe book 2 be Tied or Not 2 be Tied.  This book is mostly sold out, but my daughter had obtained it for me from AVL (who still seems to have a few copies).

Warp was 4/2 soft cotton from Yarn Barn of Kansas sett 30 epi in a 10 dent reed.  Weft was 16/2 Brassard cotton that wove to almost 20 ppi.