#twill

i had a magical weekend finally learning how to use my multi shaft loom in oxfordshire. I am still learning how to beat consistently and make a neat selvedge but it feels magical.

It is!

I designed and wove my friend a multifuctional scarf/shawl/blanket for her semester overseas!

(It is actually dark blue and not black)

From preparing the warp, to weaving, to fulling, to finishing the shawl with a handwoven label with my friends name.

This was a really fun project, and I'm excited to make myself (and my mom) a shawl as wel!

Some stats:

728 threads of 8/2 85/15 wool/polyamide, woven at 8 threads per centimeter in a simple 2/2 twill (but divided over 8 shafts).

Length (excluding fringe): 175cm on loom, 157cm off loom, 146cm after washing (fulling).

Width: 91cm in reed, 82cm of loom, 78cm after fulling.

Fringes: 19cm on loom, 14cm off loom and twisted, 13cm after fulling.

Total weight: 390 grams.

I have two small bits of fabric left (swatch at beginning and from some leftover warp at the end), which I might make into some nice project bags (cus I never have enough of those...).

Another small weaving piece. M. Brassard 8/2 cotton yarn, following pattern #27 from A Weaver's Book of 8-Shaft Patterns with a sett of 20 EPI. The warp is 20 ends of Dark Olive (Olive foncé), 80 ends of Green Emerald (Vert émeraude, not to be confused with Émeraude), and then another 20 of the Dark Olive. The weft is entirely Dark Olive.

Although not obvious from the picture, I neglected to add floating selvedges, and ended up regretting it.

The whole thing is about 6" by 2' long, i.e. my standard length for test pieces. I'm thinking of doing a larger, wider version as a table runner, but I wanted to make sure that the result would come out the way I wanted. The thing that I think would improve it would be something to help the lighter colour stand out more. A different colour, or a more lustrous yarn?

I wound the warp about a month ago, and then just stalled for ages before getting it onto the loom. Threading, sleying, etc. went quickly after that, and I managed to weave 6" that same evening. Once I got to used to weaving the pattern, I was averaging a pick every 7-8 seconds, which is about two feet per hour.

It was nice getting something done again: most of my weaving this year has been a series of failed experiments working with silk. This one actually turned out how I wanted, and was faster to weave, too!