Loom!

I finally found a loom!  It is a Rasmussen Loom, made in Seattle about 30 years ago.  The company was sold and is now known as 'Montana Looms' with headquarters in Missoula.  This is a table loom (I was looking for a floor loom), it has 4 harnesses that are operated by the levers on top of the castle instead of by treadles on the ground.  It's weaving width is 26" and everything is in pretty good shape.  Heddles are rust free.  It came with one 12 dent reed.  I bought it on Craigslist from a man in Auburn who just found he didn't have the time to use the loom as much as he wanted.  He sold it to me for $150!  A comparable table loom brand new would be around $1000.

I compromised some in this purchase from the ideal loom I have been searching for (a Macomber Floor Loom).  But I'm quite pleased with this intermediate machine.  I think it will satisfy my craving for a few years and then I can reassess my needs and space availability.

I lack a whole bunch of supplies to make weaving faster and fun.  I think I'll just slowly invest in pieces over time.  In the short term I bought a heddle hook and a simple 8" weaving shuttle.  It proved to be enough to get me started.

I really need one of these (pictured left), a warping board.  Warping your loom is a fundamental process to weaving.  This board allows the weaver to quickly and uniformly measure all the warping strands for your work.  I don't have a warping board, so I used instead the legs of a few dining room chairs.  This worked OK, but much of the precision was lost.  If I were dedicating a lot of time to a serious project I would need to buy (for about $60) or build a warping board.  

This is my first product on the loom!  A scarf, made of one skein of sock yarn, 100% merino wool, in simple plain weave.  The weave is nice, tight, and consistent.  Good experimentation.  The actual weaving process (after the loom was warped and threaded) took about 4 hours.  I estimate that is about twice as long as it would have taken me on a floor loom.  But I found that I didn't mind flipping the top levers so much as I thought I would.  Success!  The one thing that drives me crazy about weaving is the waste created in the warp... check out the pile of unused warping thread (Above right)!  

Looking forward to more experimentation with the next project.

How to Weave

The teaching assistant to my weaving class at Penland (Tali Weinburg) put together this time-lapse video of her weaving a blanket (in two parts).  The story of how to weave cloth.  Check it out if you are interested (and donate a bit to her upcoming exhibit).
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tali/handmade-cloth-as-interactive-art-alternative-exch/posts

and to see more of her beautiful work:
http://taliweinberg.com/home.html

Loom Shopping...

... or more accurately, day dreaming.  And budgeting?  This listing is a little old, and I suppose because it is in Auburn, AL it is one of the used looms at the top of my list.  Definitely everything I need to get started.  I could stop by and check it out on a trip to Louisiana....

http://kbbspin.org/node/7363

Ideally, I'd like a Macomber Type B Jack folding loom, 8 harness, 36" weaving width.  That seems like it would be the best investment, with alot of versatility.  However, I rarely see postings for them, especially within a reasonable driving distance.  Again, just daydreaming...

The Dining Room Chairs

I know, I know, I should have cleaned up the house a bit before taking the photograph... but that would have delayed this post another week and I couldn't wait to share it with you.  I recovered the seats of our dining room chairs with the cloth I wove at Penland.  I did end up using the reverse as well, so I have two red chairs and two lavender chairs.

These chairs were used in the waiting room of my parent's photography studio for 20 years.  They were cheap then and are certainly worth less now... so I just threw this together with a staple gun and didn't fret too much about this project because any small improvement was welcome.  The wicker seats were 14.5"x14.5".  I bought foam padding 1"x14"x14" and stapled it to the seat to add a little body and comfort to the chairs. 

I took my woven textile, zig-zag stitched and divided them into four separate seats.  I had set up the warp on this woven piece to be 18" wide at Penland.  Unfortunately I wasn't experienced enough yet to know to account for a draw-in on the sides.  When I took the piece off the loom it measured about 15" wide.  Almost enough to cover the whole seat... so I had to add strips of fabric on each of the short sides to allow room to staple and attach to the chairs.  

 

I bruised the palm of my hand from the staple gun!  I readily sacrifice my body for my art.  They came out pretty well I thought - the panels I had to add on either side are just barely visible.  I'm a little worried about how they will take daily where-and-tare, but again, any small improvement is welcome. 

Baby Blanket

I finished the blanket that I wove at Penland for PK and Mary Brook's son (who will be here next month!). "Finishing" just meant that I trimmed off the fringe, zig-zagged the raw edge, and hemmed the two ends.  I thought I would hem it on the sewing machine, but I ended up just stitching the hem by hand instead.  I think the hand stitching is much cleaner... I was afraid that sewing the hem would have stretched the edge too much.  I'm really pleased with this blanket... a great size (30"x36") and so soft ('Cotton Fleece', 80% cotton, 20% merino wool).  I can't wait to give it to the proud parents over Labor Day. :)

A Bag made from my Hand-woven Textile

Maybe you remember this cloth that I wove at Penland?  I intended to make a bag out of it, and I just got around to assembling it.  I was a little apprehensive about sewing with this cloth - others in the class looked at me skeptically when I was talking about what I wanted to do.  Probably because it is a little shocking to cut through and ruin the piece you just finished weaving!  The thing is when sewing with a hand-woven textile it will come apart as soon as you begin to cut through it.  So before you cut you have to zig-zag stitch on both sides of the cutline.  

I had originally designed a much larger bag, but after making the pattern I realized I didn't have nearly enough material to make that work.  So I tried to keep this smaller design simple.   It is basically a box without a top, 8"x8"x8", and I added a pleat on each side.  I played with the color-blocking, because I basically had 4 different textiles that I was working with.  I also wove the bag strap at Penland, it was 1.5" wide.  I didn't initially intend to use it like this... but with the smaller design, folding the strap in half seemed like a better application.  I lined the interior with convenient pockets too.

I like this bag, but I don't think it's really me.  I might sell this piece... try my luck on Etsy?  Maybe?  We'll see.

Penland Weaving Projects

My two weeks of marathon weaving have come to an end... and I'm ready to display my work.  I was going to wait until my projects were completely realized (washed and hemmed and fringed, ect)... but it may be awhile before everything is put together.  So while all of this is fresh in my mind I'll show you all the stuff that came off the loom in the last couple of weeks.

It is worth noting that I dove into my projects and spent a ton of time in the studio... like it was my job.  Like I worked in the studio the week before final projects were due when I was in landscape.  It was easy to do:  at Penland I didn't have to cook or clean, I didn't have anyone needing me or relying on me... and, I don't have a loom at home, so I was trying to get as many projects as possible on and off the loom.  My ambition quinched my thirst and I left exhausted with weaving. 

This is the textile I showed in the previous post.  My plan is to make a bag out of this piece, working with the subtle color tones.  I also wove a 1.5" strap to go with the bag.  Will post that piece once assembled.

Pretty excited about the way these came out.  I made a fabric to recover my hand-me-down dining room chairs (they currently have a wicker seat).  The warp is cotton, and the weft is a hefty wool yarn.  I like the red side and I like the reverse... maybe I'll do two of each.  Again, I'll post when complete!

 

I was really, really pleased with the way this project came out.  It's a baby blanket for PK and Mary Brook's first child - a baby boy that will be here in September.  The fiber I used is 80% cotton, 20% merino wool, and a bright baby blue.  I explored a new pattern and manipulated the threading to create the plain weave border.  It took forever to set up the loom - 36" - the maximum width of the loom.  I still need to hem the edges, but it is nearly a complete piece.  The blanket has a great weight, it's washable, and designed to be used.  I completed the project in 2 days... it would have taken me months to knit a blanket this size.  One of the joys of weaving is how quickly you can realize and learn from a design.

This was a fun project.  Scarves for my mother and my mother-in-law.  I made the warp out of a variety of knitting yarns leftover from past projects.  Mixed fibers, varied weights and sizes and spacing.  The weft is a variegated plum laceweight wool knitting yarn by Malbrigo.  I like the scarves because they are open and light-weight, which is perfect for two women who live in the deep south.  Oh, and I just wound a really long warp (5yds) and made two scarves at once... very efficient!  I just spent a day on this project.

This project I completed on my last day on the loom... and I was really reaching my breaking point.  Just really exhausted and ready to get home.  Slightly shorter and narrower, lightweight scarves.  I was frustrated working with these yarns - very soft and stretchy knitting yarns (mixes of merino wool, bamboo, and cashmere) that required alot of care when beating.  Despite my frustrations it came out alright once washed and off the loom.  I was working with really subtle earth colors, playing with color blocks in the warp and weft.  Again, I made 2 scarves from the same warp.  This scarf is for me, the second I donated to the school auction (it brought in $50!). 

Penland: Weaving Project 2

Illustrated story of the weaving process:

Plan your project.  These are material gathered for color inspiration.

  

Wind the warp threads.

Distribute threads along center back of loom using a raddle.

Catch the back loom with the rear apron bar.  Pull and wind back apron bar.

Thread neddles with warp yarn according to desired pattern specification, back to front, right to left.

Thread the reed at the desired spacing, attach to beater, and tie tightly to front apron bar.

 

Distribute tension evenly over warp threads.

Experiment with different threads and patterns in weft.  Choose pattern and thread and beat!

 

Remove from loom and hand wash. :)

Penland: Weaving Project 1

I am at Penland School of Crafts, nestled in a quite corner of western North Carolina.  I'm taking a two week course on weaving (yes, weaving with a loom) from Edwina Bringle.  There are about a million spectacular things about this place... too many to list here.  So I'll just try to give you a visual slideshow of this place and my first project.  I'd like to thank Matthew for making this adventure possible, and being so understanding and supportive about my need to 'make things'.  What a retreat this has been.  http://www.penland.org/