Weaving Again! on the Wandering Vine Coverlet

Well -- I did make some definite progress on the set-up this weekend:

• Finished threading nearly 900 heddles
• Sleyed the Reed
• Spread the warp and tested for crossed threads (There were none!)
• Program the treadle beads (Only 76 treadle changes compared to 300 in the Mountain Cucumber coverlet!)
  

Choosing appropriate shuttles - What will work best for this project?   Then I have to wind bobbins ...  So far, I am using the same shuttles I used on the Mountain Cucumber Coverlet on the smaller loom.  The Hockett shuttles work nicely here, too.  A good weight, and they can travel the 1 yard distance when I throw them through the shuttle race to the other side.  Smaller / shorter shuttles seemed to stop mid-way through, and then needed to be rescued.

And there's still the experimentation phase / make adjustments.  Do I use 20/2 (photo 1) or 10/2 (photo 2) for the tabby?  I am still testing this.  So far it's inconclusive ...  I would have expected the 20/2 tabby to take up less space than then 10/2.  However, the 2 test blocks seem to have come out about the same length -- which surprised me.  I know part of it is how hard I beat it too.  So I am leaning towards the 10/2 for a more balanced weave.

I'm almost there -- the active part of weaving again!  Oh how I've missed it!  The clack-clack clack-clack of my beloved looms!

I am still figuring some things out.  There are 7 pattern repeats across the width of the panel.  Each block is about 5 inches.  I am trying to make the blocks square.

How far can I weave on a full bobbin?

Red

Tabby 10/2

Tabby 20/2

The Raspberry Beret Star by Iris -- EAA Raffle Quilt 2024

Here is the gorgeous raffle quilt for the 2024 EAA Quilt Show in July, sponsored by The Lakeside Quilt Guild here in Oshkosh.  The quilt was designed by guild member Iris, a true artist!  It was made by Iris and her team of worker bees from the Guild.

I'll be selling raffle tickets if you want a chance to win this quilt, just let me know.   

The LSQG Facebook Page

The Lakeside Quilt Guild Website

Now We're Getting Somewhere ... Progress on the Endless Warp

 

I had to buy some new heddles, because this pattern requires more than the standard issue that came with my old loom.  They don't make the flat steel heddles anymore, so I purchased some open eye heddles to make up the difference.   I thought the open eyes would be easier to thread, as I'm getting older too.   I got 4 bundles of these heddles from Ability Weavers in Michigan.   That's 400 extra heddles, although I only needed just over 300 more.

 

It didn't take that long to add them to the shafts.  I made sure they were all facing the same way (just in case that makes a difference).

Just look at that nice wide open eye!  Maybe I won't even need a threading hook?

  Here they are next to the old flat steel heddles.  I don't think it will make a difference, having two types of heddles on the shafts.  As long as they do what they are meant to do!

From the project notes in Fiberworks:

• Shaft 4 = 242 heddles
• Shaft 3 = 221 heddles
• Shaft 2 = 200 heddles
• Shaft 1 = 221 heddles

 

Now that the sectional warp is wound onto the back beam, and sufficient heddles added to each shaft, I can finally start threading heddles for the Wandering Vine coverlet.  

I was able to print off a threading table from the Fiberworks software that should make this step easier / smoother.

This is only the first page of the treading charts.  It goes on for another 7 pages, tracking nearly 900 threads over 37 inches.   I've learned to color code the numbers (which correspond to a shaft).  I have to keep everything in order and work methodically.  

 

From the front:  this is about 600 heddles threaded.  300 more to go ...  I'm 2/3 of the way there!

 

From the back:  2/3 of the way to finishing this stage.

 

This stage will likely take a few more weeks since there are a total of about 880 (Say 900) heddles to thread.   I'm still working full time, so it's not like this is my only thing to do ...

After 3 weeks, I have about 2/3 of the heddles threaded.  I'll say it: It's tedious and putsy.  This is not the fun part of weaving.  But if you want to weave, you have to make peace with the set-up stage.

After this, I still have to sley the reed and tie on, then test for threading errors, and hope that the sectional warp works as promised for keeping good tension.  It will be a while before I can start weaving.

Perhaps I will learn that I should save the big loom for rugs and other projects that are not so finely spaced?  Maybe smaller panels are not so bad because I can spend more time weaving.

Fiberworks Weaving Software and Davison's Wandering Vine

Draw down for Davison's Wandering Vine, modified.

For the Wandering Vine Coverlet, I decided I needed some weaving software a bit more robust than iWeaveIt on the iPad, one that would let me design borders, visualize the whole thing, and print out threading and treadle tables for the big loom.  

The screenshot above shows Davison's Wandering Vine draft rendered in Fiberworks software, which I can use on my "big computer."  It offers a bit more functionality than the iPad. Although I manually wrote out threading tables for several different wandering vine patterns, it became overwhelming to do it for a 36-inch panel at 24 epi.  It was too easy to get lost ... I shuddered at the thought of having to re-thread all of that if I made a mistake in my calculations.  The software is a little clunky, but since we lived through the 1990s, there's something familiar about it.

Thank you to my husband who helped to map this out, and adjust the borders at the sides top and bottom so that they finish with a more pleasing vine.   And to figure out a suitable overlap for where the panels will come together in the middle.  This pattern also took a bit more mental gymnastics to figure out how the panels would come together.  We kept it as simple as possible.

The sectional warp is all wound on with 12 yards of 10/2 cotton warp, in 37 1-inch sections.

Doesn't it look nice and tidy?

Yup -- This is what I've spent weeks winding on a 12-yard sectional warp.  And it will be several more weeks before I can start weaving.  Now it's on to threading nearly 900 heddles.

Using the sectional warp is a whole new thing for me because you warp the loom back to front.  It's supposed to be a revelation for keeping even tension.  Up until now, I always warped front to back, using the reed as a comb and raddle to keep the threads in line.  I am more than a little worried about threading the reed last and having crossed threads ...  I will wrestle with that when I get to that step.

Pumpkin Spice Overshot Throw

Detail - Star of Bethlehem weaving pattern in the Pumpkin Spice Overshot Throw.

It looks like October, doesn't it?  Warm apple cider and pumpkin spice.  Crunchy fall leaves under foot.

Saw this on FB Marketplace last week listed as:

Groovy diamond print retro orange fabric.  Looks to be attached at the center with thicker abstract outer edges. Could be used for clothing, sewing, or even as a tablecloth. Feels like a thicker more double knit style. No condition issues. 

It was local, and the price was right at $25 (including shipping).  I felt like I needed to rescue it because I knew someone made it -- Someone took the time to hand weave it line-by-line.  The seller didn't really seem to understand what it was.  Double knit? Nope!

I don't think it's antique -- it seems much newer than that.  I think it's all cotton and wool.  It's made in 2 panels with a seam down the middle.  Borders all around.  Might be a baby blanket or a throw from one of Tom Knisley's books?  

 

 

 

I recognized the Star of Bethlehem overshot weaving pattern from Anne Dixon's The Hand Weaver's Pattern Directory [full color] book of weaving drafts.  Or you can get this pattern from Heddlecraft, attributed to Josephine Estes’ publication “Original Miniature Patterns for Hand Weaving”  as seen above.

 

Detail of the fibers and the overshot.  Maybe the orange is wool after all?  It looks hairier than cotton tends to be.   

[I should have turned this photo 90 degrees, as the orange would be woven on the horizontal, but on;ly a weaver would know that!]

 

Here's a detail of the border design.

Here are the photos from the Marketplace listing (for the record and the sake of documentation): 

 

  

 

  

 

 

  

Slow Going Beaming the Sectional Warp

Winding the sectional warp, one section at a time.

It's been very slow going beaming the sectional warp.  I know there's a learning curve ...  

I found a few videos (Part 1; Part 2) on how to do it with a warping board (I'm using my warping mill instead) one bundle at a time.  I don't have a creel or 24 spools to wind on straight from the spools -- I have considered it, but can't justify the space the extra equipment will take up, or the expense, not being a production weaver.  It takes longer to secure the warp chain than it does to wind a 24-end warp.  It's only 3 trips up-and-down with 4 strings.  

 

This is how I secure the cross at the top.  Red marks the top and green marks the lower.  Same for the cross at the bottom.  This will be important later on when I need to insert the lease sticks at the loom. 

 

These are mostly secured with lark's head knots, because they are secure and easy to remove later. 

 

4 x 1-pound cones of 10/2 American Maid natural cotton for the warp. 

 

Normally I use a counter app on my phone to keep track of how many strings I've run in any given warp.  But my phone kept going to sleep before I ran the 12 yards down and back up to the top of the warping mill.  It took too many taps to wake it up and get back to where I could tap the app to track the strings.  I finally gave up and went with an analogue method [See photo above.].  Tried and true.  This works just fine!

The videos worked well enough for the basics, but there were a few things that didn't work so well for me.  I have a tension box (Thank goodness!).  She combed out the strings -- I found that it was easier to snap them.  I don't have the right comb for the strings I'm working with.

I broke a couple of strings in the first 2 bundles.  The first bundle, the loose and broken strings tangled miserably.   The 2nd one, I decided to put a note on it to add 2 repair strings later to hang off the back -- just like olden days.

After that, I was winding 1 bundle at a time, and then trying to wind it onto the sectional warp.  It took about 1 hour to do a single bundle in the beginning.  At this rate, it's going to take me months just to get the loom set up.  I thought this was supposed to simplify things?  

 

I developed a couple of tricks to help --  The one teacher said she doesn't crochet the warp chains, she just coils them into a bag -- That wasn't really working for me.  I started winding it around a piece of cardboard, then realized that I could use the rag shuttles with this loom, so I've been running the individual 24-end bundles on the warping mill, then pulling them off onto the rag shuttles (from the top down) where they keep nice and stable until I can wind them onto the sectional warp in bundles.

 

This is the very simple cross holder my DH made out of some of the leftover cherry.  Very helpful!

 

Here is the tension box, which works great as long as I remember to thread the strings around the pegs.

I will say that the finished bundles look so nice and neat!  So far, I have 22 bundles on the sectional warp.  Only 15more to go! 

This system should solve some problems with tension and the cigar slopping at the ends ...  I am looking forward to that!

Embrace Your Curves - EAA Quilt Challenge 2024: Clyde the Octopus is Complete

Clyde the Octopus

EAA Quilt Challenge 2024 - Embrace Your Curves

What has more curves than an Octopus?

 

Detail of a tentacle, and the "buttons" that are standing in for suckers. 

 

Here's a detail of the quilting in the borders.  Free-motion swirls, indicative of the sea, waves, or fiddlehead ferns (akin to seaweed).  I should have waited to quilt the borders AFTER doing the binding.  Some of the swirls got lost under the binding.

I also added a flash of color with an orange-y flange with the binding. 

 

 

After cutting out the pieces, I fused them together as 1 unit, and then fused it to a piece of black fabric.   Don't worry-- This is only to stabilize the applique.  The black won't be visible in the final quilt.  

 Next, I added tear-away stabilizer on the back, and started stitching.

I used invisible thread and a zigzag stitch to sew down all the edges to the black background fabric.

 

Then I used a satin stitch and the glossy embroidery threads to finish those edges properly, so that nothing pops up unexpectedly in the future.  Above, you can see some of the thread colors involved. 

I did not satin stitch around the suckers. That would have been utter madness!  Instead, I free motion stitched the edges of all those circles.

 

Here's a detail shot of one of the tentacles, showing how all the edges are stitched and secured with satin stitch or free-motion circles. 

 

Here it is from the back as seen from the tear-away stabilizer side.  As you might guess, the stabilizer is torn away before layering it with batting and backing. 

The next step is to cut out the applique.  The black fabric is not a background, but more of another stabilizer for the applique, allowing it to coalesce into a single unit that can then be appliqued to the green seaweed-y hand-dyed fabric -- I used Dream Wool batting as the stabilizer at this stage.   I cut the black fabric about 1/4 inch from the edges of the octopus, and then appliqued that to the dark green background using the invisible thread (again) and a nondescript zigzag stitch.

Once it was appliqued and stuck fast, I added the backing and outlined the Octopus by stitching about 1/4-inch away from it.  This helps it pop out for a 3D Trapunto-like effect.

 

Here it is from the back.  And again -- In real life, it is square.

 These are most of the thread colors used in this piece.  I wanted to have a record of this before I put them away.