Things are floating presently. These mornings the dense fog floats up towards the mountain from the valley, the floating selvedge weights hang suspended until the weaving is finished, and even the most subtle windowpane texture seems to float in the cloth. And I have been floating too; between resolve and distraction, between cool mornings and warm afternoons, between the first half of the warp, and now the second.
I have been making steady progress. It is a quiet kind of work as I study and admire the linen, and I find myself enjoying the rhythm of the loom, especially while things are even more quiet than usual, even more still than usual. Weaving linen requires a lot of focus, much like any important journey. I’m keeping at it, and watching my “weavers’ angle”, even in the times I’m not writing as much, it is because the work itself is a way of staying connected.
And as I have finally reached a bit of a turning point, having woven half the warp, I feel suspended and hanging a bit, like the floating selvedge weights, yet at the same time I feel things notching-up with excitement to finish, finding it interesting how focus becomes clearer once you finally sense the end ahead.
My first woven rug came together rather fast, from six old shirts of Jeff’s (one which I made for him years ago, and five LLBean shirts) made custom for a space in our bedroom in front of an old dresser which was given to us by a weaver (hi B!). The rug was woven on my 48″ rigid heddle loom, with the Freedom Roller attached, and I used a temple but kept it back a few inches from the fell so I didn’t whack it with the Schacht weighted beater.
Its been raining steadily for a few days, and I hemmed the rug sitting at the window, in the low light of the afternoon, admiring the Autumn color outside with the black oaks that have completely turned gold.
I am really surprised I could weave an *actual* rug on a rigid heddle loom! The rug is 28×50 inches, and I figure I could have had double the length with the Freedom Roller attachment; I reckon I could warp up to 48″ wide, so in theory, I could make a monster rug of 4×8 feet. After I finished weaving it I hemmed the edges to the under side, and carefully took the labels off and chose one to sew on the hem for a little artful whimsy . . .
Juno was the warping and cutting supervisor!
♣  Weaving Notes ♣
General Notes: I had to get around the fact that the rug is not made with a proper floor loom, with a heavy swinging beating reed, and so I had to beat hard along each weft with the Schacht weighted beater, but the end result was good enough. I thought of a clever way of cutting long strips; figured since the strips of cut fabric are getting scrunched into the warp anyway, it does not matter if they are on the bias or on the grain, I cut about 2″ wide strips, starting at the bottom, between button bands, following the shape of the shirt tails, zig-zag cutting back and forth, using up as much of the shirt as possible, and very little was cut on the grain. The sleeves were mostly spiral cut. When about 1.5″ from the button band I stopped, then from beneath cut a wide turn back the other direction over of the previous cut, snipping across side seams as they come. I was not particularly neat with the cutting either. I cut all the ends angled, and overlapped the beveled ends instead of sewing edges together, which would be way more work. I wove one shirt completely before starting the next, in segments rather than stripes, so we could recognize the old beloved shirts in their sequence.
Additionally, the rug is fairly sturdy and thick and the woven “cloth” builds up fast on the cloth beam, so the Freedom Roller (Ashford’s add-on cloth beam for their rigid heddle looms) is absolutely essential in my opinion to weave a rag rug that is thick and substantial, as is the weighted beater. But perhaps the most essential thing that I overlooked (never again!) is the importance of using warping yarn that can withstand the punishment of the hard beating.Â
Yarn: Maurice Brassard 8/2 cotton, double threaded (2 in hole, and 2 in slot) emulating 8/4 warp yarn. Approx 80″ from apron rod to pegs. Should have bought heavier warp yarn and waited for it to arrive before starting the rug!Â
Weft: Cotton flannel strips, about 2″ wide, taken from old shirts. Beginning and end 3″ same as warp, woven wide enough to make a turned hem below the rug.Â
Reed: 7.5 dpi (30/10cm) dent rigid heddle reed, about 28″ width in reed.
Finished: 1 inch turned hem, sewn against the underside of the rug. No washing/drying. Measurements finished are 28″ x 50″. I planned for 60″ length but made a mistake when measuring warp distance and somehow didn’t factor in the correct amount of loom waste! Gaw!!! Â
Yardage: Who knows…. 6 shirts using as much as I possibly could.Â
This piece is my first attempt at ikat, even though it is only a simple random ikat. I saw a short film on Japanese Kasuri, and wanted to try working with ikat, posted in Knotty. But natural dyeing to me is tricksome, particularly dying cellulose fibers like cotton and linen, and particularly indigo which works in an alkaline solution, which cellulose fibers require. To add, alkalinity is the enemy of wool, which is the only fiber I have significant experience with and possibly the most desire to work colors into. Dying cellulose fibers, such as commercial weaving yarns, involve scouring extremely well, mordanting properly, dying, then neutralizing and rinsing till the cows come home … requiring many chemical ingredients and meticulous measured steps which are very complicated and a lot of work. And if scouring is not done properly a thing happens called “crocking”, where instead of the dye imbedding fully into the yarn, some of it hangs out on the surface ready to rub off on things and ruin them … on to your favorite weaving equipment, on to the clothes worn while weaving, and after being washed the dye gets into the other colors in the weaving itself, which happened to this piece regretfully.
I wish I knew this about the pH issues and limitations before jumping in, and think at this point I need to put the dyes away for while and release myself from self-imposed expectations of dye mastery! I have learned that both commercial dyes and natural dyes have their pros and cons, and I will likely go back to my old favorite reliable powdered Jacquard dye with wools, which are protein fibers, for it needs only a splash of vinegar in the dye bath, a quick scalding, and the dyebath exhausts beautifully if done correctly. Maybe I will again try ikat weaving with wool and Jacquard dyes next.
Going forward, and I have asked myself this: Why spend so much time, money, and resources on the things I am a rank beginner at, while falling behind and not bringing to fruition the things I have a bit of and skill (dare I say talent) with, and really should aspire to become better at? There are a lot of things I want to do, but at this point in my life, I must narrow down the possibilities, eliminating distractions is essential.
♣ Weaving Notes ♣
There are no technical weaving notes in this post, but I want to document something remarkable I discovered for rigid heddle weaving ! When I was more than halfway through the weaving, and the front cloth beam was getting pretty packed with woven fabric and cardboard I found the cloth beam to have a certain amount of “squish”, the selvedges conforming to the curve of the cloth winding on irregularly, and not really producing a perfectly flat weave. This I assume is one of the things about rigid heddle weaving, the cloth beam builds cloth and as it does the woven cloth distorts in shape, as well as effects the stability of the tension.
I had an idea of propping a piece of wood against the wound cloth on the cloth beam, right at the edge, creating a sort of breast beam setting on top of the wound cloth. I found a piece of board which I had used it for separating the shed wider in backstrap weaving, so I positioned it on the cloth beam so that when I tightened the warp, the tension held it in place, creating a very stabilized and firm straight edge for the weaving, and I found I gained quite a bit of extra space on the weaving too, especially for the temple. The more cloth on the beam, the further back the stabilizing board it sits, creating a longer weaving area in front of the reed! I am going to explore this idea in the future, for I am very excited!
Another simple check with three big blocks of color shows so well how shades interact and colors multiply, intersections creating new colors and keeps the interest going through the arduous task of managing even edges. Something so basic as three colors can give a lot of gratification when first learning the basics of weaving. I am still a massive fan of check!
In my recent weavings I’ve been reinforcing the selvedges with extra threads and using a temple, which at this early stage of becoming a weaver, I have already come to rely upon. I think every once in a while weaving something without extra selvedge threads or temple, would give me practice keeping the selvedges from drawing inward by keeping the tension even but not too tight, and the weavers’ angle generous. There are many weaving notes and photos left below, in the event that anybody might find them useful, and I am happy to talk about the details further in the comments as well.
♣  Weaving Notes ♣
Yarn:Â 10/2 cotton, 4200yds / 1 lb, Valley Yarns Mercerized in colors; Golden Ochre (7129), Moss Tone (5997), and Mediterranean Blue (2448). This is the first time I used mercerized cotton, having no idea how much I would like it, I really do!Â
Loom: Ashford Knitters Loom 20″.
Warping method: Direct warp set-up, 1 end in every heddle/hole, and 1 in every dent/slot –drawing out from apron rod through each dent to peg is 2 ends = each color 30 dents = 60 ends. Approx 100 inches from apron rod to warping peg.
Number of warp ends: 240
Reed: 15 dent rigid heddle 20″ reed, and width in reed = 15.5″.
Sett on loom: Warp = 15 epi (threads or “ends” per inch), weft = 15 ppi (passes or “picks” per inch).
Sett after finishing: Warp 16 epi, and weft 16 ppi.
Color Pattern: Warp = 60 ends gold, 60 ends green, 60 ends blue, 60 ends gold.  Weft = wound 60 full wraps on to the stick shuttle for each color, in repeating sequence gold, green, and blue.Â
Finished: 1/4 inch turned hem, then washed and dried in machine, then pressed, measuring 68″ long and 14″ wide, and weighs 117g.Â
Yardage:Â Total yardage used = 1083 y, figured from weight of finished piece and not including loom waste.
It was inevitable, and I gave into it. For years I have longed to be weaving. I have visualized the varied movements, pondering the most ergonomic way my arms and body would move almost mechanically to work warp and weft, and I have craved to move to this rhythm of weaving. There was just no point in waiting, or putting it out of my mind any longer, but one thing was for sure, I needed to start small. So, these are my first weavings, on a tiny little little loom, the Ashford Inklette.
This thing is addictive, and I think this little loom is a good first step to take to understand how warp sheds work, how to manage tidiness in the selvedges, learn warp-faced weave — how to manipulate the threads and yarns, before I move on to the backstrap loom & beyond.
I’m all about the little baby steps now, I am taking one small step and getting a bang out of it! I managed to finish this in a few hours, and now enjoying a celebratory cup of kahve . . .
