Weaving A Gem Of A Life » handwoven lace

Loom Issues #1

Peg Cherre — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:13:42 +0000

When I was weaving those eggshell cashmere silk lace scarves, I noted a problem that I thought might have been caused by an old reed, and decided to order a new stainless steel reed. That reed still hasn’t arrived, but I haven’t stopped weaving to wait for it.

After the eggshell scarf problems I decided to use my (rather disliked) 6 dent reed while I awaited the new 12 dent SS reed (likely a few weeks). A customer had ordered a black lace cashmere & silk, and I didn’t want to make her wait that long.

So I put in the 6 dent, warped and threaded my wonderful, little counterbalance loom, and set off.

It all went great. I had a total of 3 broken warp threads for the entire 9 yard warp – not uncommon with fibers this fine. This confirmed for me that my old reed really was a problem.

After the black, I wove three 100% silk scarves in a lovely pale mint green. This was an 8/60 silk — I sure do wish I had a MUCH better handle on what these numbers mean. What I THOUGHT, incorrectly, was that I’d multiply the 60 x 1000 and divide that by 8 to get the yards per pound (ypp). Hah! That math would give me 7,500 ypp; in fact, it’s about 2,400 ypp. As is some 12/60 silk & linen blend I bought. WHAT??!! How can this be? Maybe I should just give up trying to understand that and be sure I get the ypp from the yarn seller.

Anyway, the mint silk has a beautiful sheen to it. It’s thicker than the cashmere silk, and way more expensive. So I didn’t want to screw it up. I set it at 16.5 ends per inch (epi), (2-3-3 on my 6 dent reed) as opposed to the 18 epi I normally use for the cashmere silk. It’s nice, but a bit stiffer than I’d like. Next time I’m going to try it looser – maybe 14 epi.

On a completely different note, here’s an odd tidbit. Flies that die upside down on your stove retain their iridescent blue color for days. This one died right by my burner a few days ago.

I didn’t see it at first, and then when I did, I was amazed that the color was still there. He’s been there long enough now that I don’t need to wait any longer to clean him up. Goodbye, fly.

Your turn: do you understand yarn counts and yardage?

Quite the wait

Peg Cherre — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 02:05:22 +0000

This is not the way I wanted to start a new year – by having 10 days between blog posts. Writing a blog post has been on my list of things to do for over a week, and somehow, other things kept taking precedence. There’s nothing I can do about that now; I can only try to do better as we move forward.

In my last post I showed you some cashmere silk eggshell lace scarves on my counterbalance loom, and promised more info about them. Here it is, finally.

At one of my December shows a customer ordered two custom cashmere silk lace scarves. I’m always happy to comply with these requests, although I had to tell this woman that she couldn’t have exactly what she wanted. She wanted a scarf just like the one I was wearing. Should have been simple, shouldn’t it? But it wasn’t.

I was wearing one of the eggshell lace scarves I’d made on my Macomber when I was trying a new pattern. Those scarves were not stable enough, and can’t be sold. I often wear one at a show because they go with everything, and when I’m wearing the scarf the problems are not obvious. So I explained why I would have to modify the pattern in her scarf. She understood, but was clear that she wanted me to get as close as possible. I assured her I’d try.

I knew that I couldn’t really know what would work by using another fiber; I had to do my testing with cashmere silk yarn. I also knew I had a limited quantity of the eggshell, a popular color, and I didn’t really want to use any of it up in samples/tests that may or may not be successful. So I decided to use my least-requested color, a bright Christmas red.

I also decided that I would only use a lace pattern I could weave on my counterbalance loom. The cashmere silk scarves I’ve woven on the counterbalance loom have been almost completely successful; the ones I’ve woven on my Mac not so much. I think it’s a combination of the loom and the weave structures I’ve chosen, but I almost always make the tension too tight and distort the scarves.

So I spent some time with my Fiberworks software, and using block design strategies, created a Swedish lace draft. I measured out enough warp for two red scarves, and threaded up the loom. I set off weaving, and was pleased with the results. Although it’s clear that while a piece is still on the loom you can’t tell for certain what it will look like after wet finishing, with practice you can get a good idea.

As I was weaving the first scarf, I decided that I could get even closer to my customer’s wishes. So I cut off that scarf, wet finished it to be sure I was right, and re-threaded the loom. I was also happy with the second scarf. Here are both of them.

After wet finishing the second scarf, I decided I could make even more changes to get even closer to my customer’s wishes. I also figured that I ought to warp for four scarves instead of my usual three, since I have had lots of customer interest in eggshell scarves. So I was off and running.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go quite as smoothly with the eggshell scarves. It had nothing to do with the modifications to the draft. For reasons that I never could quite identify, I had all sorts of problems with the threads near the selvedges. They broke often, they fuzzed up, the refused to produce straight selvedges. I tried all the tricks I knew — weighting the selvedge threads, doubling those threads, using a temple — nothing made any difference. Ultimately, I did get four saleable scarves woven, but I’m embarrassed by the selvedges on all of them to one degree or another. I’m not showing you a closeup of them with good reason. But here are two of the scarves. (You can tell at a glance I haven’t pressed them yet.)

Actually, I did have one idea about the selvedge problem with the eggshell scarves. The reed I use on my counterbalance loom is the one that came with it when I bought the loom, after it had sat in a damp garage for more than a year. The reed was very rusty, and I was poor, so I cleaned it with naval jelly, a stiff brush, and lots of elbow grease. Although it didn’t hassle the red yarn, I guessed that the eggshell yarn was just a bit more delicate, and that there were possibly tiny burs on the red that frayed the yarn. So I bit the bullet and ordered a brand new stainless steel reed. I figured that my little loom got enough use that it (and I) deserved a new tool. The reed was out of stock, so I’ll have to wait a few weeks for it to arrive.

Of course, I’m weaving in the interim (tempus fugit, ya know), but I had to work on another order before I went back to the cashmere & silk. The eggshell was pretty frustrating, and the other special order is for black. The only other black cashmere silk scarves I made had a similar selvedge problem, and I didn’t think my brain could handle it. I’m hoping (probably without much chance of success) that the reed will come in quickly and I can use it for the black scarves.

I promise, I’ll try to post more frequently. I want to show you what I have on that little rigid heddle loom (and I want to get back to that!), the order that’s on my counterbalance now, and my plans for the towel exchange I joined this year.

Your turn: what have you been doing since the year changed its number?

Weaving for the Holidays

Peg Cherre — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:31:59 +0000

While certainly not exclusively for the holidays by any means, these handwoven cashmere & silk scarves are such a lovely, rich color, they make me think of the mid-winter holiday season. Hopefully people who come to either the Roycroft Winter Festival and my local Holiday Show think so, too.

I again tried a new huck lace pattern – the one at the bottom of the picture. And again, I much prefer the old standby of Swedish Lace, at the top. The lace diamonds don’t show up in the bottom until you view it at just the right angle, and it doesn’t do the lacy thing anywhere near as well as the Swedish Lace blocks. But I’d never have known that without trying it.

So I wound a warp for three scarves, threaded up for the new huck lace diamonds, and wove the first scarf. Even while I was weaving I knew it wouldn’t be one of my favorites, so I cut it off and totally re-threaded heddles and reed, and wove the last two in the Swedish Lace blocks.

It’s In The Bag

Peg Cherre — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 01:30:57 +0000

While my daughter and her husband were in the hospital laboring to birth their beautiful son, my assignment was to be at their house to take care of their three animals. I was happy to do so.

I was a bit challenged in my thinking about this. As an admitted obsessive-compulsive person with the busiest show season rapidly approaching, I knew it’d make me crazy if I didn’t have something productive to do while I was house-and-animal sitting. I warped up my rigid heddle loom with some mohair to recreate that gorgeous purple & silver scarf. Then I thought about it and decided that I would bring that to my next show instead, weaving with it while I was there. Instead, I brought lots of fabric to sew my scarf bags. Every handwoven piece I sell comes in a hand sewn bag. My bags are all made of repurposed fabric – pillowcases work beautifully. It’s part of my philosophy, and my business name – giving things their second wind.

I arrived in Rochester on Thursday morning, and by the time that my grandson was born, I’d sewn 3 dozen bags and used up all my fabric. What would I do to occupy myself the next day?

I took a ride to the local thrift store on Friday morning and bought some used curtains. By nightfall I’d sewn another 3 dozen bags.

I still have to put my labels on all of those bags. And I’ll need to develop an alternate strategy for many of them. Usually I print my logo & website on iron-on fabric. That works great on 100% cotton, but is inappropriate for manmade fibers, and many of my new bags are manmade or a blend. I’m thinking that the easiest way (which doesn’t sound like a piece of cake) is to iron my logos onto 100% cotton and then use my free-arm sewing machine to sew that on to the bags. If you have a better, quicker, easier thought, PLEASE let me know!

Before I headed up to Amanda’s, I did manage to get three of those gorgeous eggshell cotton huck lace scarves woven. They went so fast at the Roycroft show, I’m confident they’ll sell quickly at one of my upcoming shows. So now I need to weave some things with lots of color.

On Weaving…and not

Peg Cherre — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 13:45:35 +0000

I did some weaving in the last two weeks, but not for this week. Why not? I have a brand new grandson!! My first grandchild, and very exciting. I don’t have any pix of him yet (he & his parents will be arriving home today), so I’ll show you some of what I wove before I came up to help out.

I started with three scarves of 20/2 undyed silk.

I set them up for a complex diamond twill on my counterbalance loom at 24 ends per inch, and wove the first one (on the left). It was challenging to see the pattern while it was on the loom, so I used a much simpler treadling for the second scarf (middle). You can easily see the diamond twill.

Since I hadn’t worked with the silk before, and you can’t ever tell how soft a scarf while be while it’s still under all the tension of the loom, I was afraid that the scarves would be stiffer than what I wanted, so I cut those two scarves off and totally rethreaded both heddles and reed. I threaded the harnesses for huck lace blocks, and sett the reed at 18 ends per inch, which is the number of threads per inch I used when I wove the huck lace blocks in cotton, cashmere-silk, and tencel. I wove the third eggshell scarf (on the right), then cut them all off, twisted the fringe, and wet finished the scarves.

I was quite surprised. After the wet finishing and pressing, the twill scarves are much softer and have a better drape than the huck blocks. Despite the fact that the huck scarves are sett further (fewer threads per inch). It’s all that plain weave between the lace blocks.

I’m gonna go do some straightening up before the new parents & baby arrive home. More handwoven silk scarves tomorrow.

MAFA Weaving Sample

Peg Cherre — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 21:15:13 +0000

Robyn Spady is an amazing teacher! She’s knowledgeable, organized, friendly, patient, and flexible. Her Extreme Warp Makeover workshop was really great.

Any fears I had about having too much time and not enough warp were completely unfounded. I put on 4-1/2 yards, and got less than 2 woven. I learned LOTS!

I was supposed to weave 30 different patterns on one treadling. I realized after I got home and wet finished that I left one out, so I have only 29. Oh well. Anyway, here they are, in all their glory (not). You’ll notice that you don’t usually see my selvedges – they are BAD. I was focused on trying the various treadlings on a new-to-me loom, not on my selvedges. I also made several treadling errors, some of which are really obvious, some not so much. If I saw the error as I was weaving, I went back and fixed it; the ones that remain I didn’t see during class.

First we did four different lace weaves. As I said, I’d chosen the overshot threading, so I was a surprised we could do any type of lace weave with it. Because the warp & weft were the same color (white), it’s hard to see the detail in the photo.

Next we did waffle fashion. This isn’t a true waffle weave, which requires a specific threading and treadling combo, but rather a treadling that creates some amount of dimension in the weaving. This didn’t work so well on the overshot threading, particularly when combined with the fact that I couldn’t beat very hard on the table loom. This last fact impacted many of the patterns.

Following waffle fashion were 5 different twills. The lace and the twills were the parts that were most familiar to me. Here’s the one sole example of when the lack of a hard beat improved the look – the patterns were more open than the samples Robyn had woven on her floor loom.

Next came some traditional overshot. I’d never woven any overshot before. In general, I think for me, it may be best used sparingly instead of all over the way the coverlets were. But I may feel differently as I explore it more.

It’s pretty easy to see where I missed two of the picks in the treadling sequence in the star fashion.

After the overshot came shadow fashion. You can see the pattern better if you squint. This is an example of when the lack of a firm beat hurt the visual.

On opposites was interesting. Determine the pattern you want to follow, then insert another pick between each of the pattern picks. In this ‘extra’ pick, raise the two shafts that were up in the first pick. So if in pick 1 I raised 1&2, in pick 2 I raised 3&4.

On opposites polychrome was nice, too – you worked with 2 complementary colors instead of your pattern color and warp color.

Next up was monk’s belt. I’ve never been fond of this pattern visually, and found I didn’t like weaving it much, either, so I wove only half of the treadlings and moved on.

Before the class, I would have told you that I wouldn’t have liked weaving that looked like fine needlework. And I would have been wrong yet again. I do. I like weaving it, and I like the way it looks. I liked the cleanliness of the swivel and petit-point better than the polychrome. This is where I inadvertently skipped a sample. I was supposed to weave the swivel with the colors switched – white where it had been dark and vice versa. It does give a different, complementary pattern.

Next up was crackle fashion. Again, not a true crackle weave, but an imitation of one. Crackle weave is supposed to remind the viewer of pottery with crackle finishes. I don’t much care for that pottery, or that weave pattern.

Then came the summer and winter fashion weaves. (Nope, not true summer & winter.) Again a surprise for me. I didn’t think I’d like the dukagang (a Swedish structure), but I do.

The double faced weave was quite interesting. (It’s quite different from doubleweave.) You can see that it’s the same pattern, dark brown on one side and light blue on the other. It takes a long time to weave, and the finished fabric is quite thick.

A ribbed weave was next. I made several treadling errors, so mine didn’t rib the way it should have. I’ll admit it – I saw before I was done with the sample that I’d made errors, but I didn’t have the energy to unweave and reweave.

Now was the corduroy. This really didn’t work well with the lack of firm beat of the table loom. I did cut a few of the rows of cords, but I’m positive it will all pull out easily, so I stopped. So don’t take my example as a good one. It’s really an amazingly impressive technique.

I used three strands of heavier yarn together for the deflected weave, which worked quite well.

We finished our selection with the echo fashion. When beat more firmly, it appears that there’s a glow around the darker pattern.

I learned other things, too, that I didn’t have time to weave over the weekend. They’re for some future post.

Roycroft Festival Sales

Peg Cherre — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 01:13:21 +0000

The Roycroft Summer Art Festival is over. The weather was conducive to selling scarves – not too hot & muggy. In fact, it was a bit chilly, making people want to look at warm things.

So what of my new weaving sold?

First to go were the two eggshell huck lace scarves. With a show that started at 10:00AM, I’d sold my first scarf by 11, one of these beauties. I displayed one of them in the front of the booth, on these really cool stands I have, thanks to my wonderful sister and her talented hubby. I sold the second within the next hour. I’m sure if I’d had two more, I could have sold them before the weekend was over, too; people loved them.

Next of my new weaving to be sold wasn’t until Sunday morning, when I sold one of the cotton flannel shawls. It had drawn lots of admiring looks, but no takers. Then, a woman walked up to the booth, saw it, put it on, and bought it within a few minutes.

Later on Sunday I sold the cotton and linen Brooks Bouquet scarf I’d woven for a demo at the Kenan show. She really liked the mix of colors that still produced a scarf of neutrals.

Surely I didn’t sell just four pieces all weekend?! Nope. I matched the pieces sold at Kenan. What else was snatched up?

A variegated cotton flannel baby blanket. An alpaca houndstooth scarf. Several bamboo scarves woven in different colors and designs. Three cashmere & silk scarves, including a recent one in mango & cream. The drop-dead gorgeous purple & silver mohair scarf. A few rayon scarves.

It was a mix of fibers, sizes, weave patterns.

I’ve got some more rayon on the loom now, and can’t wait to get it woven so I can start working with my newly-acquired silk yarn.

I have 7 weeks before my next show, but then in the next 4 weeks I have 2 more shows, so I plan to build up my stock by weaving my way through July.

Your turn: what are your creative outlets this summer?

Rayon Gemtones

Peg Cherre — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 12:22:38 +0000

I have time to weave one last project before the Roycroft show. Although I was happy enough with both the Surreal rayon scarves and the Visionary Egyptian cotton scarves, neither gave me the gemtones visual that I wanted. So I decided that’s what I’d do. Time crunch being what it was, I set up the loom for only 2 scarves – I didn’t think I’d have time to weave 3 – sticking with that all-over huck pattern from the eggshell cotton scarves.

Ta da! I do really like them.

The outer stripes are a brilliant turquoise-y color, then a deep purple, with a navy in the middle. I had considered a medium green in the middle, giving the sapphire->amethyst->peridot colors of actual gems, but decided that without sampling (my nemesis), I might be unpleasantly surprised by what that green would do. So it’s sapphire->amethyst->lapis lazuli. I used that same turquoise/sapphire for the weft on both scarves.

For folks who aren’t familiar with huck or other lace weaves, I thought you’d like to see the difference between the two sides of these scarves.

On the right in the photo you’ll see that the sapphire is prominent, with some longer strands (called floats in the weaving world) holding together bundles of the other colors of threads. Those floats are horizontal, running the width of the scarf. On the left you’ll see that the other colors are more prominent, with the purple and navy having those floats. These floats are vertical, running the length of the scarf. I won’t call these the front and back of the scarf; it’s not like one side is better than the other, they’re just a bit different.

Now it’s time for another confession. I haven’t always pressed my scarves as part of the wet finishing process. I wasn’t sure if it was really worth it. I know better now.

Look at the difference between these two scarves.

The first thing you’ll probably notice is that the scarf on the left, the one I’ve pressed, is a full 1/2″ wider than the one on the right. In something this size, 1/2″ is a lot – it’s almost 10%!

Given the quality of the photo, you may not be able to see much more than that, so I’ll just tell you what the other differences are. The laciness, the airiness, the amount of open space on the pressed scarf is noticeably different than on the non-pressed scarf. This is pretty significant when you’re making handwoven lace! Finally, the floats, those places where the threads are longer than their neighbors, are settled into their homes much better. They lay flatter and do their job of gathering their friends together more neatly.

From now on, I’ll be pressing scarves. Live and learn – mostly from other weavers!

So now I’ve caught up on what I’ve woven since June 6, between the Kenan show and the Roycroft show. I sold 17 pieces at Kenan, and since then wove 17 and beaded one (2 unsaleable). I have been busy. By the time you read this, the Roycroft show will be in full swing. I’ll see what shoppers have to say there, and will begin my July weaving pretty quickly after that. I wonder how it’ll change my focus – my colors, my fabrics, my patterns….

Eggshell Cotton Huck Lace

Peg Cherre — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 15:28:39 +0000

My eggshell cashmere silk scarves were a failure, at least as far as being saleable. So I combined my customers’ requests for white or eggshell scarves and their desire for cottons into one product.

After my recent experience with the 5/2 handpainted Egyptian cotton, I knew that I wanted to sett the eggshell cotton farther apart than the 15 ends per inch I used then. I also wanted to make them be handwoven lace, because that would help with softness and drape. Lace weaves need to be sett and beat loosely, so I took a gulp and set the neutral 5/2 pearl cotton at 12 ends per inch. I threaded the loom for an all over huck, and sat down to weave.

I LOVE THESE SCARVES!

They’re soft drape really well for cotton. The color and lace provide a very classic look; the cotton ensures great versatility. I’ll be amazed if they don’t sell at the Roycroft summer show this weekend. I’m sure I’ll be making more of these. (Hope I don’t end up eating those words.)

Like with most of my handwoven lace, I made these scarves on my delightful little counterbalance loom. It is totally possible to weave with 3 shafts against 1 on a counterbalance. It just takes a bit more care, since the shed (the opening where you pass the shuttle through) isn’t as large.

No, once again I didn’t sample these scarves. I am much more confident when I’m working on my little loom. We operate on the same mental plane, and I just knew this one would work.

Saving A Shawl

Peg Cherre — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 16:54:54 +0000

Last summer I wove a shawl from a semi-heavy white cotton, using an all-over huck pattern in a way that created what I call window panes. That was fine, except that it’s difficult to be sure you’re not making any treadling errors as you’re weaving.

When it came off the loom and was wet finished, my errors were clear, and, to me, glaring. I did some needle weaving to correct some, but others were simply not fixable. It made me hate the whole piece. So I sure wasn’t going to offer it for sale.

My sister had seen it however, and wanted me to bring it to a summer show this year. In order for me to even consider it, I had to pull it back out and think about how I could make it ok. I decided some subtle beadwork might do the trick.

I wrapped each row that contained errors with small, transparent glass beads with an aurora borealis finish. Then, of course, I had to add some beadwork on rows that didn’t have errors to make it look cohesive. I picked the rows rather randomly; since I couldn’t make it symmetrical, choose artsy.

I spent far too long on the bead work, and this shawl will never be my favorite, but at least I’m no longer embarrassed by it. I think it will suit someone to a T. Time will tell.