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Not perfect

I try, I really do. I try hard to weave without errors in threading or treadling. I often succeed. But sometimes not. And when I don’t see the errors until a piece is off the loom, sometimes it can be fixed, sometimes not.

A few weeks ago I posted about a silk warp I’d just painted. It was 864 ends, dyed in blues and greens, and went on the loom a bit ago. My intention from the beginning was a more vibrant warp, so I was going to let the colors take center stage with simple twill blocks for the weave structure. When the colors turned out much more pastel than I’d anticipated, I could have, and maybe should have, changed the weave pattern, but didn’t.

The 30/2 silk warp is a rather nubly texture, and without the sheen of many silks. So I opted to cross it with high sheen 20/2 silk wefts for contrast.

I wove the first shawl using an almost chartreuse weft, for a shawl I’m calling “It’s Easy Being Green.”

Easy Being Green silk shawl

Although not colors that flatter my skin tone, it looks pretty good. Except that as I was doing the hard press I found some warp floats that didn’t belong there near one end. I couldn’t capture them well in a photo, so you’ll have to take my word for it. Can I needle weave them in? At least theoretically, yes. I haven’t sat down to do it yet, and don’t know how challenging I’ll find it.

For the second shawl I chose a sort of medium blue weft. This has as much sheen as the first, but that didn’t show up in the photo. I like the colors.

Caribbean silk shawl

But there’s a real problem with this shawl. I don’t know how it happened, or even exactly what the problem is, to be honest, so I can’t fix it. There’s one warp thread that stands out like a sore thumb for the entire length of the shawl.

Caribbean silk shawl, closeup

To the best of my ability to determine, it’s not threaded incorrectly (which would have shown up on the first shawl anyway), nor is it treadled wrong. But something is definitely wrong. Sigh. I’ll have to sell it at a discount.

I’m weaving as fast as I reasonably can to prepare for my show at the end of August and I most decidedly did not need this. Bigger sigh.

5 comments to Not perfect

  • Peg Cherre

    Hmmm…I don’t think that’s a possibility in this instance, Maggie. If memory serves me correctly I had a broken warp thread in that general area, but since the warp was hand painted, I always make sure that I have a few extra threads that I wind and beam with the rest of the warp and just grab from the back of the loom as needed. I think it’ll remain a mystery.

  • the strange thread problem is probably that one warp thread is warped a different direction than the rest. s twist or z twist often makes a difference.

  • Oh such lovely weaving though, with interesting design features. I have had the strange thread problem on occasion. I never really figured it out except once when the heddle was snagged on another one.

  • Jennifer P.

    DAMN! They are beautiful.

  • Alma

    I like both of these, Peg. Don’t make the discount too deep!

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