Category Archives: weaving

Projects of 2024

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My motto for the year was “Make it Easier”. It seemed like half of what I did to make life easier was hard work. We should reap the benefits in the future, though. And it was a good habit to stop and think: “will this make life easier?” or “is there an easier way?” when faced with a task, rather than my usual habit of sprinting down a path without considering my limits.

January

The second month of the Summer of Quilts, in which I attempted to use up all the strips of flannelette I cut to weave floor rugs out of four years ago by sewing quilts. It was like a madness came over me.

It wasn’t all quilting, though. A return to crocheting in the previous year led to me making the Granny Square Jumper from stash and (of course) yarn I purchased in order to complete it. I love it and was wearing it as I typed the early version of this post.

February

Though I’d decided this quilting obsession had to stop at the end of summer, I knew that I couldn’t possibly get all the quilts done, so I prioritised finishing the tops. Binding and topstitching would have to happen later, maybe one quilt a month. For that reason, I have no finished projects to show for February even though there was feverish making of quilt tops.

March

The Blue Quilt, which was the hardest and biggest, was finished.

And the Purple Quilt.

And then I got around to doing what I’d intended to do when the quilting thing started: sewing clothes. First, the Cascade Skirt.

April

Then lots of knits.

May

Then the Colour-Blocked Corduroy Jacket.

And crocheting continued with the Gradient Slouchy Hat

June

No projects were finished in June, because I was reorganising three and a half rooms of our house in order to reinstate the guest room and divide my hobbies into a room for textiles and a room for art. And was THAT a project. Utterly exhausting, but worth it.

July

But in July I finished three quilts First the Rainbow Cat Quilt.

Then the Art Quilt.

And finally the last quilt, the Cats In Squares Quilt.

I was introduced to slow stitching.

And I wove off the dishcloths on the Jane.

August

Another month of no finished projects, but I did start two big slow stitch ones. Slow means longer gaps between finished objects, which is probably why I bought some kits at the Craft & Quilt Show and was suddenly very inspired by small project tutorials online.

September

I hand stitched a cute pentagon bag.

And made fabric birds.

And made a triangle bag.

I made microwave bowl cosies.

And a pencil case.

By then I’d finished one of the big projects: a kawandi made from old men’s shirts.

October

I sewed some pinstripe pants.

And a harvest apron/bag from cotton canvas scraps.

November

I made (or covered) some sewing tools.

And I made a shirt from some very old organic cotton remnants.

December

When a friend wanted the Desperately Seeking Susan jacket I’d put together fifteen years before, I decided to attach the collar properly and fix up a few things on the back.

That inspired a new jacket transformation, the Moon Raven Jacket.

Also…

It was a year of quitting. First Instagram, after I couldn’t sign in to my Creative Fidget account any more, then Twitter, which I’d barely touched in years. I also stopped my Sketchbox subscription. It was fun for the year I had it, and I still enjoy using the mediums I discovered through it, but there are only so many kinds of art supplies and they were bound to start repeating themselves.

It was also the year I got hooked on YouTube, watching art, sewing and thrifting videos. At its best it’s informative and inspiring, at its worst it’s a distraction. I’d rather be making art or sewing, but both require a certain amount of alertness and energy, and sometimes I have neither. And now I remember that slow stitching was meant to be my ‘dull brain’ activity.

In the next year I plan to keep on making art, sewing and slow stitching. I’m sure there’ll be other creative rabbit holes to explore, or revisiting of familiar territories, but (to keep the analogy going) no I have no destination in mind and will dawdle along at whatever pace suits.

Cutting Table

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Having swapped the drawing board for the Lotas loom, I’ve found the lack of a flat space in the craft room meant I suddenly wasn’t inclined to pick up a sewing project (aside from slow stitching, which I’m doing elsewhere). So I got thinking and found a solution:

The Lotas Loom can now become a table with the simple addition of a board resting on top. The board is a piece of plywood – the lightest material I could find that came in a large enough size. Cork tiles have been glued on the underside to protect the loom (recycling something I already had). My cutting board fits on top leaving a small area at once side that currently has melamine covered mdf on it, but I’m thinking I’ll replace with an ironing pad.

Early versions had fold-down legs that attached to the front beam and castle, raising the board above the beater. Then I put the beater in the front position and discovered it sat at pretty much the same level as the castle, so didn’t bother with the legs.

The removable castle shelf that Paul made now has hinges so its sides can fold away, making it easy to stow when I’m not using the loom.

When I first put the plywood in place to test out the idea, I found myself using the surface to sort scraps of fabric and lay out potential project materials. Of course, I got a nasty splinter under a fingernail because the surface was unfinished, but it did prove that a cutting table was all that was stopping me sewing. As soon as I had added the cork, drawing board and mdf the creative juices began flowing and I had a new project underway and had made several bundles of fabric for future ones.

The End of the Warp

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Well, I didn’t get a full dishcloth out of the new supplemental warp. Turns out, the cardboard spacer on the base warp had slipped and made it look as though there was a lot more left to weave. But the slightly smaller dishcloth is still useable and it was interesting to try the tie-on warping method.

That just left sewing the hems, and then they were done.

I also sewed hems of a sample from when I was still working out the draft – a version that had the supplemental warp woven as part of the weft.

With all looms clear, I have a decision to make. Do I move the floor loom to the family room and keep the Jane loom set up on its stand in the textiles room? Or do I put away the Jane loom (to be my portable loom for lessons), move the floor loom into the textiles room in place of the table and put a removable table top on it?

There are pros and cons to both options. The removable table top idea might not work, but perhaps it’s worth a try.

Even More Dishcloths

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So I ran out of the new supplemental warp.

I got three dishcloths out of it.

But there was still some base warp on the Jane loom. So I took another batch of thrums from the collection and tied a new supplemental warp to the ends of the old one so I could draw it through the heddles rather than rethreading them. This was a bit fussy, but relatively quick since it didn’t involve many warp ends. My main concern was the knots coming undone as I drew them through the heddles. I looked around for some kind of fabric stiffener or glue and found the spray bottle of starch I’d bought for stabilising quilt tops. It did the trick, and I’m now weaving dishcloths with two shades of mid-blue patterning.

Using up thrums and adding new colours is making these dishcloths interesting to weave, but I am looking forward to getting the loom cleared. Especially because I found a tutorial for zokin (dishcloths made from old fabric stitched with sashiko) which, while all done by hand and so not particularly fast, are probably a LOT faster to make than weaving (and sewing) them. And will be an excellent way to use up scrap fabric and yet more thrums.

Dishing it Out

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The room reorganisation isn’t fully done yet, but it’s mostly there. I needed to take a break so my back could heal. A bit of quilt topstitching happened, and some tweaking of a crocheted scarf, and then I found myself tackling the warp on the Jane loom.

Last year… or maybe the year before… I warped up the Jane to weave dishcloths. They have a supplementary warp for the surface pattern, and it ran out before the main warp did. By then I was well tired of weaving dishcloths and planned to cut off the excess and toss it.

But I never got around to it, and when I sorted through my ample collection of thrums I wondered if I had enough in one batch to wind on a new supplemental warp. I found a bundle of yellow, orange and teal cotton that looked promising, and set about winding that onto the loom in three wide stripes. Of course, somehow I counted wrong and came up short, but it was easy enough to add a fourth stripe of green and weight it at the back.

The main warp is 16/2 cotton, woven quite densely because the underlying structure is waffle weave, so there a lot of threads in each dent and I had to do a bit of trouble-shooting when I found some of the supplemental warp threads were in the wrong dent. I didn’t expect to get the rethreading right the first time and after I sorted that one problem was able to weave.

I don’t know if there’s enough of this new supplemental warp to last the rest of the base warp, but if there isn’t I’ll tie on a new supplemental warp rather than having to re-thread the heddles. There might be some more thrums that I can use up. I’ve been on a bit of a thrum-using campaign here.

Bazaar Times

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So ask I mentioned a few posts ago, I’ve been doing some yarn culling. First there was the big rug yarn/fabric cull last year that triggered the Summer of Quilts, thanks to me thinking it would be easier (ha!) to just sew up all the flannelette strips into quilts. Then in April I culled some dyeing supplies and knitting yarn. As May arrived the rest of the stash got thinned and I figured it all may as well go into the yearly weaving guild sale. I added magazines, a pin loom, a 16 shaft loom I was going to fix up but no longer want, and circular knitting machine to the pile.

And it was quite a pile.

More like a wall.

Estimated total number of items was topping 100. Aside from the possibility it wouldn’t all fit in my car, the thought of filling in ten forms, and deciding on prices, and labelling it all, and carting it to the guild sapped my will to live. It had me wondering if I should just have a studio sale instead. That reminded me that I’ve seen people hire a table at the Bazaar and have their own eftpos machine. Both Paul and a friend have organised such things before so it didn’t intimidate me. Doing it that way would remove the need for filling in forms and I could change prices or put together bundles as the day progressed. I called the guild and asked if I could do that instead.

After a few days they got back to me, and the answer was ‘no’. So I looked at the pile/wall and figured I had to reduce it to a more manageable size. I decided to donate the knitting yarn to op shops and toss the magazines into the recycling (I’d got them for free at the Bazaar two years ago when nobody wanted them). I was all ready to take the rug yarn to the tip when a weaver I know said that friend of hers would take it. Perfect.

That got the items down to just under 70. It took me 4 hours to fill in the forms and write and attach the tags. It and the rug yarn (which I delivered the same day) filled the back of my car.

And, thankfully, most of it sold.

Looking at the Loom Room now, the difference is obvious. Only half of the shelving and little wardrobe contain weaving things. The rest holds either knitting/crochet, embroidery and spinning items, or empty tubs. I’m not sure what my next move is, but it might involve even bigger changes.

As I always remind myself: nothing in life is more sure than change.

Projects of 2023

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This year I’ve been all over the place creatively and, well, so has life in general. I didn’t seem to get much done at times, but when I look closer that was because I tackled single projects that took up a lot of time. I did a bit of sewing, a bit of weaving, delved into some occasional crafts like jewellery-making and air-dry clay, finished some long-term WIPs and culled several kinds of hobby supplies. It feels like my mind began to jump from hobby to hobby in the latter months of the year, new shiny things taking my attention before I’d finished with whatever had last attracted me, as if Covid 19 gave me some king of creative ADHD.

January & February:

The Print & Paint With Natural Dyes workshop took up all of my creative energy at the beginning of the year, partly because so much else were going on, including having Dad and his very naughty cat staying with us.

March:

Using the knowledge I’d gained in the workshop, I painted/dyed three tops and a scarf. I also sewed a shirt out of a sarong.

April:

I didn’t include the Ink-Making workshop in my 2022 summary, but I think I should have. Six months after, I made some more inks as some sources dependant on season became available.

May:

A bit more sewing happened, first when I turned Motto Skirt into a top…

… and made a Chambray Dress.

And I returned to the loom to finish the Bouclé Chains Scarf.

June:

I finished a coiling fabric basket, made while visiting Mum.

More exploration of Deflected Doubleweave with bouclé yarn happened with the Baroque Scarf.

I also culled my mosaic supplies and did an illustration commission.

July:

And another DDW project finally using a design I drafted a few years ago: the Electricity Scarf.

August:

We went to Lord Howe Island, and I did some sketches.

September:

The fourth and favourite DDW bouclé scarf: Copper Roses.

I tried making watercolour paint, and felt a bit ‘meh’ about it.

October:

A bout of finishitis set in. I lengthened Slinky Ribs and made it all rib:

We went to Norfolk Island on an artist holiday.

A bout of Covid 19 somehow led to me culling things. First my jewellery collection, which led to jewellery-making.

November:

I finally, at long last, finished the Pin Loom Blanket.

I wove a Honeycomb Scarf and Tapestry Beret.

The jewellery-making also included a dive into air dry clay.

I finally, at long last, finished the dishcloths that had been on the Jane loom for a year.

December:

Watching Project Runway and The Great British Sewing Bee had me itching to sew. After culling my sewing materials, I made Paul a bucket hat and me some shorts.

And then got the itch to crochet. This Granny Beret seemed a good warm up to something bigger.

A big yarn cull moved the flannelette strips meant for rag rugs into the fabric stash intended for quilts. I sewed a single bed sized quilt.

Also:

This year was also the year of the artist subscription box. I tried one Paletteful Pack but decided against signing up because the postage was too expensive, then gave SketchBox a go and stuck with it. They proved to be a very entertaining and interesting monthly treat. It allowed me to try some art supplies I’ve never encountered before. It’s likely after a year I’ll stop the subscription because there are only so many kinds of art supply so the rewards will eventually diminish, but it has been fun and I suspect I’ll miss it if I do.

I also did a lot of oil painting, mostly in the plein air group but also lots of still life both at the art society and at home. I decided to stop posting pictures of my art, however, until it was clearer how plagiarism software (AI) was going to affect everything.

One Cull Leads to Another

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During my fabric, pattern and habby cull, I got to thinking about how different my attitude to fabric stash is to yarn stash. With sewing, I have a limited time I can spend on the machine before my back complains, so I don’t waste it on making items I don’t want or aren’t fun to make.My fabric collection isn’t overly large. It fits in four plastic filing boxes and one tub.

With weaving, I often make things I don’t particularly want to keep in order to use up stash or learn something new. The weaving yarn stash is seven or eight times larger than the fabric stash. Which is sobering, but not unexpected. It’s been my main hobby for quite a few years now, and until recently I was on quite a learning drive.

I’d like to weave with the same attitude as sewing, so having a weaving yarn stash as practical as the sewing stash appeals. However, to get to that point I’d have to cull quite a bit of yarn. The thought was rather intimidating, but on a free day recently, I girded my loins and got stuck in. What I found surprised me.

Since it was a large task, I broke it into smaller ones. My cones of yarn are stored separately to the skein, ball and hanks, and I left them for another time.

Out: a few cones I knew I’d never weave.

The balls, skeins and hanks of yarn made up about half the yarn. I was surprised to find they were mostly knitting and crochet yarn. Not that I don’t weave knitting yarn, just not as often these day. Some is intended for machine knitting projects, so it turns out this is also a machine knitting stash. And possibly hand knitting and crocheting, but I’ll get to that later.

Out: a bag of yarn I wasn’t keen on.

Below the knitting yarns were eight tubs of fabric for rag rugs. Am I going to weave more rag rugs? Probably not. While I like rag rugs, the oldest ones I have I made 13 years ago, and I plan to replace them with the flannelette ones I have in storage.

Out: ALL of the fabric for weaving.

When I’d estimated the amount of weaving yarn I had, I was waaaay out, because I forgot the wool rug stash.

Yikes.

Out: about half of it.

Having decided that this was also a machine knitting stash, I moved the circular knitting machines in from the craft room. In order to do that I had to move the embroidery and macramé yarn stash. You know what happened next.

Out: er, nothing. I meant to get rid of most of it, but there’s now plenty of room on the yarn stash shelves and I have a few ideas I’d like to try. At least removing it from the same cupboard as the sewing supplies gives me a some room for all that ex-fabric-for-weaving, which may become quilts and chair covers.

I’ve come up with a couple of crochet projects for the knitting yarn, too. All things I want and will be fun to make. Next time I have the urge to downsize, the cone yarns will be in the firing line. Hopefully before the next Guild bazaar.

WIP Wipeout

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These dishcloths were on the loom for fourteen months. Fourteen.

And now they’re done.

They’re the last of the major WIPs I decided to finish a few months back. While not as old as the Pin Loom Blanket project, they had definitely fallen into a Black Hole of Mehness. They seemed like a good use of the supplemental warp beam – and they were – but I couldn’t help wondering why I was spending so many hours weaving and hemming an object that I can buy for around a dollar each and will toss in a year or so when they get too stained and threadbare.

Eventually I decided I wasn’t allowed to start any new weaving project until they were off the loom. I suspect my dive into air dry clay was partly a subconscious rebellion against that decision. My brain was desperate for excitement. So it was kind of ironic that the gloss went off air dry clay so quickly, and that on the same day I packed away the clay supplies I also finished the last dishcloth.

I was seriously considering just cutting the warp off the loom to get it over with, but decided to finish the last cloth and see how much was left. Turns out, not enough for another cloth. Which means I don’t feel like I gave up on them, or that they defeated me.

But I sure as heck won’t be weaving dishcloths again!

Lucy’s Honeycomb

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A little white ago a friend asked on FB if anyone wanted a ball of slubby, multicoloured yarn formerly a scarf that had unravelled. I put my hand up for it and offered to weave it into a new scarf. She accepted.

We had a couple of quick consultations, in which I showed her some examples of weaving using slubby yarn, she picked honeycomb weave with a green background as her favourite. I did a lot of math and worked out that I didn’t have enough of the green to make a shawl, but plenty for a wide scarf.

Weaving honeycomb was rather pleasant, and similar to the deflected doubleweave I’ve been weaving in that it pairs smooth wool with a textured yarn, and is fast and engaging to weave.

My calculations were way out, though, since I still had plenty of both the slubby and background yarns left when the scarf was done. I considered making another scarf. Then memories of this friend wearing a beret/tam had me digging out a device I made years ago for weaving tams, and I got to work. The body was woven from the old scarf yarn, then fulled a little. The brim was knit separately out of a natural coloured 8ply yarn then sewn on.

The pom pom was made from the thrums, making this a very frugal project. I still have a ball of the slubby yarn left, but I’m going to offer it to my friend to save in case of moth damage.

When I embarked on the band knitting, I looked up beret patterns to see how many stitches were cast on and realised that berets seem to be in fashion again. It has me eyeing the yarn stash.