Towels In Progress

Warping the loom and adjusting everything wasn’t nearly has much of a chore as had been described.  I would the instructions in Joanne Hall’s Tying up the Countermarch Loom to be incredibly helpful.  I really don’t like fiddling with the Texsolv anchor pins when trying to get them into the bottom of the treadles.  It’s a pain in the behind and hurts my hands.  I think at some point I’ll be converting to the Vävstuga Tie-Up System, of which I have heard good things.  Also I bump by head on the bottom of the vertical countermarch a lot while climbing inside the loom.  ~ow~  Still, it is a dream to weave on.

Anyways, the towels are now well underway and I’m liking the way they are turning out.

Towels in progress

Can you see the stars?

Rainbow Star Towels

For a first project I thought I’d try something simple to learn the loom using familiar materials, namely 8/2 unmercerized cotton.

The plan – rainbow star tea towels.

Computer-generated drawdown (partial)

New Loom – It’s Here!

When my loom arrived, there was some unfortunate forklift damage to one of the side frames.  My loom guy, as always, was amazing, and made the whole process of getting a replacement part very simple.  And now the loom in her entirety is here!

Glimåkra Standard Vertical Countermarche, 12 shaft/treadle, 59" width.

Underdress Calculations

Calculating the Warp

First, the calculations for take-up and shrinkage:

	Width	Length
On the loom	8″	8.75″
Off the loom	7.5″	8″
Take-up	6.25%	8.6%
After finishing	7″	7.75″
Shrinkage	6.67%	3.125%

Next, determining how many warp ends I need:

Final planned width (“)	22″
+ Take-up (6.25%)	+ 1.375″
+ Shrinkage (6.67%)	+ 1.467″
= Width on the Loom	= 25″
x epi (ends per inch)	x 30
= Warp Ends	=  750 ends
+/- Adjustment for pattern	+3 (finish pattern repeat, add balance thread)
= Total Ends to Wind	= 753

Then I need to determine the length of each end:

Final length (9 yards)	324″
+ Shrinkage (8.6%)	27.86″
+ Take-up (3.125%)	10.125″
+ Loom waste	36″
= Total warp length (rounded up)	399″

This gives us the amount of yarn needed for the warp:

Total Ends To Wind	753
x Length of each warp thread	x 399″
= Total warp needed (rounded up)	= 8346 yards

Calculating the Weft

This is a much simpler calculation.

Width on the Loom (“)	25″
x Beat (shots/inch)	x 30 shots/inch
x Warp length for weaving (“)	x 399″
= Total weft needed in yards (rounded up)	= 8313 yards

The Final Totals

I need 16659 yards of linen, which rounds up to 6 cones of yarn.

At $16.75 a cone, my total cost for the yarn will be $100.50 CDN plus tax/shipping.  That boils down to $11.17 a yard (after finishing).

Underdress Fabric Samples

This sample uses #10 Belgian linen yarn at 30 epi.  It is woven on a jack loom, which is not ideal for linen.  The pattern is a basic 2/2 twill.

To help with fraying, I sprayed the heck out of my warp chains with laundry starch.  For the actual yardage, I’ll use a solution and dip the chains right in.

Linen (unfinished)

It’s rough and starchy coming off the loom, but it washes up nicely. It’s still a lot coarser than the usual linens I buy, but the price of finer linen yarns are much higher (I haven’t found anything at less than double the price of this yarn, and that’s for a #12).

Linen (finished)

I did the samples in a 2/2 twill, but I’m wondering if I should do it in a herringbone instead.  I left enough sample warp to rethread the heddles and try it out.

Aprondress Calculations

Measuring the sample before and after finishing gives me the rest of the data I need to calculate how much yarn I need to buy.  The Handweavers Guild of America has has a great article on how to calculate this, which I’ve drawn from below.

Calculating the Warp

First, the calculations for take-up and shrinkage:

	Width	Length
On the loom	8″	8.25″
Off the loom	6.75″	7.5″
Take-up	15%	10%
After finishing	5.75″	6.5″
Shrinkage	15%	13%

Next, determining how many warp ends I need:

Final planned width (“)	20″
+ Take-up (15%)	+ 3″
+ Shrinkage (15%)	+ 3″
= Width on the Loom	= 26″
x epi (ends per inch)	x 15
= Warp Ends	=  390 ends
+/- Adjustment for pattern	+2 (add balance threads)
= Total Ends to Wind	= 392

Then I need to determine the length of each end:

Final length (6 yards)	216″
+ Shrinkage (13%)	28.08″
+ Take-up (10%)	21.6″
+ Loom waste	36″
= Total warp length (rounded up)	302″

This gives us the amount of yarn needed for the warp:

Total Ends To Wind	392
x Length of each warp thread	x 302″
= Total warp needed (rounded up)	= 3289 yards

Calculating the Weft

This is a much simpler calculation.  Since I’m only doing a few decorative stripes of red (say, 12″ maximum), I will calculate as if the whole thing was orange.

Width on the Loom (“)	26″
x Beat (shots/inch)	x 15 shots/inch
x Warp length for weaving (“)	x 302″
= Total weft needed in yards (rounded up)	= 3272 yards

The Final Totals

I need 3289 yards of yellow wool, which rounds up to 15 balls of yarn.
I need 3272 yards of orange wool, which rounds up to 15 balls of yarn.
Plus 2 balls of red wool for decorative stripes.

At $3.39 a ball for yellow/red, and $3.59 a ball for the orange, my total cost for the yarn will be $111.48 US, plus tax/shipping.  That boils down to $18.58 a yard (after finishing).

Aprondress Fabric Samples

My loom arrived, but was damaged in shipping—I need to wait for a replacement part.  It’s not the end of the world and everyone has been super about handling the claims/replacement process.  While waiting, I worked up the wool samples on the old loom.

These samples were all woven from Knit Picks Palette yarn at 15 epi.  The colours are Semolina and Safflower (the two yellows, half on one side and half on the other), Kumquat Heather (orange), and Serrano (red).

Here they are right off the loom.

Broken twill (unfinished)

Broken lozenge twill (unfinished)

And here they are after wet finishing.  As you can see, wet finishing really changes to look of the fabric.  The wool shrank and bloomed quite a bit.  The broken twill shrank a little more width-wise than the broken lozenge twill and feels slightly thicker.

Broken twill (after finishing)

Broken lozenge twill (after finishing)

I definitely prefer the contrast provided by the slightly lighter yellow.  I also think I will go with the broken lozenge twill.  It just has more of a definite pattern.  I think the broken twill would need greater contrast or a less bloomy yarn to look it’s best.

Aprondress Fabric Planning

The loom arrives tomorrow, and the first thing on it will be the wool for my apron dress.

Yarn

There are two yellows, an orange, and a red. I will only end up using one of the yellows in the final product, but I’m going to sample with both to see which one I prefer. I am also going to sample two different weave structures, broken twill and broken lozenge twill, for the same reason.

Broken twill

Broken lozenge twill

Quilt progress

I’m making progress on my quilt!

Purple stars

Stripe Woes

My plan for the apron dress was to add a couple of horizontal stripes into the weave.  I figured, since I’m weaving this specific to the pattern, why not have some fun with it.  Looking at my mock-up, I’m seeing a flaw in the plan.

By using rectangular construction, my side gores are never going to sit parallel to my front panel.  This means my stripes won’t be straight.  I knew as much, but had hoped it would not be as pronounced.

In the photo below, I’ve tried two different ways to set my gores.  On the left, the bias is sewn to the straight body sides.  On the right, I’ve sewn straight to straight.  The yellow lines give a better outline of the edges.  The red line represents the woven stripe.

Apron dress hem

If I go with the option on the left, I can lengthen my gores and trim to get a straight hem.  If I choose the right, I can to trim off the excess and reinforce the seam to prevent stretching (perhaps with a tablet-woven seam).  The trouble is what to do about my stripes.

So, my options are a rising stripe on the side, a falling stripe on the side (which is straight if you lay the dress out flat), or just doing a stripe on the body and leaving the gores plain.