Why I am Sampling

To me "Sample" is not a dirty word.  I have begun to work on the long white cotton warps that I bought last year from a mountain weavers estate.  I did not plan these warps, I did not wind them, and I am not familiar with 12/3 cotton, I don't know what the best sett in the reed will be for this particular project.  I have gone up  from 12 epi, which I used with the waffle weave, to 15 epi, since I only have a 15 dent reed for this loom, and at 15 epi this project is 26 inches, which will fit my little loom.

Sampling is the only way I am going to find out if the sett is correct. I finished winding this warp back onto the loom on Wednesday.  I tied it on and was amazed that I did not have a threading error! I took some navy 8/2 cotton, which is a little thicker than the warp and began to sample.

First, I must say that it is nice to see something besides white!  Second, I love this pattern!  It is the Friendship Twill in the Davison book.

On closer examination, I notice that the table element which is supposed to be a square, isn't a square.   I think that first, I will try doubling the weft to see if that helps.  Then, I will cut it off and wash half of it to see how the hand of the cloth is, and the final dimensions after finishing.  Only then I will know if I will have to change the sett to square it up or if  it will be fine just as it is.

I may have to go up to 20 epi to get the cloth I want.  That would make it 19.6 in the reed, still very doable for hand towels, though a little narrow for breadcloths.

Here is a close up of the table element.

Lunch time!

Until next time, Happy Weaving, Tina