Friday, February 20, 2015

Placemat Challenge

Last Tuesday,  Lou Ann posted that I had finished 2 more placemats towards my 12 for the now famous "Placemat Challenge".  What she didn't know is that these are, actually the first 2 placemats I have managed to get done towards the challenge.  I have had the warp on forever, seriously forever!  I have had weft cut and sewn together to do 3 of them, I had even woven a couple of inches on the first one, but that was it.  I don't know if I knew at that time that I wasn't happy with how it looked, but I had not progressed any farther than this.

 When I got back to the project this week, I realized that as well as not being happy with how the weft was doing, (folding over to show the wrong side), there were several treadling errors.

The pattern for this project is called the Hollywood Rug Warp, and it is treadle in straight twill, (1/2,2/3,3/4,1/4 and so on)  I have cut it down to placemat size, and I keep the twill treadling even for the hem.

It seems that my left foot keeps straying to the two tabby treadles, (1/3,2/4) and that will just not do.  I thought it best to disengage the tabby treadles to make things much easier.
 Next, I had to deal with the back side of the blue jean material rolling over to the front side.  The only thing I could think of to do was to fold the weft in half and hit it with an iron.  It worked well, and I got the first batch of weft ready to go.
 I loaded this onto the shuttle, and took it up to the loom and tried it.  I think that this approach gives  a much cleaner look to the placemat, with the added bonus of making it reversible!
I quickly wove that placemat, and proceeded to iron the weft for the next 2 placemats.  I got the second one done that same day and I think that tomorrow I may be able to get that 3rd one done.  I will then work towards getting the weft ready for a couple more.  I would like to get a couple more done by next week.

Life has really gotten busy for me these last few months, and I am thankful for every moment that I am able to work on my weaving projects.

I am still working on  the fleeces across the hall, my list is now down from 13  to 9 batches of fiber to comb or card.  Though, I plan to leave some untouched to that I can comb it while I am demonstrating spinning at the Museum of Appalachia.  Sheep shearing day is right around the corner!

Until next time, Happy Spinning, Knitting and Weaving, Tina

2 comments:

Theresa said...

Well, they sure are pretty! I'm late posting so hoping you wefted through a few more by now. :)

Charlotte said...

I love the color combo of yellow and blue!