One of my best sellers at the few shows that I do with the Tuesday Weavers is my Bread cloths, in fact I sell every one that I bring. I had taken as inspiration one of the projects from an old Handwoven collection. I used the ends per inch and the basic size from the project, but I made my own stripe pattern and textured insert in the middle of the cloth. I have once or twice used a finger manipulated lace pattern, but I found that my hands really did not like all that stress.
Recently, I was asked to come up with a napkin pattern that looked like the bread cloths, only smaller and with finer yarn. We went over the color cards and chose the colors my client wanted and we also decided that I should order some 16/2 for the project. I have not used 16/2 yet and I am excited to take the plunge.
The yarn arrived a couple of weeks ago, and I had finished tweaking the pattern and wound, beamed and threaded the warp with very little trouble. I have woven a little sample to see if my efforts were to be rewarded, and I think that they are. I found no threading errors and only a sleying error to correct before I can get weaving.
I have put one of the bread cloths on this sample to show how much smaller the pattern really is. At first I thought I might be able to use the same number of ends, but I found that I had to reduce the stripes from 20 ends to 15 to get the proportions that I wanted in the final napkins.
I am looking forward to weaving these napkins starting next week, I need to get 12 woven for this order, with more to follow if they are admired at the Thanksgiving party. The first napkin I will have to take good notes so that I can make then all the same. I have thought about using sewing thread for the turned part of the hem, have any of you found it helpful?
(Incidentally, I love the feel of 16/2 cotton, it is soft and very pleasant to work with, not hard to beam at all, though I did use a back to front approach since the yarn is so fine.)
Until next week, (maybe) Tina
Recently, I was asked to come up with a napkin pattern that looked like the bread cloths, only smaller and with finer yarn. We went over the color cards and chose the colors my client wanted and we also decided that I should order some 16/2 for the project. I have not used 16/2 yet and I am excited to take the plunge.
The yarn arrived a couple of weeks ago, and I had finished tweaking the pattern and wound, beamed and threaded the warp with very little trouble. I have woven a little sample to see if my efforts were to be rewarded, and I think that they are. I found no threading errors and only a sleying error to correct before I can get weaving.
I have put one of the bread cloths on this sample to show how much smaller the pattern really is. At first I thought I might be able to use the same number of ends, but I found that I had to reduce the stripes from 20 ends to 15 to get the proportions that I wanted in the final napkins.
I am looking forward to weaving these napkins starting next week, I need to get 12 woven for this order, with more to follow if they are admired at the Thanksgiving party. The first napkin I will have to take good notes so that I can make then all the same. I have thought about using sewing thread for the turned part of the hem, have any of you found it helpful?
(Incidentally, I love the feel of 16/2 cotton, it is soft and very pleasant to work with, not hard to beam at all, though I did use a back to front approach since the yarn is so fine.)
Until next week, (maybe) Tina
2 comments:
Your napkins are going to be lovely.
Have used sewing cotton many times, just make sure it is cotton thread or it won't shrink in and your hems will be wider than the napkin.
LOVE the napkins!
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