A Quiet Day in the Studio and a Birthday Girl

Our new student Elizabeth was threading the heddles on her loom today. She was so close to finishing when 2pm rolled around that she packed up the loom and took it home to finish! She has her class sheet and may be able to get the warp through the reed and tie on if she has time. I on the other hand was faced with a tapestry loom that needed to be restrung so that it could be given to the lucky winner of the homeschool weaving workshop! When the photo was taken I was trying to remember how to twine the warp so that the yarn stay in place. I did get it in the end.

We had a lot of people out of town this week but we also had a friend come back to visit! Kathy is hoping to be a regular in the studio again! Kathy also brought her new portable loom, it is a Louet Jane!

Pat is back at the Barn Frame Loom today. She is threading the warp through the reed, I can't wait to see what these blankets look like, it may be a new item for this old loom after so many rugs!

Rhonda is back at her loom today working on towels in M's and O's and Betsy is right there beside her weaving fabric for bowl cozies!

What do you know it is time for Show and Tell! Linda brought in a scarf that she did using the bead Leno lace. This one is a little wider than the first one and oh so lacey! Marie is showing off her Birthday cake! Happy Birthday Marie!

I will try to get a few more pictures of Weavers and Warps next week because there are so many new things that will be going on the looms. Until then, this is Tina, for all!

Weavers and Warps, Choosing New Projects and Mission Impossible!

You saw last week that Kris and Susan #3 had finished their warps, so that means that this week they get to choose something new to weave. They have both chosen to make Napkins, (they both loved Betsy's napkins) something we don't do very much in the Studio, but I am excited to see their new projects take shape.

In the back corner, Liz #2 was really close to finishing her warp today and by they time I got home Patty had sent me the photo of Liz and her finished warp! In the other back corner Betsy's bowl cozy warp is ready to rock and roll!

I thought I would sneak in a couple of warps that didn't have their weavers today. Rhonda's towels and Laura's towels.

Here is our Mission Impossible for this week! An accident happened when Susan's towels were being cut apart and it seemed like there would be little that we could to save the situation. We discussed the possibility of using fabric to stablize it enough to make a hem, but in the end we thought that might not work. I got in into my head that I would attempt to reweave that corner, and over the lunch break I managed to weave in new warp threads to replace the ones that were cut. My student had come just before lunch, so I decided to take the placemat home and work on it in the quiet of my own space.

Mark and Judith were in their regular spaces. Mark is using 5 strands of 8/4 cotton on his placemats this time and Judith is working on a new rug. I get tickled when I see the far corner of shed #1 showing up when she changes to shed #2. I pointed it out and it seemed to tickle Judith as well, can you see it right on the fell line?

Guess what? It is time for show and tell! Shannon did a shawl that she found on the woolery website! It is truly beautiful! Samantha had some lovely towels that she has recently woven at home, she used her own pattern.

I brought in my first entry in the "unfinshed business" challenge and Mark brought in the placemats he had finished last week!

There were a few after hours entries today. Alice showed me her inkle woven key fobs and Samantha showed me some of her first bobbin lace projects. Carol would be proud if she could have seen them.

Now back to my mission impossible! Once I got home I taped down the warp threads and some of the surrounding areas to stablize it all. I wove in the bits and pieces left from the old weft and then I began to needle weave until I got to the end. I brought down my serger and serged it all, then I staggered some of the edges of the reweaving and trimmed the ends off. After it is hemmed and washed it may be difficult to see where the repair was made. I am glad I gave it a try!

That is all for this week and until next week, this is Tina for all!

A New Student, Problem Solving and Two Finished Warps!

We have a new student! Her name is Elizabeth and she got her warp wound and off of the warping board!

Marilyn was taking a break from her floor loom, and she had seen that there was an untouched inkle loom project up on one of the cabinets. To relax a bit she began to weave the plainweave band, she soon realized why it was an unfinished bit of weaving! When this project went onto the inkle loom the tension bar wasn't placed at the far end of the slot. As you weave on an inkle loom, the warp is slowly taken up and becomes shorter, you need extra room which you have when the tension bar is fully extended. Marilyn soon realized that she was not going to be able to weave much longer even though she had not gone even half way around the band.

I Showed Marilyn a trick I had picked up somewhere when I found myself in a similar position! This time we used a spool from a cone of 8/4, but you can use a sturdy peg as well. I looped two fat rubber bands together and passed them through the cone. Then we slipped the warp off of one of the pegs and onto the cone, then we put the rubber bands around the original peg and taa-daa, there was room. I made sure she had and extra cone and fat rubber bands in case she needed them.

Liz had to leave early today so I made sure I got a picture of her and the new color on her warp. I also got some pictures of Linda's project, right side and wrong side. After this placemat is done Linda started using a solid weft to see if she could see the pattern a little easier but I didn't get a picture of that!

Kris finished her placemats and her buddy Susan #3 did too!

Pearl is working with shuttles I love the newest color combo that she is using.

Karin, Marilyn, Kris and Alice were deep in conversation. I went around to see if I could see what they were talking about!

JP and Jenny were talking things over! As were Marie and Shirley! Then Patty sent me a picture of Shirley and Marilyn counting how many threads were in each bunch to make sure they were even and to the left you can see Elizabeth and I putting the finishing touches on her warp!

Now finally it is time for show and tell! Liz #2 has been working with homeschool kids and she brought in some really wonderfull work from her latest students.

Mark brought in his finished placemats to show us. The pattern is totally random and is up to how the printed fabric does it's thing!

That is all for this week! Until next time this is Tina, for all!