Even More Handwoven Towels!

Our study theme for last year "handwoven towels" seems to have resonated with many of our weavers.  There are still towel warps being woven and new ideas coming from our looms.

These last two offerings may be the last in this series, but they are certainly not least. 

Kathy R. needed to make "thank you " gifts for relatives and what better gift than a handwoven towel!.  She found a draft she liked in the Strickler book, number 27, turned the draft to make it easier to weave, and wove a whole series of towels using different wefts and even a plaid version.

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Igor warped the 24 shaft AVL with 12 yards of 10/2 cotton for his towels.  There has been  an uneasy alliance between Igor and this big loom, but the loom may be winning him over. (The jury is still out!) Igor wanted to weave not only kitchen towels, but also some towels for exercise junkies - and he calls them zumba towels.  They are a bit longer than a regular towel so that you can hang one around your neck when you are at the gym, working out.  All the towels were woven on a straight draw threading of 20 shafts with a four shaft basketweave selvedge.

Zumba Towel with an original draft designed by Igor

Draft 8027 from Handweaving.net



Draft 61265 from Handweaving.net  turned version of draft

 



 

2017 Learn To Weave

Tracy's loom with the weaving in progress.

 

Can you actually learn to weave with a four day class from the Reno Fiber Guild?  Well, we think you can.  We have an intrepid group of volunteer teachers who have worked hard to put together a comprehensive class directed at students who want to learn to weave.  This year's class had six students, each with their own mentor.  Before the class started, each student was able to pick three yarn colors they liked that would go along with the natural colored warp for their beginning projects.

Student, Tracy Doren, said this about the class:

I have wanted to learn to weave since I was a teenager.  Finally at 53 I've taken the Learn to Weave class and absolutely love it.  Everything about it intimidated me but as I went a long with each step all that went away and now I have so many ideas for projects and am really excited to move forward.  All of the mentors were so great and patient with us all. The only downside is that I didn't learn this earlier.  I'm so pleased with what I did in the class.  

Here are more samplers and towels woven by the students this year.  Hip, hip hooray for the bunch of them.  The teachers and mentors are almost as happy as the students to have had such a great bunch to work with. 

If you are interested in the Learn To Weave Class for 2018 - check out our informational page.


Tracy's towels

Melissa's towels and sampler

The Great Handwoven Towel Challenge Continues!

Weaving towels is a bit hit with many RFG members.  Some of the towels have been woven for months, and are just now surfacing, but there are those that have a continual towel warp on their looms and are planning for the sale season this fall.

So, we are going to continue this thread for another couple of posts because it is interesting, we are learning new things and who doesn't like a handwoven towel in their kitchen or bath?

 Shelley dyed some warp chains of white Lily yarn at the Kathrin Weber workshop over a year ago.  She had downloaded a free set of directions for these towels from Handwoven (the e-book is still available here).  The article was entitled "Towels as Gamps" and gave instructions for 8 different towels on a straight draw threading.  The article states that the different tie ups are available in the Strickler 8 Shaft book and I suspect there are also available from other sources too.  These are all 8 shaft designs.

 Shelley followed the instructions given in the e-book which indicated that the width in the reed would be 12.5" and the sett for 6/2 cotton, 28epi.  Shelley was disappointed that the towels are so narrow and will add width to them if she weaves this series again.  However, they will make fine hand towels for the bathroom and the array of different weave structures is fun to examine.



 Laurel sells her towels during the holiday season and now has people requesting certain colors and patterns.  The following towels came from her studio this summer.

The plaid towel to the left is one that a customer ordered.  The colors are plain, but are just what she wanted and so Laurel obliged with this elegant plain weave towel

 Handweaving.net has just added a new collection of weaving drafts to their already astounding online resource.  Laurel picked one of the drafts 68026, to weave the turned twill squares within squares.  A timeless design from 1825.

 And, Marguerite Davison still has surprises after all this time.  Here is her "Myrtle Westola" draft on page 69 and Laurel's interpretation.