Results of the Three Shaft Study Group Part I

RFG members and others from CNCH Guilds are winding down our year long study of three shaft weaves.  Primarily we used Erica de Ruiter's book, Weaving on 3 Shafts, which gave us a treasure trove of drafts and information on doing pick up using just three shafts on our looms.  But there were other sources as well, such as samples from past Complex Weavers' sample exchanges and the book Forgotten Pennsylvania Textiles of the 18th and 19th Centuries, by Thompson, Grant and Keyser.  Weavers were astounded at the complexity achieved with these drafts and techniques.  This post serves to share with other weavers the results of our journey.

Lilli M. shared a three shaft bead leno scarf.  Lilli is a relatively new weaver and she was experimenting with a "new to her" technique when she wove this scarf.  What amazed her most was how the threads twisted once woven. A friend thought that the scarf had been knitted, but Lilli explained that she doesn't know how to knit!  The instructions for weaving 3 shaft bead leno are in Erica's book on pages 82-86.

Kathy R. wove a color and weave gamp  and shared samples with a group of eight study group members.  This cloth was woven with 10/2 cottons and sett at 30epi.  Each color was a 2" segment, treadled to square.  The draft for this particular cloth is on page 32 of Erica's book.  Kathy also made towels from this draft.  It is hard to see the details in this photo, but the actual sample just pops with wonderful little textures.



Diane S. shared this sample made with Just Our Yarn Caravan  (65% lambs wool/35% camel down).  She used the draft in Erica's book at the bottom left of page 37.  She finished the samples cloth and a scarf with an aggressive warm wash to make the yarn bloom.  The cloth was laid flat to dry and then a light steam press.  This cloth is also quite textured and the floats didn't behave as well as Diane could have hoped.  However, the cloth is very soft and spongy and the scarf will be very warm with all the little waffles in it. 

 

This cloth was also woven by Diane S.  The detail of the towel above is woven with 20/2 Lily cotton. and sett at 32 epi for a looser cloth suitable for towels.    She also wove a more substantial sample sett at 36 epi, which gave a more balanced cloth.  The draft for the towel above is from page 32 in Erica's book.  Again, the most amazing thing is the wonderful detail in the tiny patterns.

see description of Karen S. towels under the photo below

Karen S. wove two renditions of navy and white towels.  One of them (top photo) has longer floats and Erica's draft on page 32 were used in this towel.  The other towel with the dots (see photo above) was woven with a draft from a weaving manuscript of Joseph Leisy, 1793.  The color and weave effects were added by Jayne Flanagan in a sample exchange with the EWBM group of Complex Weavers.  This delightful towel defies you to think of it as being woven on three shafts.

There are lots more samples and projects to show from this study group.  Stay tuned for Part 2 in a week or so.