Wide Variety of Fabrics from the loom

Anni B. is interested in weaving for clothing.  Recently she put on a long warp and wove it off in a variety of  different fabrics, all in the same colorways, so that she could combine them in garments.  The yardage in the photo to the left might be a top or skirt.  Anni hasn't decided yet.

The photo below shows off the different sides of another piece of yardage.  This could be a lovely way to have a jacket with one side of the fabric showing and make the lapels with the reverse side showing.  Hopefully, Anni will have something sewn soon so we can feature her garments in another post.

 

A brand new member, Zoi, joined us for her first Sage Weavers meeting and brought som stunning pieces for our show and tell.  The photo below is a baby blanket woven from instructions in a book by Tom Knisely.  Zoi hand dyed the yarns for this piece and you can see how the colors change across the piece.  She gave one similar blanket to her grandson - what a lovely give for him to keep and treasure.

Zoi also brought this overshot scarf that she wove.  I believe that the white patterning is done with wool and it fulled gently when she wet finished it.  A lovely piece which will be a joy to wear on a winter morning.

We Love Overshot!

  Kathy R. brought this lovely towel /mat to Sage Weavers.  She used two painted warps (Easter eggs and Blue opal) purchased from Kathrin Weber and used an overshot pattern from a recent Handwoven magazine. These towels must have been fun to weave with all the color changes in the warp - and will be especially fun to use.

The photo below is a napkin, also woven by Kathy R.  She used a gradient in the warp and a fine cotton warp and weft for an elegant piece.  The technique was learned in a class with Tien Chiu.

The next towels were woven by Michelle L., also in overshot.  The pattern comes from Carol Strickler's book #416. Beautiful work, Michelle.

  

The Great Handwoven Towel Challenge - Part 1

Late last summer, RFG weavers formed a study group to find out what makes a good handwoven towel and how to design and weave one (or many). In our research to find possible design and structure possibilities, we put together this document with many links to many different approaches.  You may download a copy here for your own towel weaving research.

We are now celebrating the towels that resulted from that challenge.  I am always amazed and gratified how these challenges result in a grand variety of ideas and resulting textiles. To make this post more readable and allow for ample photos, there will be another post about more weaver's towels in a few days.

 

Anni B. wove this towel  and the next in photo directly below.  Simple structures, but so much pizazz.  And, they will make very useable towels in soft unmercerized cottons. Love that texture in the soft green and lilac towel.

 Kathy R. designed a 4 shaft overshot pattern and wove a series of towels in astounding color combinations.  The warp was 10/2 cotton and she graded it in colors  of soft yellow to darker orange and back again.  Then she kept this same gradation in her tie down weft which was a 16/2 cotton.  The pattern wefts were a variety of colors in 8/2 cottons making each towel an individual. 

 

Laurel has a real flair in designing with stripes.  In the photo directly below, she used a 4 shaft 2/2 twill tie up and an interesting treadling sequence.  The resulting structure causes the little scallops in the black stripes. See the draft here.

Another of Laurel's towels.  This one woven in twill blocks and 8 shafts.