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September 7, 2021 newsletter

Simple Collapse Weave Pucker Up Scarves Under the Sea

Ask Jane just below!

These scarves are a great introduction to simple collapse weave. The kit provides enough silk and merino to create 2 stunning scarves with finished dimensions of 12″ x 75″ plus fringe. All you need is a simple 4 shaft loom a 10 dent reed and a weaving width of 18″.

This Kit contains the weaving draft and instructions along with:

  • 1 skein of 30/2 Bombyx Silk – Quarry
  • 1 skein of 30/2 Bombyx Silk – Glacier
  • 2-50g skeins of Merino Wool – Peacock
  • 2-50g skeins of Merino Wool – Williamsburg Blue

How to weave a simple collapse weave!

If you are subscribed to School of Weaving, check out Season 3 Episode 6 Simple Collapse Weave and you’ll learn how to use active yarns (shrinkers) and inactive yarns (not so shrinky) to create highly textured fabric. Our perfectly wonderful plain weave is woven at a ridiculously open sett in 30/2 silk and 18/2 merino. We continue to push our technique to another level….learning how to control that crazy open sett and stabilize the fabric during the fulling process. If you loved Denting and Cramming & Denting, I’m pretty sure you’re going to love this one too. I know I sure do.

Things we will learn:

-how to use two different yarns to react and create a collapse
-how to weave with a very open sett and control it all
-how to manage the distortion that will occur in the weaving
-how to full and finish your silk and merino scarves
-how to deal with your hemstitching

Ask Jane!

Jane has been asked sooooo many questions over the years on all the “how to’s” of weaving. We thought it would be a good idea to share them with our readers. Here are a couple for this week from JST’s Knowledge Base 😉
Hemstitching Tea Towels

Do you hemstitch tea towels even when they are going to have turned hems?   Or do you just machine stitch the ends after removing them from the loom?  I’ve always machine stitched the ends but am wondering if I could skip this step if I hemstitched on the loom…will hemstitching encased in a seam hold up to lots of machine washing?

I don’t hemstitch for a towel with a turned hem.  I do just what you do….machine stitch the edge and then I double fold and pin.  Sometimes I hand stitch, sometimes I machine stitch, it depends on my patience level on the day.  I even have a few towels that I have never gotten around to hemming, but I still use them.  When those are in use I loudly proclaim that hemming of any kind is highly overrated. :^)

Would like to learn more? We have a video on our YouTube Channel School of Weaving bonus video on hemming!

Can’t seem to limit my draw-In

I am making a wool afghan and I can’t seem to limit my draw-in.  I am letting the yarn be loose but I am drawing in almost three inches on each side, going from 46″ to 40″.  I am not sure what the wool is. The epi is 8, it probably should have been 10. The ppi is 10 to 12. I am using a twill and floating selvages. Any suggestions before I begin the next afghan.

You have your answer….if it is sett at 8 but you are beating 12 then add those 2 numbers together and you get 20…because you want it balanced divide by 2 and you get 10 epi and 10 ppi.   That will help your draw-in immensely….because the warp ends are so far apart in your first throw they have lots of room to pull together hence your draw in. The next time you use this yarn sett it at 10 epi, weave it at 10 ppi and you will notice that your draw-in is much less.  Good luck, you are on the right road.

Abraiding or unplying broken ends

I will share another trick I have used many times to help prevent broken ends.  When you see a warp thread abraiding or unplying, get out your glue stick and give that yarn a little swipe.  I swipe my finger actually and then my fingers swipe the yarn.  Let it dry for a minute and then weave away…..nothing will happen to it now, you have avoided the dreaded broken end and the glue washes out when you finish the cloth.

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Here to help

You can always find us on the Jane Stafford School of Weaving Forum or on Weave with Jane Stafford at Ravelry.


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