cone ends – Jane Stafford Textiles

Thick & Thin

Have you ever wondered how to weave with both thick and thin in your weft? The following is Jane’s answer to this question from our Knowledge Base.

How do I make different weft thicknesses all come out the same width on the final product if the warp is all the same thickness? Fulling helps it but it still looks odd.

This is always a tricky situation. Thick wefts will always push your warp out and thin wefts will always pull your warp in. So you can do 2 things. One… you can build a pattern into the design where you use those tendencies as a design element when creating your fabric.

The second thing you could do is to purposefully draw in more when you are using your thick yarn. Draw it into the width of your fine weft area. Or when you throw a pick of your fine weft you need to leave that yarn at a higher angle so that more weft can get into the shed, this will control the draw-in on the fine weft. It all comes down to selvedge control, but knowing that thick wefts and thin wefts will draw in differently, you can use it as a design feature.

One more thing………if you want, you could wind several ends of the fine to make a thicker weft – that would reduce the problem, but if you are after the thick/thin effect, that won’t work.

For more information and a video – head to School of Weaving Season 2 Episode 8 – Playing at the Loom and watch as Jane plays with thick and thin yarn and Bouclé! Endless possibilities …….

New Eco Jeans Colours!

Our shelves now have more colour options for you to design your cloth in our new range of Eco Jeans colours. Initially, we started with just the colours that were originally produced in this fabulous yarn which is created out of old jeans and pop bottles. We now have a total of 12 colours just waiting for you to play with! Check out our new colours Steam, Pelican Pink and Primavera available in 100g cones. Venne is in the process of discontinuing 50g cones and switching to 100g cones for their Eco Jeans yarn and these new colours are the first on our shelves!

Shop Venne Eco Jeans Recycled Yarn

Cramming & Denting Eco Jeans Scarf Kit

This Eco Jeans kit has proven to be a favourite amongst our JST shoppers. It’s a fun project to weave and would be a perfect accessory for all the students in your life heading off to university or school in the Fall.

Level of Difficulty: Advanced Beginner
Weave structure: Plain Weave
Material: Venne Eco Jeans
Each kit makes: 2 Scarves

Loom requirements:
Shafts: 4
Reed: 10 dent
Weaving width: 13″

Shop Cramming & Denting Kit

Cone Ends Sale Restocked!

Have you been wanting to play with different yarns to see if you like weaving with them? Have you wondered what yarns you aren’t familiar with would be like after you have finished it? Our cone ends packages give you a surprise choice of part cones in a variety of colours, Try one in the fibre of your choice so you can test out new-to-you yarns! The colours shown below and on the website may not be the same colours in your surprise order 🙂

Each bag weighs 200g of surprise colours!

Shop our Yarn Page Sale!

Keeping you informed

As you may have heard on the news there is a pending UPS strike that may happen on August 1, 2023. We have lots of yarn in stock so this should not affect our inbound orders from suppliers but will affect our customers in the USA. We have made arrangements to ship with USPS should the strike happen but they will also be very busy with other companies shipping with them during this time. If you are needing yarn for your next project, it might be a good idea to order this week to ensure you get your parcel in a timely manner. We will do everything we can to minimize the interruption to our customers.

From Our Inbox

This letter from Leslie Strong, from Calgary, AB arrived in our InBox last November. We were waiting for just the right newsletter to share her ideas with you.

Jane provided such a wonderful opportunity to take away from all the episodes on Twill and venture into making scarves for Christmas presents. I made a total of 6 Scarves, 3 in Merino/Tencel and 3 in just Tencel.

First Three: – A twill, ” Wall of Troy” design using Merino/Tencel 2/10. Pattern from Handwoven Loom Theory. The photo reflects Scarf 1 in Kaki Pale for the Weft and Natural for the Warp. I truly love this scarf. It has a 3″ twisted fringe, 67 1/2″ long, 8 3/4″ wide. Scarf 2 Warp: Natural and Weft Silver. This scarf did not show the design as much and the silver was a bit bluish instead of silver but still goes very nicely with a black outfit. Scarf 3: Warp: Acier(Grey) and Weft: Black – which is my favourite. All these scarves are so soft with wonderful drape.

The last Three: – A plaited twill in Tencel. Tencel is pretty tricky to work with but I love the drape and feel of these scarves. I live in Calgary right now and have found out to work with Tencel in a dry climate requires some preparations such as a humidifier in the room, a water spritzer bottle, silver thread copolymer fishing line, and patience. Sounds intimidating but rewarding. An important thing to remember, is if you make a longer warp, and you walk away from your project for any length of time, ensure you release the tension until you return. Tencel has a tendency to break. I had a much straighter selvedge with the silver thread as a separate selvedge along with the required selvedge. I put both in different reed slots, separated with light weights attached to each. It worked perfectly. I pulled the silver threading out before washing, it easily pulls out and leaves a beautiful straight edge. I used a pattern from Handwoven Magazine which followed one of Carol Stickler’s 8 shaft patterns, page 103.

Scarf 1: A variegated tencel in the Warp and a Wine Colour tencel in the Weft. The Variegated warp hid the design a little but still turned out so nice.

Scarf 2: I used solid colours for the warp and weft in these two scarves. Weft in Brown and Warp in Havana. I love the shine and the drape.

Thanks to Jane, I just love weaving so much! Can’t wait for next year. I have made numerous towels, scarves, and placemats through her teachings. I only became a weaver through Jane’s On-Line learning. Never woven before.

I love quotes which could relate to weaving: “Life experiences are all woven together” and the other: “Don’t allow fear to limit you”. I follow both of these.

Leslie Strong