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First sample, sett too close, 8 ends per cm. Now changed it to 7 cm which comes very close to 18 epi. But had to sley 2-2-3 through the reed, which is very visible, but anyhow, it’s a two, so fibonachi will be happy. Next one with 6 ends per cm = 15,24 epi. Just so happy trying and weaving again! Jacqueline
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I’ve been posting to Facebook, Instagram and Ravelry, but completely forgot about this forum because I watch the episodes on my TV via my Fire TV.
I had the BEST day yesterday. I treated it as if I was away at a workshop. Still had to get meals made and let the dogs in/out, lol, but mostly everyone let me just weave. It takes me a little less than an hour to weave a 32″ towel. I seem to be stuck on 3rds because that’s all I’ve done so far. At first I started following the samples Jane showed, but then creativity set in and I just started to wing it. I got the 1st squares sample done and four towels. The weaving is “easy breazy” and so much fun. I haven’t taken anything off the loom yet and wet finished, but I think I am sold on the 18 epi. I had a couple of issues with the first towel. Both of the end selvedge threads broke. I had my tension too tight (which I often do) and after I loosened up, no troubles at all.
Here is some of yesterday’s progress.
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I could not wait to start the Asymmetry sample and used my stash on my 24″ rigid heddle loom (last photo) with a 3 yards warp. I decided not to do a sample but go ahead with dishtowell.
I also set up an 8 yards warp on my Leclerc Inca 4 shaft loom as soon as I received the kit. I wove one 32 inches towell with 1/3 black, 1/3 dark grey and 1/3 light grey, really enjoy this experience.
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Your eyes will just sweep by the double sleyed reed in the one spot. You don’t really see it. Really. Having lots of fun, few issues warping as I’ve only warped the Standard once or twice? Always a good idea to make sure the warp is centered EVERYWHERE. Have a few tension issues due to this, but once I finish this towel I am cutting off and resleying at 12 epi as I found a bunch of knubbly wool/silk blends that look like fun 🙂
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Oh my gosh, this is so much fun I can’t quit smiling! For 25 years I’ve been weaving saddle blankets on a monster Cranbrook 12 harness, 60 inch loom. I use hand spun wool, threaded at 6 epi and beat HARD at 18-20 ppi. Imagine the challenges I’ve had going to a smaller loom using 8/2 cotton 18 epi, 18 ppi! I really had to practice a soft beat and I was making terrible selvedges because I am used to making a large bubble, or angle, at my fell line. Today it all came together and I am loving this. THANK YOU, JANE! I’ll post pictures when I get further along.
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So I finished the squared sample and sixth towel on an 8 yard warp last night. They’re in the washer now. Enough left for a scarf or table runner. About to re-sley at 12epi and realized I’m going to have to move my shaft cords. Math… not my strong suit. Lol. I think I’ll go shop the stash for weft first. That’s more fun.
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Re-sleyed yesterday afternoon. After a comedy of errors, I finally got to start weaving. I was going to use a blue rayon boucle, but I wasn’t diggin’ it, so I changed to some charcoal grey wool from my stash. I can’t wait to see what this fabric does when I get it off the loom and wash it! (Is there a way to make the pictures not so huge?)
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I’m SO EXCITED!!! The wool worked BEAUTIFULLY with the cotton warp! I now have a small throw. I just wet finished it on delicate in the washer and then put it in the dryer for about ten minutes (checked it every few) and it’s beautiful. I tried to take the best pics so you could see the drape on this thing. I’m seriously considering turning it into a poncho. I love, love, love it!!! The mixture of cotton and wool will make it perfect for here in Central Texas. Thank you, Jane, for opening up this new concept to me. And, for the record, I’m sold on the 18epi for 8/2 cotton now!
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Jean, love your poncho, thanks for posting it, swapping the red for blue had been on my mind..now I know it works..and I love the wool with cotton idea!
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Used some coloured cones from my previous project, and made the warp a bit wider. I caught myself saying 1,2,3 boink. I liked contrast of the black boink line in the second sample towel.
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I’m really struggling with making a square -I just want it to be a different number of weft threads! Also have some wavy thing going on so I’m working on my technique to see if that fixes it. I just watched the final piece of the last episode (Thank You to the person who mentioned you can watch them using Amazon firetv!) where Jane was fixing her issues-so helpful to see that!
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Melissa – it looks like you started weaving your sample as soon as you tied it on the cloth beam. If you look at the way Jane does it, you’ll see that she will weave a bit to establish a straight fell line and once established, she moves on to the cloth she wants to weave. It looks like you were having tension problems and by the time you got to grey, everything was falling into place! Also, don’t forget to give yourself a large arc of weft, as you are laying it in.
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Melissa, It was me that mentioned the Fire TV – so much better, right?
It looks like your wave is starting to straighten out. I think you just needed a little more of a header before you started to weave the sample. That or your tension wasn’t even across the warp after tying on. Your last few rows of squares look perfect to me. You’ll get a feel for how hard/soft (I hate to use the word hard cause it isn’t in plain weave at 18epi) and just start doing it naturally. You’re doing great! Hang in there!
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For those that asked about the size wool I used after resleying to 12 epi… it’s 13wpi, so a fingering weight. It is an old weaving wool with oils in it, so washed, it’s probably 14 epi. It’s a wool with “tooth” to it, so like Harrisville or Shetland…. I apologize for the slow answer… been taking care of a flu ridden hubby and then I was down for the count yesterday with a stomach ache….
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I had enough warp for two, plus a little more, where I played with a few yarns. I did an 18 sett then re-sleyed the reed for a 15 sett. I found that, although it was square under tension, it wasn’t quite as square off loom (of course). I took measurements before and after washing and drying. The first one I did was 18 sett and wound up 14 1/2″ wide (along the weft) and 14″ along the warp. After wash/dry it was 13 1/2″ width x 12 1/2″. The second one I wove was 15 sett and off loom it was 17″ wide along the weft and 16 1/2″ along the warp. After wash/dry it was 16 1/4″ width x 14 1/2. Next time I will know to take into account the tension of the warp and that it will shrink a little more along the warp than it did along the weft. I really enjoyed this project!
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I’m staying with asymmetry for alittle longer, just put another warp on with apricot and pink, no red stripe in warp. Using 15 epi and boucle and bamboo. 9 shots gave me my square and one towel is all 9 shots of colour and changes. -
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This is me so far ….. I loved the “permission” I gave myself (thanks to Jane) to just play at the loom. For the third sample – I changed out the red stripe for orange organic cotton and used some 20/2 silk as the weft, just because I wanted to see what it felt like.
I’m not as happy with the samples at 12 epi. This is showing me – again – why it’s so important to sample. I have a large cone of well aged boucle which is very soft and packs right in at 12 epi. My most recent stash of boucle is the red, orange and grey that you can see in the two samples. I’m debating increasing my sett to 14 to see if they will live more happily together or just try another sample using the newer boucle to see if it will be happier without it’s “old” neighbour. I also changed the orange back to the red stripe that was waiting on the back of the loom between the orange and the red samples. I’m glad I put on a long warp!
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Looking great Sandra! I like the orange, it really changes it up and how you used the red with the boucle, they look so soft.
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My weekend adventure
I used yarn from my stash white, blues and green, tried a 10 meter long warp and asked my dishwashing husband, how wide he would like his new towels, so that I used 14 as my incremental multiplyer ((-: The first three are finished. Cause I only have a 10 and 8 dent reed I used the 8 dent reed to get the “18 ” In the white thread area you can see my sleying pattern …2223.3222… and also a sleying mistake down in the right corner… another nice patern (-:
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I had the original asymetry sample from the workshop so I decided to
slightly change the colours in the stripes and widen the warp by adding on to each side of the stripe sequence. I wove four towels then cut off the warp, resleyed at 16 epi, removed some warp threads and wove two hand towels. With the end of the warp, woven with one pick boucle and one pick 8/2 I sewed a small project bag. -
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Where can I find the pattern for kit 1? I bought my own colors on Friday from you.
Thanks, Irene McW.
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I have so much handspun, hope to use it in weaving sometime. How did you feel about so much loom waste with your handspun?
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Ellen – the mohair was just in the weft, – wove it at the end of that cotton symmetry warp so just had a little warp left when I finished and didn’t waste any of the mohair.
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Ellen, you could create a pseudo warp to tie on to as Jane demonstrates in her mohair episode – Episode 9. That’s the way she treats special yarn that she just doesn’t want to waste.
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Here are my tea towels that I got so much joy out of weaving and experimenting with from this episode. I realized I only had mercerized cotton in my stash too late, so I used apricot for the warp. It was like threading sunshine! In order to keep the stripes in line when hemming, I used iron on tape. It works! This is just soooo much fun! I can’t wait to start my next warp.
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First time warping my new to me loom and first project. Very exciting as it was eventful. At the end I realized I didnt over the back beam. Was deflated for a bit. Then put it out there and all kinds of help came my way. And I fixed it ! Not a loss like I had thought. Using 8/4 cotton.
Anyway, quick photo. -
Sample 1 Asymmetry Towels finished. 😀
You can see that I was feeling pink.
Using completely different colours in the weft.
Switching out the orange zinger for a green one. -
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Thanks everyone for posting your projects! It’s so inspiring to see all of the different things people are making on the same warp! I love the project bag.
I am so proud to have finished mine. I did five little towels and then I changed the sett and did two large towels. One is with boucle, the other alternates the 2/8 cotton and boucle. I like them both. I did a little one at the end with just boucle. I also made a bench seat cushion using a baby acrylic yarn that made a really soft piece of cloth.
Since I am a beginner, I learned so much. I learned about using Fibonacci. I learned how to fix broken warp threads (not because I wanted to!). I learned how to fix skipped stitches. I washed and dried my samples in the machine and then hemmed them. There are still a few mistakes, but overall I am pretty thrilled with the results! I used an 8 yard warp and decided not to change my zinger colour, though I feel confident that I could if I really wanted to. Looking forward to the next sample. So much fun!
Here are some pictures:
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I know I’m behind everyone with the samples, but I’m having fun! Here are my first samples. After these I made a set of placemats as well. Now I’m preparing to change my zinger and have more fun!
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My blue green ones are finished . I get eight different towels, a little bit shorter than expected but very fun to make. I used a colour catcher, too A very great hint cause it came out off the washing machine very blue ((-:
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4 different placemats with matching napkins, one breadbasket cloth, 1 boucle and 2/8 cotton shawl and one additional large piece of woven cloth
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This was so much fun! Since I am fortunate enough to already have the workshop samples I have set myself the challenge to use what I have (and the corollary that nothing is too good to use). I went to the Galapagos last year, so this is my “blue-footed booby” colourway. The white is a loosely spun 2/8 mill end that wrinkles when I look at it so I am much happier with the boucle towels than the pieces done at the original sett. I gave myself permission to just play and concentrate on design rather than product. Nothing is the same size and (so far) only the boucle towels have an identified purpose. I really liked the 4+4 and 3+1 striping sequences and designs that are one-third/two-thirds feel “right” to me. To my eye, zingers should stay as accent colours; I don’t much care for the predominantly blue sample.
Jane warned us that we would be sad to get to the end of a great warp and I was! Eight yards was not enough! I replaced the blue with medium brown and had enough warp for only one rust/green towel.
The first time I visited Jane’s she had a clothesline full of handwoven towels, and I said ” I wish that was my laundry!” so I decided to do a little photo shoot this afternoon. It’s a start. My little line of towels makes me very happy.
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Very fun. 7.5 yds from stash, 4 towels, 2 squares, a baby blanket/ shawl. After weaving towels changed zinger to turquoise, resleyed at 12 epi, used 8/4 and doubled 8/2 for second square. Found cotton/acrylic blend for blanket. 12 was too close sett for PW so tied up for twill and added a floating selvedge instead of rethreading
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I thoroughly enjoyed this first sample and the lessons learned. This online guild is really expanding my weaving horizons! As you can see I wasted no time getting something else on the loom. And another project is almost done. I don’t want to leave the studio.
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I decided to do something different with the last piece of cloth woven on the asymmetry Sample. I created a Ruana by cutting up the middle of the fabric halfway and then stitching it up. And as an answer to Mardi Naythons I changed the warp to 50 threads of white on one end and 130 on the other in order to have a wider fabric. Happy weaving all. This class is the best!
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Michelle that is Beautiful !!! What is the width of your fabric, and length! I really like what you did. Mine is woven with 8/4 cotton and is about 23 inches wide off the loom before fulling. I wove it as a length of fabric not knowing for sure what I might do.
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Hello Ellen, I had a total of 350 ends and when I changed the sett to 12 epi that gave me a little over 29” in the reed. After washing my fabric was 25” wide 54” in length. Yours are quite beautiful too. I see Jane is helping quite a few of us in expanding our weaving horizons.
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These photos show 4 towels of 8 – 5 of the 8 have been gifted. I’ve needed to be far from home for a couple months so I bought a 22” used but loved Harrisville and a used sewing machine so as not to deprive myself of the fun – or get too far behind! I’m enjoying this guild – thank you Jane. 😊-
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This project of exploration has been a blast. Warped up 10 yards. Wove several towels and ended with a half variegated tencel and half stripe sequenced scarf. My daughter is visiting and is already claiming it. Never would have considered mixing the two fibers without Janes encouragement and this newfound freedom to “just try it”. My intention initially was to retrain myself in the way I weave overall. My wrist has been tiring out too quickly and my selvedges could be better. Revisiting the basics – retraining myself consciously throwing the shuttle, beat onan open shed, change, beater back. Slowly and deliberately retraining my mind and body. I see progress… My perfectionism was having a fist fight with my beginners mind. Beginner’s mind is far younger and is bound to win! Loving it and am reinspired. Thank you all for sharing your work. It gives me courage and fuels my curiosity. Brava!
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I was was so excited when I finally got started that I skimmed the pdf and neglected to see the weave structure was plain weave! So I have five towels in a 2×2 twill. Loving the stripes in the twill. I will definitely be doing another warp with twill. The ideas I’m getting from this one could keep me weaving for a long time! I’m so torn between continuing to run with this idea but wanting to move on to the first gamp.
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Kelly, I love the twill, looks like I’m going to have to warp up another asymmetry. I am also still going with the first project, and have woven several scarves, in the colours of licorice allsorts.
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Finally they’re all off the loom. I replaced the stripe twice, once with purple and once with pink.
The greyscale with red are the ones I accidentally did in twill and like the feel of them better
I just need to clip all the ends and hem them
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Thanks to Jane’s influence my note taking has improved and I can answer your question. The towels are Bockens cottolin 22/2 sett at 18epi . Colors- yellow 2012, red 2023, orange 2015, green 2042, and brown 2045. Hope you have fun with this Ellen
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Clicked on the wrong button and the photo was up without any text.
I really enjoyed the mix of Fibonnacci, repetitive sequences, colour changing and sett opening. My favourite was the gentler, smoother and softer 12sett fabric on the left of my photo. I think it’ll make a great hand towel. Unfortunately my stash, or lack of it, let me down so I had a mix of yarns from the very beginning. Loved using boucle, first time.
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Finally finished! Did a 7 yard warp, managed 4 towels and and wrap / throw blanket (ended up 26 x 66). Loved opening up the sett, wove the wrap/throw blanket with super soft Henry’s Attic 3/2 warp twist, made wonderful cloth.
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I love those browns with the pale blue. Especially like the sample with all the stripes in the weft.
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If your comments were directed at my photo post Jane, thank you. I was worried after seeing other samples that it was all too bright.
Would it be possible to ask that if contributors to the forum are responding to particular individuals they make sure to include the individual’s name, as comments and responses are often separated by new or unrelated comments (because of the time) and it’s not so easy to follow a conversation? Thanks
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I’m so far behind…waited for several kits to save on shipping. These are my towels, I designed a few samples and then got stuck on presto chango the zinger and made 3 kitchen towel sizes. I am learning an incredible amount!
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My first set of towels Sharon O. Thanks Jane really enjoying the class
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A friend saw the asymmetry sample and decided she wanted a blanket woven the same except using purple for the zinger. Did it in Beroco Vintage Yarn which is an acrylic, wool nylon blend set at 8epi. Wove it in broken twill rather than plain weave for a nice texture for a blanket.
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I thought we were supposed to be measuring the squares under tension — was that incorrect?
I wove 3 samples on my Asymmetry warp, cut them off, and finished them.
Although I carefully wove to square, I found that the squares were rectangles (shorter than wide) after finishing.
I assume this is because the warp is under more tension than the weft, and perhaps shrinkage in the finishing process
also plays a role. So my take-away is
1) work on beating consistently (as that will affect shrinkage)
2) sample, sample, sample -
Jane you said black and navy go good together, so I tried it. Thought this would make an interesting scarf. -
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Hi! Brand new Weaver here, and I mean BRAND new. I’m working through the episodes and really learning a lot. So, I’m starting with Asymmetry and had to wind the warp twice as all I could do was cut off the first attempt. But I now have a good warp. Finished the tying on and started weaving and discovered a threading error. What I want to know is the best way to fix it without cutting it off and retreading the heddles.
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Hi Christin,
You can cut the one thread off and pull from the back and let it hang over the back beam as it looks like you’ve threaded both in the same harness, side by side, but I’m wondering how you threaded your reed and if it would leave a bit of a gap in your weaving. If you threaded something like 2,1,2,1…then it should be fine to just pull it out. That said though, you are right at the beginning of your weaving and I would actually undo your weaving or cut off what you’ve woven and rethread the heddles & reed from the right of the mistake on. It won’t take you too long, it looks like only about 30 threads. Oh I like the blue you are using for your stripes!
Welcome to the world of weaving!
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I am slowly working my way through the asymmetry sample and have spaced out the warp to 12 epi. I wove a 23.3″ x 70 ” Sample (hoping it can be a light shawl) The negative space looks square, it is 12 ppi.Now I am going to attempt using Harrisville Shetland for the weft. If I keep my little negatives space square – square…..I think I am closer to 11 ppi than 12. What problems will this present? I am going to carry on for a bit anyway but just wondered if anyone had tested this combination within this sample. My intention is to work on sett for Cotton (warp)/Wool (weft) throws.
The pic is of the Harrisville Shetland sample, after some sampling. I can’t wait to full…to see what it feels like 🙂
To all of you at JST I am learning so much through watching and sampling….and watching again. What a wonderful resource this is!
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Greetings to Jane and this question is for you or the hive mind. I’m a fairly new weaver and will be weaving on my 4-shaft Dorothy with a 15 3/4″ weaving width. This poses a width problem for me which I’ll have to overcome by weaving a double width cloth. I’ve never woven a double width before, though I believe I’ve figured out the threading and treading. I want to make sure I’m thinking correctly. Shafts 1 & 2 will be the top layer of my cloth and shafts 3 & 4 will be the bottom layer. It seems to me for a sett of 18, I need to wind warp for 36 epi, and use the heddles required for a sett of 36, to give me 18 epi on each layer. Do I have that right? My second concern is when we switch to 12 epi, once again my narrow width loom is a problem. So my second question is would you start by warping for 12 epi (24) then moving tighter to 18? I’d like to make all my samples as dish towels to finish at 26″ wide. Any and all help will be greatly appreciated!!!
Another question – what size reed should I use? For 36 epi or 18 epi?
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Hi Carol,
For this to work you will have to make 2 warps. If you start by warping for the 12 ends per inch (24 epi) in actually threads, you will not have enough ends in your warp to go to the tighter epi of 18 and have any width. When I do the math at 15″ at 12 (24 x 15″ =360) wide in the reed you will only have 360 warp ends which divided by 36 epi is only 10″ wide. That is why you will need to do it in 2 warps.
You are correct that you need to double your ends per inch and that one layer will one on 1 & 2 and the 2nd layer will be on 3 & 4.
Just use your 12 dent reed for all of it. For the 24 epi it will be 2 per dent for the 36 epi it will be 3 per dent.
Hope this helps,
Cheers,
Jane
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Thanks Jane! I’m now perfectly clear on how to proceed! Just waiting for my yarn to come. Can’t wait to get started, I love the draft!
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Hi Mary, you could sley 1,1,1,1,2 to get 18 EPI, I actually find it hard to get 18 PPI so I am weaving at 17 now, so would not go up.
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Thanks Kathleen, I did just that. Not sure why it didn’t occur to me to do some math and figure out it would be that easy on my own. 🙂 I need to invest in another reed, soon.
This is the first time I’ve warped this loom (or any floor loom), and it went well. I’m through the sample and two towels , and think I have warp for 8 plus some room to open the sett and play. Not sure I’ll replace my zinger stripe as my Bergman loom is a bit of a non-standard construction with the warp beam positioned above the warp, meaning the warp goes over the back beam and comes off the bottom level with the breast beam. I have a few ideas of how to potentially get around that in the future but don’t know if I’ll be able to stop weaving long enough to create a solution before the end of this warp. 😉
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Hi all, I’m just now getting to sample 1 after working my way through all the wonderful content in season 1. All I have for my floor loom is a 15 dent reed, and according to the reed substitution chart, the closest I can get to the starting point of 18 epi is 19. Will this work okay, besides being slightly harder to beat to the same number of ppi? I’m not sure when I’ll be able to get another reed, so I’d like to just work with what I have if possible. I’m guessing I can open things up to 15 and then 11.5 to play around later in the warp.
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I have finished my asymmetrical sample #1. I was interested in trying 18, 16 and 12 epi. One piece at 12 epi looked good but I don’t have any bouccle so used misc. yarns I have. I changed the red to a blue stripe. I finished with 3 napkins at 16 epi. with a 4/4 stripe. I carried the 2 yarns on one side and it creates 2 different edges.
I also liked trying variations of Fibonacci stripes. It was really helpful to look back and make decisions.
I haven’t a photo for the 12 epi samples.
I feel awed by the creativity of people!! Everyone does such beautiful work within variations on a theme.
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Finally finished tieing on the warp to the back beam. All went fairly smoothly, a miracle as it’s only my second time trying back to front. Got everything wound on and ready to thread the heddles and found a broken thread. RATS! This is my first ever broken thread. I’m sure I handled it wrong as I tied the two ends together with an overhand knot, I don’t know the weaver’s knot and I’ll repair it when I get to that section. All ready to go and sit down and I remembered I forgot to lash together the apron rod and warp rod. Guess that means I’ll be having problems with tension down the line. DOUBLE RATS! Oh well, live and learn. Nothing like a mistake to keep you from repeating it in the future! Hope to get to threading heddles on Friday or early next week. I’m excited to get to weaving as I love this sample! I’ve seen so many gorgeous items posted here! Time for a break!
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Hi Carol, I’ve forgotten to lash a few times…When I neared the end of the warp and was able to get in there, I lashed it to prevent the rod from bending and continued on weaving.
Ginette
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I’ve got my first project all on the loom and the first one woven. It’s been a real comedy of errors, first I’m trying to learn WeaveIt Pro and with my narrow loom I was attempting a double weave cloth. Well I made big mistakes in entering the project information and what I hoped would been dish towel sized samples have turned into dish cloth size projects. My fault, all my fault, LOL. You would have thought I would have double checked the math, or maybe used some basic common sense, but no. Well this size will make great samples on which to try everything I want to try design and color wise. I’ll also have plenty of room to open up the settt without too much effort (she say’s optimistically). Anyway having fun! Pictures to follow when I have several finished.
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<span style=”-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);”>Using my Ashford table loom to try the asymmetry sample. I thought I had the sett at 18epi using a 12 dpi Reed, but when I checked, the sett is nearer 20epi. I checked the reed and discovered that it’s a metric one and has 5dpcm. Try as I might I can’t get the ppi anywhere near 20 ppi, it’s more like 16 although my negative spaces do look squarish! I’m not sure whether to continue as I am for the first sample and just weave the sections as near to square as I can, or cut it off and sley it again. I wondered whether there was a reed conversion guide anywhere which converts inches to metric as my brain is beginning to Swim!</span>
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This is a good blog to to follow. I personally follow around 15 weaving blogs, to see what trends are around the world. A wealth of information out there. Before you re sley, try a sample with 2/16 cotton, the cloth will be finer but the warp stripes will be more prominent.
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I thank the person who told me to double the red threads of 8/2 while using the Boucle in the weft with the other colors… it worked and something new was learned on how to mix threads. All of these weave sessions are amazing. Fuzzy photo, and the EPI were changed in these tea towels from 18 epi to 12 epi. enjoyed it all.
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I finished my Asymmetry samples. I learned so much thru this exercise. I really made a dog’s breakfast when entering the draft into my weaving software; I was attempting double width cloth for the first time and got so caught up in making it work and keeping in mind Fibonacci I completely lost sight of the parameters of the draft. Oh well, I did do double width even though I ended up with dish cloths rather than dish towels. the top row have been washed and hemmed, the bottom row is straight off the loom and zig zag along hem edges.
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They look great Carol, the colours are sure making them so different! How did it work out at the back of the loom with the lashing? We’re you able to lash it when you reached it?
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I really didn’t experience any problems with the tension, I was surprised as I thought I might. I will not forget that step in the future though. I also learned more about my weaving software and how to do double with cloth so I might be able to do the next lesson as double width and not resort to the rigid heddle. Think I’ll give it a try anyway. While I faced many obstacles with my first lesson, I learned so much! A Big Thanks to Jane and the whole gang!
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This was my first double width project. See the white strips down what was the fold in my cloth? HELP! What did I do wrong? I want to avoid this in the future. It really didn’t seem like I had excessive draw in on that side. I used a 4 shaft table loom and 8/2 cotton. In person it appears to be warp threads are very close together not weft. Also it’s more apparent in the 18 epi sample, the 16 epi less so.
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Jacqueline, on March 10th you posted a pic of 2 shawls you did in Merino weft and Tencel warp (i assume).
What SETT did you use?
I want to do a shawl : Tencel warp and JaggerSpun Zephir wool weft
First I sampled at 12 EPI – the result was suited for a pillow. Weft faced and very stiff. It surprised me because i had used 12 EPI cotton and wool when i was doing the Episode 2 and it worked beautifully. So clearly Tencel 2/8 is very different from cotton 2/8
Then I sampled at 16 EPI plain weave – it’s OK but a bit too much weft faced for my taste. Fairly soft and drapey after washing. Still not ideal.
I could do a third sample at 18 EPI but i thought i’d asked you first and save the Zephir for the shawl – the tube goes down quickly!Thank you
Syl
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Hy Syl,
Hi, it was a cotton warp and the sett was 6 threads per cm. The weft was a blend of wool with tencel I think.
Succes!
Jacqueline
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I wove a towels and a napkin 18 epi and they turned out nicely – washed and ironed in hems to but haven’t stitched yet. Opened the sett up to 12 epi and came here for ideas and inspiration. I have no boucle, so have been deciding whether to use 8/2, 8/4, or 3/2. I’m seeing here that people have used 8/2, 8/4, and wool! So tomorrow I’m ready to see what happens with 12 epi with other sizes until I run out of warp.
My selvedges aren’t great but I was concentrating on squares and ppi. Also I have done better with starting new colors. These are, however, high contrast, so it’s great practice getting all the pieces and parts together!
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I wove my first sample set on my brand new Louet Jane 27″ loom. OMGosh! learned loads of fun things. I was really getting bored with the length of the warp but I’m so glad I finished it. the only thing I didn’t try was cutting out the red and adding black. Maybe another project I’ll give it a try. I did open the loom up from 18EPI to 12EPI and used Boucle yarn for the weft, again OMGosh I love the Boucle … it may have to be a staple in the yarn pantry for sure.
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This was a really freeing experience. I put the warp on the loom with no expectations of perfection and allowed myself to try lots of different things. I learned a lot about design, carrying threads up the selvage, sett, clasped weft, and color. Here are my finished towels.
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I am getting ready to warp this asymmetry sample and have a question about fibers. My local shop was out of 8/2 black cotton but I do have a cone of black cottolin. Can I use the cottolin for that one area only? What will happen when it is washed? Do they shrink the same? I didn’t know if the cottolin would need to be evenly dispersed throughout to mix the two.
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I don’t recall personally ever mixing the 2 in a warp Amy, so I can’t give you a definitive answer. However, this is a sample warp Jane created so that we could practice using different techniques. Now would be a great time to try it and see what happens. Weave a sample, measure before and after washing and if the cottolin reacts differently. If you don’t like it, then this would be the time to swap out the black cottolin and practice changing that stripe into a colour of 8/2 you do have on hand. Jane shows us how to do that in the Introduction to Sample One at about the 30 minute mark. Have fun!
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I have recently joined the guild and love the videos. I modified the asymmetry samples warp to make it wide enough for a towel. This the first and will be part of the towel exchange at the Mid Atlantic Fiber Arts Conference next weekend. I’m having a lot of fun. Happy to be a member of the guild!
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OK forum folks , I have a question. The right outermost thread on my asymmetry / division of space warp has broken on me twice. It appears to be untwisting as I weave. The left thread remains intact.
Why would this happen?
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Two questions, Cindy……. 1) Is the warp thread that keeps breaking in a dent by itself? 2) Is the tension on your warp quite high?
We’ll figure this out 😉
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It could…….especially if the tension is too high. I probably would move it into the next dent closer to the centre, if it breaks again. But first, I’d try weaving with a bit less tension.
With a lot of tension, the outer thread might be pulled towards the centre of the warp and rub against the dent, which might cause your selvedge thread to untwist.
Keep me posted!
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I have almost finished the work on Episode 2 sample 1. I did the first part really focusing on seeing the squares. Then I tried a more rapid color change. I then replaced the red warp with another charcoal and it worked brilliantly! But I got tired or PW so redid the tie up for twill and did a towel divided into 3rds. Next I opened up the sett from 18 EPI/PPI to 12 EPI/ PPI and used an 8/3 and 8/4 cotton for samples. Finally, I decided I wanted to make a set of napkins and wanted a slightly tighter warp than 12×12. So I resleyed again to 15/15, stayed with the grey gradients but added a red zinger on the horizontal.This has been a great learning experience! I am ready for Sample 2 but I need to consider colors as I am a bit tired of the black and white. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I have posted a few images above. Not all of them would load but these are some examples.
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Viewing this segment was perfect timing in my weaving journey. I jumped right in after the warping segment and put a 7 yard 8/2 cotton warp for tea towels. Of course I made a nice orderly symmetrical pattern…… after the first towel i tried cutting out two heddles to add floating selvedges. Worked great and I worked my way through 8 of Marguerite Porter Davidson’s Basic Twills from <span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>A Handweavers Handbook</span>. Maybe 3 towels in i watched this episode and was so inspired to try something else. I play with the little Fibonacci striped sequences – love these! Then I got brave and cut part of my warp out to add a large red asymmetrical strip. I struggled with the tension but did turn out two nice towels that I am happy with for my early learning. I then resleyed the reed from 20 epi to 10 epi. That seems really gauzy, not sure how it will wash up but I also got good practice with my hemstitching, which I find that I love to do! I restarted a new sample with Harrisville Shetland in cobalt and natural on the same warp. Finally able to tie that red warp on the rod part of the way in – its nice now but it made the first 6 inches crazy. Oh well – nothing ventured….. have to decide what to do with the last about 4 feet – may just continue with the Shetland and hope it makes a nice throw. I would not have put those colored or fibers together but feel so inspired to jut try things watching Jane. I look forward to the Color & Weave Gamp as my next adventure! Happy Weaving!
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Just finished washing and hemming my asymmetry sample. This sample was so much fun! Ive been weaving for 30 years but really haven’t done a lot of plain weave because I thought it was boring. Boy was I wrong! I love my towels and after fudging trying to change out my red stripe for blue, I removed that side of the warp, widened my sett to 12 and wove with a 4/10 wool to make a lovely scarf for my son.
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Before completing this exercise, I always wove symmetrically and I agonized over the perfect math to accomplish my pattern. I love the fact that I have the math already done for all these samples so I can replicate these patterns without spending so much time calculating it all. As Jane would say, I plan to use “Same Same” to maximize my time.
Lesson learned- I waited too long to change the zinger in the warp. I thought I would change the zinger and EPI on the same sample but I had precious little warp left to do both.
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OK … so I quit weaving for the past 2 years because finding lesson support and time to go to lessons kept me from growing and developing confidence in weaving. I had taught myself how to weave on the rigid heddle and after a year progressed to purchasing a beautiful David from a nice lady in Tallahassee who needed to sell her loom. Spent a week at John C Campbell Folk School in NC on a colored warp weaving course (if you have not been there, you must go and spend some time in the mountains and with great folks!) and then came back home and tried a few things on the loom but found them cumbersome without some guidance. Had no idea Jane has started this guild! I have watched the lessons over and over again and they have helped me push myself to get back on the loom. Now, that said … this first sample has a couple of issues with the warp threads doubled up and the earlier towels on the loom had some skipped threads. As I kept watching Jane in her technique I made an effort to develop good muscle memory and practices and saw myself improving as I went along. So time, patience and practice will help me grow in my skills at the loom. It is such a peaceful and Zen thing to do and so much fun to see the color combinations and structures she has shared. Anyway, though these are not perfect I am so happy to be back on the loom! As an educator myself, I can say, Jane, you are a most gifted teacher!
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So glad you found Jane, Allyson! I know from experience how hard it is to teach yourself to weave – you need to, at least, have someone you can watch do the many steps required to get a successful warp on your loom. I “taught” myself to weave in the ’90s using a book and I was blown away by Jane, and her very special skill in teaching when I finally met her. Keep us all posted as you move through the lessons – you have a lot of fun and interesting challenges ahead of you. By the way, how did you find Jane and her Online Guild? I’m just curious 😉
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Joined in December and after watching all of season 1 and getting a long drawn out project of my loom (dont get a kitten right after warping up 10 m) I am on to this proect
And its a challenge
I have “designed” a few items using the good old Fib numbers but am always thinking both symetically and in inches not ends
So this s a struggle (in a good way) for meWarped up about 9 m so I have lots of room to play
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I finally finished my asymmetry division of space work. I like some of what I wove and some I do not, which I guess is what happens when we let our imaginations roam freely, which I did! I’m usually a person who plans heavily and then executes a project. This time, I let explored what would happen without much planning. Here is what I learned during the project:
1) On weaving technique: looser tension on the warp translates into less draw in on the cloth and weaving with linen weft yields almost zero draw in on the cloth for me. Use of temples does not seem to eliminate draw in for the final cloth. Experimentation with my loom gave me knowledge I didn’t have before regarding sett, beating vs. pressing weft into place, use of temple, effect of warp tension, etc.
2) I enjoyed warping a long warp (8 yds) and being able to play and create multiple articles without having to created another warp. I did find the unmercerized cotton a bit sticky while dressing the loom, and it all worked out in the end, just as Jane tells us. I’m also getting a lot better at warping at the warping board and dressing the loom.
3) I am learning to enjoy plain weave and am getting better at producing a balanced weaving. Practice makes perfect.
4) I rarely make things for myself. This time, I chose colors that would coordinate with my kitchen so that the towels I make, particularly if they were not beautiful, would still have a home where they were loved. I’m proud for giving myself the freedom to alter colors and doing something for me.
I’ve attached pictures of some of what I made: several towels, a dish draining mat, and a shawl. Thank you for permission to learn and to study. I’m looking forward to the next lesson on color and weave gamp.
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One more post on the asymmetry projects. The picture below are my favorites towels. The one on the left uses simple check endcaps. The one on the right used a fibonacci sequence of the colors for the number of threads of each color: natural(1), lt green(2), natural(3), spruce(5), natural(8), dark green(13), natural(21). I then reversed it the sequence and did it twice. So simple and I love it.
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Here are my very first samples!
1. First sample: a few passes where my shuttle didn’t go through the shed right – think I improved on that as I went along (haven’t ironed this one….)
2. Last sample: got up the courage to change the zinger to pink (instead of orange) and to use some upcoming colors from my Parrot Kit in the weft (hot pink and peacock, plus pale orange which I was already using as my original zinger).
3. Other towels, some with fringe – Hem Stitching is my favorite. Also tried a sewing machine for the first time to secure the edges of the towels that will need a hem – still need to do that! (Got some design inspiration from this thread before doing them – so thanks everyone!)
Questions:
1. Is twisting the fringe a necessity or is it just for aesthetic purposes? In other words, is hem stitching enough?
2. Does tucking the tail cause a double pass that catches your eye, or am I doing something wrong, or is that the beauty of handmade weaving?!
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In these Covid19 days, I didn’t really want to experiment. Just wanted to stay safe. So I followed Janes recipe and ended up with 6 lovely towels to share with the friends and family I am missing.
love the selvedges, and the way of tucking in the threads. Especially like 3×1 stripes. Goodness, I just love it all.Ive owned my loom for a few years but never felt as comfortable with it as I do now.
feeling inspired now to move on to Sample 2 and I’ve already wound my warp. Wow!! So fast. Before joining the guild I would have wound it one thread at a time and it would have taken me 2 days. Instead it took 2 hours.
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My retirement gift to myself a year ago was a Baby Wolf loom. It’s taken awhile but the current situation gave me the opportunity to watch JST online lessons and other weaving videos and learn how to warp my loom and now I’ve completed the Asymmetrical lesson. I loved working with the design elements, the color and pattern changes and love how my towels turned out. I’ve started the next lesson, I’m looking through pictures and picking colors and very much excited to start my next sample.
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In these last few days since receiving this month’s video I have watched each episode at least two times and some three. Today I ran to my warping mill after seeing a towel I REALLY liked and started winding up a storm. It is hard to contain myself with all the possibilities of designs shown. Wowee!
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So immediately after weaving for a few inches I noticed that I had too many warp threads in a dent over on the right (white). I’m using a 12 dent reed and threaded it 1-2-1-2… obviously I did 2-2-2 in that location. Also, I only had cottolin in the light grey and dark grey, and I believe it is a 22/2 that I grabbed… but I went with it, because I wanted to use up some stash. I did a strong beat on the fabric… only getting about 6 picks of cotton in, 7 for the cottolin in order to get shares. But this was a great project for me, a novice weaver, and I love the design. I will probably be trying this in other colors in the future.
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I’m so excited about finally learning what creates a balanced weave and what doesn’t. I’ve been so perplexed not knowing what yarns work with other yarns in warp and weft. I recently wove a scarf that would almost stand alone😳. I obviously knew it was wrong but didn’t really know what I should have done different. I’m a beginner and have been trying to figure it out on my own. So, I’m pretty excited about the sampling and Jane’s online weaving. I tried things today to learn why things happen in weaving. I spent a lot of time on things that didn’t really work out as I had hoped but it was time well spent because now I understand why. I have however, replaced the red stripe with another color. I cut off my 4 towels I wove earlier in the week and changed reed from a 12 dent to a 10 dent. Now I have about 4 yards of warp left to play and experiment. I’m going to weave a throw using a cotton boucle. And hopefully a baby blanket to end the warp. I’m so grateful for this learning experience. Thank you Jane and staff.
PS. If I can figure out how to send photos I’ll share my towels and throw.
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Here you have them– the results from my 5 yard warp. I tied on new zingers twice and used a white slub as a part of a weft in the 2/2 piece with the purple zinger. While I didn’t take the experiments any further, I thoroughly enjoyed the whole process and look forward to the upcoming set of gamp samples. Great course!
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I’ve always loved working with Fibonacci numbers but the way you demonstrate it makes it so more accessible. Thank you! I have a question re: the re:saying though. Did you thread to that width originally..or did you widen in later to crate a different sett and feel of cloth? If so..how? Thanks…Debbie.
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Hi Debbie – when you’ve finished weaving at 18 epi and want to widen your warp, cut your warp as close to your front beam as possible. If you want to take it out to 12 epi as Jane has done – divide your number of ends into 12 and you’ll know how wide it will be in your reed (280 /12 = 23.33”). The next step is to use the reed you have to sett the cloth correctly across the reed, if you don’t have a 12 dent reed. Don’t forget Jane gave us a PDF Reed Substitution chart in Episode 4:1 last year. Redent your reed, tie it on and away you go!
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Lots of fun on sample one. Still playing with the wider set warp, trying out lots of yarns from my stash. Bit of a slip up at start as I completely forgot the three light grey stripes but carried on regardless and had fun with lots of colours and stripes. I know Jane is not really into Facebook etc but we are spreading the word and hopefully there should be some new members signing up. Looking forward to sample 2 Happy weaving everyone. -
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Enjoyed the session and decided I could try breaking out from the same old same old and be more creative. I was planning a baby blanket with a friend who had chosen salmon pink and turquoise for the blanket. She suggested equal 3inch stripes of the 2 colors. After watching the session I made up a sketch of the blanket using Fibonacci numbers to do unequal stripes instead. Starting with turquoise woven in a chevron pattern at one end with an 8 inch stripe then a 2 inch stripe of the pink woven in a goose eye pattern. Across the blanket the turquoise stripes decreased- 5inch,3inch and then finishing with a 2 inch. The pink increased- 3inch , 5 inch then ended with an eight inch. The stripes were separated by a one inch stripe of natural . My friend was willing to give it a try and it turned out quite nice. Certainly different from anything I had tried before.( sorry for the 2 pictures- my first attempt at inserting a picture and it came through twice- not sure how to delete one) -
I am loving this sample. I am concentrating on tension and trying to get things straight. So I have cut my first few inches off reworked my front apron rod….woven 1 towel and I think I will cut it off and work on tension. It starts out even I think but by the end of the towel I have a smile as you can see…. I will keep working on it. The weft stripes don’t look straight either….more tying on issues I think -
I used what I learned to totally rework my original plan for an off-to-college double-width blanket for my daughter. I made it simpler, used the white (one of the colors the school uses in their black & red logos) as the zinger. Used Fibonacci to determine some of the proportions. Played with whether I wanted one of the spaces to be square (probably won’t). But the lesson gave me a better foundation for thinking about all this. Nothing woven on the blanket yet because I’m waiting on the yarns, then I have to sample. But I started with the pencil sketches as Jane suggests and then moved onto Fiberworks. My most recent version. It will probably change.
Haven’t gotten the yarns yet for Sample 1 (should arrive wednesday). I’m going to have to weave like mad to get my current warp on that loom finished so I can warp it up for Sample 1. Gee, how awful — I have to weave!!!
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A friend asked me to weave her some table napkins to match her placemats in blue and natural. She decided on a basic division of space in 2- 1 side natural and 1 side blue then wanted each of the 8 napkins to be a different design. Perfect time to get out the sketch book and come up with different striping patterns based on what we had just learned in the past 2 episodes. Here is the finished product, woven in 2/16 cotton. I folded them in thirds so they would fit in the picture.
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I’m staying with asymmetry for alittle longer, just put another warp on with apricot and pink, no red stripe in warp. Using 15 epi and boucle and bamboo. 9 shots gave me my square and one towel is all 9 shots of colour and changes.
I Didn’t see this thread till too late so posted these in the wrong thread but never mind. Sample so far. Lots of fun with colours and stripes
And here are some of mine. I too had great fun exploring different patterns and sequences. In the end, I got 11 tea towels from the rather long warp I made!
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