Placemat weaving
Mar. 9th, 2024 02:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
merrileemakesWell I"ve got a nice draft all worked out, time to start weaving!
The project plan I'm trialing for this weave is one from the School of Sweet Georgia. The download is behind a paywall but I'm not too bothered showing it here because a) you can see almost all the details through a google image preview and b) as a project planner this one's a bit rubbish.
I'm not sure why you'd need to note something like whether your loom is rising shed or sinking shed and not something like how long your warp is.
Then again, my Saori 4 shaft loom is a sinking shed and most weaving patterns are written for rising shed. Guess how many times I've forgotten that when I've used a Handweaving.net pattern? Every. single. time. It's not a big deal, it just means when I weave the pattern is on the underside of the cloth. But it does cause a moment of confusion and then an exasperated sigh. Every time.
I also have no need of a grid to handwrite out my weaving draft, because that's definitely something computers are better at than me.
Here's my weaving draft in my weaving folder. And I actually did a sample too!
The plain red lines are me weaving in a header. When you tie the yarn onto the loom in little bunches it squishes up the thread. You need to weave a header to get the threads spaced out nicely. The red in the diamond pattern is me testing my threading and making sure I have the loom set up correctly to make the pattern I want. Then in the blue I'm testing that my chosen yarn actually works with my warp and threading.
Looks like all systems are green, let's get weaving!
I'm really chuffed at how much the actual weaving looks like the draft I made when designing this project!
The yarn I'm using is kinda think for weaving, about a sport/5 ply weight. To make it easier to fold over the hems on the edges of the placemat I'm weaving with thinner weft. The Aracaunia Cana Ruca yarn I'm using for the weft is six strands plied together with moderate twist. It's pretty simple separate the strands. So for each placemat I measure off enough yarn to weave 8 picks of plain weave and then split the yarn into 2 groups of 3 plys each.
You can see the 2 groups here, with a strand of complete yarn running between. I use one of the groups for the starting hem and one for the end hem. I could do it properly and wind them on a bobbin, but honestly I just use them as is and pass them across through the warp. It's a bit fiddly, but 8 picks is pretty quick even with the faff.
In between each placemat is some green cotton just to space them apart and make it easier to cut them up later for sewing.
These placemats are weaving up really quickly.
The project plan I'm trialing for this weave is one from the School of Sweet Georgia. The download is behind a paywall but I'm not too bothered showing it here because a) you can see almost all the details through a google image preview and b) as a project planner this one's a bit rubbish.
I'm not sure why you'd need to note something like whether your loom is rising shed or sinking shed and not something like how long your warp is.
Then again, my Saori 4 shaft loom is a sinking shed and most weaving patterns are written for rising shed. Guess how many times I've forgotten that when I've used a Handweaving.net pattern? Every. single. time. It's not a big deal, it just means when I weave the pattern is on the underside of the cloth. But it does cause a moment of confusion and then an exasperated sigh. Every time.
I also have no need of a grid to handwrite out my weaving draft, because that's definitely something computers are better at than me.
Here's my weaving draft in my weaving folder. And I actually did a sample too!
The plain red lines are me weaving in a header. When you tie the yarn onto the loom in little bunches it squishes up the thread. You need to weave a header to get the threads spaced out nicely. The red in the diamond pattern is me testing my threading and making sure I have the loom set up correctly to make the pattern I want. Then in the blue I'm testing that my chosen yarn actually works with my warp and threading.
Looks like all systems are green, let's get weaving!
I'm really chuffed at how much the actual weaving looks like the draft I made when designing this project!
The yarn I'm using is kinda think for weaving, about a sport/5 ply weight. To make it easier to fold over the hems on the edges of the placemat I'm weaving with thinner weft. The Aracaunia Cana Ruca yarn I'm using for the weft is six strands plied together with moderate twist. It's pretty simple separate the strands. So for each placemat I measure off enough yarn to weave 8 picks of plain weave and then split the yarn into 2 groups of 3 plys each.
You can see the 2 groups here, with a strand of complete yarn running between. I use one of the groups for the starting hem and one for the end hem. I could do it properly and wind them on a bobbin, but honestly I just use them as is and pass them across through the warp. It's a bit fiddly, but 8 picks is pretty quick even with the faff.
In between each placemat is some green cotton just to space them apart and make it easier to cut them up later for sewing.
These placemats are weaving up really quickly.
