Full Circle
In the fall of 2014, my weaving life began when a friend brought over a loom she had acquired in an auction. Her fateful words, as she left it with me were: "Good luck. I want you to learn how to do this, so you can teach me."
The loom was a Schacht table loom. It was 25" wide and had 8 shafts. I named her Lady Vanessa because she was so intimidating. There's a photo of her in this post.
Shortly thereafter, on October 27, 2014, I posted this photo on Facebook with the comment: "This is what I aspire to in weaving..."
I loved everything about this woven fabric, including the color, pattern, and texture. For a long time, I searched high and low for this pattern, but always came up empty.
If you know me at all, linen is my thing. I wear linen nine months out of the year. It is the perfect fabric and only gets better with age and wear.
For years, I have coveted linen sheets, and I have talked about how much I would love to have linen sheets. My plan was to make a linen or linen/cotton duvet cover, after I bought the sheets....whenever that was going to be.
My birthday is later this week, and while I seldom make any kind of deal about my birthday, this one will be my 50th. It is kind of a shock to my system. To deal with it and own it, I have actually been verbally embracing that big 5-0.
The husband wanted to have a big party, but that is not my way. I was hoping to just quietly mark the occasion and get passed it, but he insisted we do something. So, we are taking a long weekend and going somewhere he has never been.
A couple of my friends, perhaps really tired of hearing me discuss how much I would really love to have linen sheets, were each generous and extremely generous and basically bought them for me today! They will be ship in a couple of weeks.
The shock and surprise over the gift were overwhelming, and when I gathered my wits about me again, I ran down that rabbit hole of searching for the perfect pattern to weave that duvet cover.
As my dream sheets will be in natural linen, I have stashed some Cottolin 11/2 in natural, as well as some 8/2 in a blue called Marine for that duvet.
The loom was a Schacht table loom. It was 25" wide and had 8 shafts. I named her Lady Vanessa because she was so intimidating. There's a photo of her in this post.
Shortly thereafter, on October 27, 2014, I posted this photo on Facebook with the comment: "This is what I aspire to in weaving..."
I loved everything about this woven fabric, including the color, pattern, and texture. For a long time, I searched high and low for this pattern, but always came up empty.
If you know me at all, linen is my thing. I wear linen nine months out of the year. It is the perfect fabric and only gets better with age and wear.
For years, I have coveted linen sheets, and I have talked about how much I would love to have linen sheets. My plan was to make a linen or linen/cotton duvet cover, after I bought the sheets....whenever that was going to be.
My birthday is later this week, and while I seldom make any kind of deal about my birthday, this one will be my 50th. It is kind of a shock to my system. To deal with it and own it, I have actually been verbally embracing that big 5-0.
The husband wanted to have a big party, but that is not my way. I was hoping to just quietly mark the occasion and get passed it, but he insisted we do something. So, we are taking a long weekend and going somewhere he has never been.
A couple of my friends, perhaps really tired of hearing me discuss how much I would really love to have linen sheets, were each generous and extremely generous and basically bought them for me today! They will be ship in a couple of weeks.
The shock and surprise over the gift were overwhelming, and when I gathered my wits about me again, I ran down that rabbit hole of searching for the perfect pattern to weave that duvet cover.
As my dream sheets will be in natural linen, I have stashed some Cottolin 11/2 in natural, as well as some 8/2 in a blue called Marine for that duvet.
That color combination has always appealed to me.
In scouring Pinterest, several months ago, this pattern jumped out as a possible contender:
However, as beautiful as it is, it seemed a bit too fussy and formal.
A few weeks ago, the lady from whom I purchased the Glimakra warping mill, (who I am delighted to add has since become a friend), posted a photo of some towels she wove:
From the instant I saw them, I fell in love with these towels. I was the first to comment on them, and I literally begged her for information on the pattern.
Not only did she lead me to where I could find the pattern, when I asked her earlier this afternoon if I could use her photograph, she sent me these:
The lady does beautiful work, no?
As I was emailing one of my generous friends about patterns for that duvet cover, I had a flash regarding this pattern. It seemed like I had seen it before.
I searched my Facebook archives and nearly fell out of my chair when I realized the weaving I originally aspired to when I first began weaving was actually THE VERY SAME PATTERN as these towels!
Just WOW!
Now, if you will excuse me, I have some serious weaving to do, as the Macomber needs to be freed up to do a sample of these ASAP!
Ha!
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