Studio Time

The last week or so, the focus, apart from work, has been on weaving. 

It is a seasonal thing with Christmas on the horizon. While I balk at the Santa displays in July, creating gifts for friends and family is never far from my mind. 

Tea towels, wash cloths, and hand towels have been a staple for a while with an occasional blanket thrown in for good measure. This year, I wanted to share something I literally use daily, no matter the weather: sarongs.

As soon as I dry off from a shower, I wrap a sarong around me as I prepare for the day and before I dress. Once I bathe in the evening, I don another. During the warmer months, I frequently pull on a tee shirt and tie a sarong around my waist for the outfit of the day. When I travel, I bring a couple with me. One to wear in the hotel room and the other to wrap around the pillow for comfort and familiarity. They are also great as a wrap or a shawl. 

A couple of years ago, I bought a Teema towel. It is 100% cotton and loosely woven with a ton of drape and softness. It is absolutely my favorite thing in the world. I use and wash it several times a week. 

Shortly after it arrived, I decided to attempt to replicate it. My results are here. I promptly gifted those, but I kept a small sample woven from the very last of the warp. 

The warp was 10/2 cotton with a sett of 20. The fuchsia weft in the upper photo was 10/2 cotton, while the blue weft in the lower photo was 8/2 cotton. 

The 10/2 warp and weft version is a 95% duplicate of the original. I was thrilled. 

This was a full size piece from that project:

Flush with that success, last year I attempted to do it again, using both 10/2 cotton as warp and weft, although I hand dyed the warp. 

Those results are here.

These are beautiful and fully functional, but they are only a 75% duplicate of the original, despite the same sett and using 10/2 for warp and weft. The difference was the pattern draft. 

The first set used a simple 4-shaft draft from this (upper right-hand corner):

The second set used this 8-shaft draft:

In May, I decided it was time for another run of sarong fabric. To completely duplicate the original, I invested in quite of bit of 20/2 unmercerized cotton for warp and loaded fifty-yards of it onto the Beast with 40 threads per inch, although the ends were held double for a sett of 20. I continued to use 10/2 for weft. 

This was the 8-shaft draft I selected:

I used both commercially dyed 10/2 weft in a solid, as well as hand dyed:

While the fabric "feels" right on the loom, there is no way to definitely tell, until it comes off the loom and is washed and dried. I have been itching to cut off what I have done and re-tie, but I really do not want to waste the warp, as it should yield 22 sarongs. Woven 80-inches long and 42-inches wide, each is a project. 

Over the weekend, I finished up a short, experimental warp on the 40-inch Evangeline to test an intriguing draft I had come across:

As soon as the fabric came off the loom, I decided to do another run for more sarong fabric, although this one would be 25.5 yards. 

Instead of the 20/2 for the warp, I decided to empty some partial cones of 10/2 that were overrunning my shelves. 

My issue was this: Each 80-inch long sarong requires just over 200 grams of 10/2 weft, which is almost half a pound as there are approximately 454 grams in a pound. I had half a dozen or more partial cones that did not have enough thread with which to weave a complete sarong. However, I could not justify buying more thread, until I emptied cones because I simply did not have room for more. So, I had to use up what I had before I could buy more. 

The list for sarongs was long, and I wanted a couple for myself. It made sense to do another run to fulfill the list, as well as free up some space to acquire a few more cones of 10/2 I needed to be able to weave sarongs in single colors. 

In an afternoon, using the SawyerBee warping Square, I was able to load the entire width of Evangeline's 40-inch beam with a 25.5 yard warp!

This emptied eight cones!

For this run, I selected another 8-shaft draft, which is very similar to the pattern I am using on the Beast:

I could not bring myself to do the very same one. 

With this one, it is all about the texture of the pattern and how it played with the riot of colors, rather than a distinguishable pattern, much like the use of hand-dyed weft with the warp on the Beast. In essence, while I want it to be pretty, the feel, drape, and suppleness of the fabric is paramount. 

Again, I am dying to cut off the first one to wash and dry, just to see how close to the mark I am. However, I will wait with bated breath. 

The pair of smaller looms is rocking along nicely. 

The wee 24-inch Meg has a 25.5 yard warp of hand dyed 8/2 cotton/hemp for warp and weft. 

The 32-inch Lil Miss has two warps on her. Her bottom sectional beam has as 25.5 yard warp with asymmetrical stripes in grey and blue with a hint of black. Her plain beam sports a 10-yard hand dyed warp mixed with commercially dyed solid threads, all in 10/2. With tea towels, I usually pair 8/2 weft with the 10/2 warp, this time, I decided to use 10/2 weft. The finer thread, especially in mercerized cotton, tones down the pattern slightly. I like it.

For those who are counting, that is a lot of warp with Beast at 50 yards, Evangeline at 25.5 yards, Lil Miss at 10, plus 25.5 yards, and Meg at 25.5 yards for a total of 136.5 yards!

Unless I sneak in another hand dyed warp on Lil Miss before I tackle the warp on her sectional beam, it may be a good while before I introduce a fresh warp...

Anyone else preparing for the holidays?