Tuesday, August 6, 2019

Crepe Obsession

Once crepe came into focus, I couldn’t get enough of it. My study group even decided to take a closer look at crepe, too.
It was tough to show the entire length in one photo.
Here it is folded to show a bit of each version.

Of course, I went to one of my all-time favorite books, Carol Strickler’s “A Handweaver’s Book of 8-Shaft Patterns”, in search of new crepe drafts. There, on pages 15-16, was a veritable chocolate box of delightful options.


Then came the obvious trouble of making a choice. But wait! Each of the 24 variations can be woven on the same straight draw on 8 shafts. I wanted to weave them all and with only a few changes in tie-ups and treadlings, I could. Yippee! Changing tie-ups on my Glimakra is less than convenient but ultimately do-able. Once I got started, climbing beneath my loom for each of the 17 required tie-ups became routine.


On my shelf I had a few cones of old 20/2 unmercerized cotton mill ends from WEBS. With those I wound a narrow warp, sett it at 37.5 e.p.i., and away I wove. And wove . . . and wove some more. The result is a sampler of 24 crepes and interlocking twills. There is a 6” length of each variation. The finished sampler is 12.5” wide and 108” (3 yards) long. It contains a wealth of useful information.


Left to Right - Drafts #23-32 from Stickler

Left to Right - Drafts #33-42 from Stickler
Left to Right: Drafts #40-46
There is some overlap from the last photo. The last swatch on the right is Draft #26 in both pale yellow and brown
because I ran out of the yellow.

This cloth is soft has a nice drape. It would make a comfortable shirt or a snuggly baby blanket. For now I will enjoy handling the sampler and think of future projects.

This is the entire length. That's a lot of crepe!

If not for my structure study group crepe may well have entirely escaped my notice. A little push outside my comfort zone often brings delightful results. This one certainly did. For a new weaving adventure, think about giving crepe weave a try.


Warp On/Weave Off,


RepWeaver

1 comment:

  1. What a great idea! Crepe is now on my list thanks to your inspiring blog post.

    ReplyDelete