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| 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.
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| Left to Right - Drafts #23-32 from Stickler |
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| Left to Right - Drafts #33-42 from Stickler |
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| 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.
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| 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
