Crepe Closer 4

Here it is October already. The year is rapidly fading. And this is the last group of photos from my Strickler crepe weave sampler, but it won’t be my last adventure with crepe. It is plain to see that crepe would make especially fine clothing.

Strickler # 41
I chose this one for my study group swatch exchange. It seemed the "crepe-iest". 

Strickler #42

Strickler #43 (Oelsner #826)
I admit it, this is one of my favorites.

Strickler #44

Strickler #45

Strickler #46
Another of my favorites

With weaving there is always more to learn and experience. My guess is one could never exhaust the possibilities. Isn't that the beauty of it all?

One last photo shows the swatches I shared with my study group. It was tough to whittle it down to one of the 24 options from my sampler. In the end I chose #41 because it seemed to be the “crepe-iest” crepe in the lot.

Strickler #41
Study Group swatches show rust colored weft on the left and weft same as warp on the right.

Where to go next? How about taking a quick step back into waffle weave? We'll see.

Warp On/Weave Off,

RepWeaver

Crepe Closer 3

Happy first day of Autumn! Don't you just love Autumn? With cool but sunny days, brilliant colors and musky scents, this is my favorite season. It’s nice to get together over a cup of hot tea or cider and talk weaving. Or at least have a hot cuppa and read the latest weaving blog posts.

Here is the third installment of photos of my crepe sampler from the Strickler 8H book.

Strickler #35

Strickler #36

Strickler #37

Strickler #38

Strickler #39, same as #813 in Oelsner's "A Handbook of Weaves"

Strickler #40, same as #814 in Olesner's "A Handbook of Weaves"

The colors of these samples really do say "Autumn", don't they?

After this there will be one more set of six photos then I’ll have a bit more waffle weave to show.    

Warp On/Weave Off,

RepWeaver

Crepe Closer 2

A "Box of Chocolates" approach is my thing for sure. Variety definitely appeals to me. Weaving samplers is right up my alley.

Here are the next six 8H Crepe weaves from Strickler. On the first one you will see the number under which it appears in Oelsner.

8H Crepe Weave #29 from Strickler (Also in A Handbook of Weaves by G.H. Oelsner, #803)

8H Crepe Weave #30 from Stickler

8H Crepe Weave #31 from Stickler
Note: The threading in this draft puzzled me. I decided to change it
to treadle as a straight 8 which is what you see here.
It's impossible to tell from the black & white photo in the book which is correct.

8H Crepe Weave #32 from Stickler

8H Crepe #33 from Stickler 

8H Crepe #34 from Stickler

I have still more swatches to show. Watch for the next post and keep weaving.

Warp On/Weave Off,

RepWeaver

Crepe Closer 1

Except at close range, the structures of crepe samples woven with 20/2 cotton sett at 37½ e.p.i. are too small to see. Here are a few swatches in close-up to better show detail of the structure. A tape measure appears in the photos to show scale. These are all from Carol Strickler's A Weaver's Book of 8-Shaft Patterns, previously published in A Handbook of Weaves by G.H. Oelsner.

#23 This one is an "interlocking twill"

#24 Another interlocking twill

#25 Interlocking twill

#26 This one is a crepe

#27 This is one of my favorites
They are all rather nice though, so it is tough to choose.

#28 Yet another nice one

Of course, it would be best to see and feel these in person. But that will have to wait for higher technology. Until then, stand by for more close-ups.

Warp On/Weave Off,

RepWeaver

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

Crepe-ing Along

My philosophy is: Time doesn’t fly; it accelerates. Can it be nearly two months since last I posted? Really? I guess I'm Back-Blogged. Again.

Here is our modest little goldfish pond.
The first water lily of the season bloomed way back in May.

Spring finally arrived followed by summer. I headed outdoors. Time spent outside has been healthful for both myself and for my garden. My ailing loved one is seven months post-treatment. We are dealing with a slow but mostly steady recovery. Time is our ally. Wedged in among these distractions I’ve found moments to weave.

My structures study group decided to take a look at crepe weave. Until now I have been only vaguely familiar with this structure, rather an interesting one. Crepe is characterized as having an overall pebble-like surface with no distinct pattern and a pleasing drape. The first thing that came to mind was the cloth used in fine wool suits and dresses.

I didn’t care for the green crepe from my previous post so I wove this blue one to share swatches with the group. The draft is #1000 from “A Handbook of Weaves” by Gustaf Hermann Oelsner. It is threaded in a straight draw on six shafts and tromp as writ. I liked the structure. The cloth has a nice hand but it seemed a bit heavy. It is woven of 10/2 perle cotton. Finer yarn might be better. Still, I shared swatches of both light weft and dark weft sections with the group and was happy with that.

Crepe Weave Swatch -- The little square surrounded by zig-zag stitch is
 the one I shared with my Weave Structures Study Group

The group decided to continue our study of crepe. More samples followed and I promise to share those soon. Crepe has been an interesting topic.

Warp On/Weave Off,

RepWeaver

What, a Crepe?

When Seattle’s Nordic Heritage Museum packed up the old place and moved into their shiny new building they unloaded old, non-museum-quality stuff. You know how it is during a move. They offered several boxes of cut/torn rolled rags to my weaver’s guild. Two of the boxes found their way to me.

Toothbrush rug from narrower rag strips

Enter the toothbrush (rug). Well, I don’t actually use a toothbrush since the old style is virtually extinct although one at last has been found and properly carved into a point. But that is beside the point. The name has very little to do with the technique being the name of the old homemade tool used to make these rugs.

Toothbrush rug, detail

Normally toothbrush rug technique calls for rags strips 1½ to 2 inches wide. The rags I’d been given were only 1 to ¾ inches wide. But they were worth a try.

Here is the result: a finer rug than the usual. It looks good and works well in our Powder Room. If it holds up I will switch to narrower rag strips in future toothbrush projects.

A study group I attend is studying Crepe Weaves. Having very slim experience with this structure I began thinking it would be a quick study. Did I ever have a lot to learn. It isn’t!

First attempt at weaving crepe

Putting together a threading from one source and a tie-up from another that seemed like a winning combination. Choosing two similar shades of green 10/2 perle cotton I chose a sett of 30 e.p.i. and dressed my loom. The result produced the required overall pebbled crepe effect. But the cloth seemed heavy and did not satisfy me. It’s time to think again and head back to the drawing board.

May the learning continue.

Warp On/Weave Off,

RepWeaver

(P.S. What a difference a comma makes!)