Double the Trouble, Double the Fun

My friend Susan showed our Rug Study Group some intriguing coasters she had woven. They were from a draft by Judie Eatough on page 62 of the book “Best of Weaver’s: The Magic of Double Weave”. The structure caught my imagination. Except for a pick-up sampler many years ago, I hadn’t woven double weave.

"Colonial" Double Weave Coasters -- Design by Judie Eatough

Now I am navigating the unknown waters of “Colonial” or “Overshot Patterned” Double Weave. The structure is related to Overshot only in the sense that double weave drafts are created using the designs in overshot drafts. How it all works is still a mystery to me but I aim to figure it out. With this goal in mind I have woven three “Colonial” Double Weave warps.

The first one is the same as the one in the book that Susan showed me. The other two are designed by me using inspiration from “Weaving Designs by Bertha GrayHayes: Miniature Overshot Patterns”.

Reverse Sides of "Colonial" Double Weave Coasters

Detail of "Colonial" Double Weave coaster
Motif not woven to square. Bother!

Here you see the results from my first warp and it is confession time. My beat was way too firm and the design is not square. This is not an overshot structure but rather a double-layered twill structure. I tend to use too much tension in all my work. Here you see the result of my natural tendency -- squished motifs. ARGH!

After this experience I made several changes for my second “Colonial” Double Weave warp. Watch for details.

On/Weave Off,

RepWeaver

Hip to Be Square

Borrowing from the song by the great Huey Lewis and the News, it is "Hip to Be Square". Weaving to square is of primary concern and ever my goal.

As a weaver, accomplishing a perfectly squared design is one of my joys and agonies. Some structures take extra care to come out just the way they look on graph paper. Perfect squaring requires an ideal combination of structure, yarn size, sett and beat. A good example is plain old straight-draw twill in which a diagonal line is easy to see. That diagonal line must lie at a perfect 45˚ angle in the finished cloth. Using the same yarn for both warp and weft, it can be assumed shrinkage will be even in both width and length. While the cloth is on the loom and under tension, the even or uneven balance can be tough to judge. It is necessary to check that 45˚ angle with released tension.

Overshot is a structure that demands careful planning in order to square up. But if you think of it in terms of the underlying ground cloth it becomes easier to understand. Traditional Overshot requires use of a Tabby weft. Pattern weft is superimposed on top of a plain weave structure, known as the ground cloth. The goal is to create a perfectly balanced plain weave underlayment to carry the pattern wefts along and hold them in place. If you choose an appropriate pattern weft of approximately twice the grist of the warp and tabby yarn and if you weave a balanced plain weave, Overshot will be a piece of cake and a joy to weave.

A nationally well-known speaker (yes, you would know who this person is) at a recent meeting of my local guild mentioned that if an overshot block doesn’t weave to square one should simply throw an extra pattern shot or two. Pardon me for disagreeing, but I cannot take that view. Overshot is to be “Tromp as Writ” for a reason and throwing an extra shot would throw off relative proportions throughout the structure. If the ground cloth is balanced plain weave, unless an inappropriate sized pattern weft is used, the blocks cannot help but weave to square. And if they do not, then a change of sett or beat is in order.

Just my two cents . . .

Next time I'll admit to missing the mark in the "Squared weaving design" department.

Warp On/Weave Off,

RepWeaver

Flannel for Body and Sole

Four yards of blue flannel dotted with white sheep have been in my stash for so long that the original purpose for purchase is lost to memory. Usually such a nice piece of cloth would have soon found its way into one project or another. But not this yardage, as sweet as it was I could not bear to cut it into strips.

Blue Birthday nightgown
just before I popped it into the mail

I have been working on another toothbrush rug, this time coincidentally in flannels. The goal was twofold: one to use up flannel from my stash, two to provide a warm non-latex non-skid rug for my daughter’s cold stained concrete floor. Searching for flannel in red, white and blue was how I stumbled upon the long forgotten blue sheep-dotted yardage.

Our little granddaughter is a Laura Ingalls Wilder and Beverly Clearly type of girl. Her mother and father spend countless hours reading books aloud for her. She loves dressing up and hearing about yesteryear and long-ago people. Long flannel nightgowns are her bedtime delight and her birthday was fast approaching.

My collection of patterns includes those for the nightgowns I sewed for her when our daughter was young. Every Christmas Eve new home-sewn pajamas waited beneath the tree for each of our children. A lovely tradition, my own grandmother did the same for my sisters and me when we were young.

Combining two projects made sense. First I would sew a nightgown for our little girl and then I would use the scraps in toothbrush rug already in progress.

Our little girl was thrilled to receive the nightgown and her parents are thrilled at her new eagerness to don her nightclothes.

I will show the rug at my monthly Rug Group meeting. Then it will go into the mail to our far-away little family. It is filled with scraps of many memories that my daughter might recognize including scraps from a few of her long-ago Christmas nightgowns, flannel shirts her father wore, and pajamas from other family members. Do you think she will notice the little bits of blue sheep-dotted flannel included in the rug? Do you suppose she will feel our love for her and her family with both sole and soul?

Warp On/Weave Off,
RepWeaver

Miniature Norse Kitchen - Third Warp

Miniature Norse Kitchen towels

Darker teal yarn used as both warp and tabby in borders

Here you see finished towels from the third warp of my Miniature Norse Kitchen draft. This warp was shorter than usual due to limited supply of yarn. Look closely and you will see a darker shade of teal blue added into the borders. Sometimes I mix in other colors of warp for design interest. Other times I mix in additional solid warp colors due to limited supplies of yarn. It is a great way to use up small bits of yarn. Each of these reasons was relevant with this warp.

Third color way of Miniature 

Right side of Miniature Norse Kitchen

Both sides are beautiful. The variegated and darker teal is more obvious on the reverse side. If you ask me, either side could be considered the "right" side.

Warp On/Weave Off,
RepWeaver

Reverse side of Miniature Norse Kitchen

Decisions, Decisions

Sometimes it takes awhile to come up with color choices. Once the warp colors are decided it becomes easier. When I weave, each piece is unique. In other words, I do not set a palette to follow for the entire length of the warp. Maybe this shows a lack of attention span. I like to think it is merely excitement to find out how each pattern weft choice works with the warp colors.

Playing with colors for RepWeaver Warp #103
Three cones on the right are for warp.
Others are possible pattern weft colors.
I used all of them except the jade one at the back.

Recently I was reminded of a childhood disappointment. Crayola Crayons began making their famous 64 color box with sharpener when I was small. How I longed to have so many beautiful colors. On Saturdays one of my favorite things to do was listen to storybook records (the former version of audio books). While listening I would take crayons and paper and draw illustrations to go along with the story of the moment. Oh, to have my very own box of 64 colors!

But mother had other ideas. You see, she had six children and a limited budget and was worried about her living room carpeting. The sharpener on the back of the box was my undoing. It made her fear probable carpet stains from loose crayon crumbs. When I was much older I bought my own box of 64 colors. Even then, having all those colors made me very happy. It's probably just as well there weren't markers for children back then. Not having markers would simply have been another source of sorrow in my youth. Mom would have worried about her walls.

Neither crayons nor markers can beat colored pencils for shading and combining colors. As a teenager I discovered Prismacolor pencils and an entire new world opened up to me. But I digress . . .

Watching the colors cross is like watching woven fireworks.
Pattern weft here is "Eggplant" and not included in the original line-up.

Pulling out cone after cone of yarns and arranging and rearranging color line-ups is no end of fun. It is almost like having a big box of crayons (without the sharpener). Imagining the interaction of warp colors crossing weft colors thrills me every time.

Next time I'll show you more photos of Warp #103.

Warp on/Weave Off,
RepWeaver

To Variegate or Not To Variegate

To Variegate or Not To Variegate?
Yes, that is the question (with my apologies to William Shakespeare).

Since I was very young, variegations have attracted my eye. It's innate if you ask me, I truly can't help wanting to include as much color interest as possible in everything I weave.

Every available color way of variegated yarn, especially 20/2 cotton, must join my collection. Call it compulsive if you must. I don't care. It doesn't matter whether I have a particular use for it or not, if it is available it must come home to my studio.

Considering color choices for my current warp

When planning a project, all my colors come out on parade. They line up on the loom bench where they can be arranged, re-arranged and contemplated. Out come the variegated yarns along with the solid colored. I arrange the variegated yarns with likely base colors. If you ask me, the most important thing about using variegations is to use them sparingly. A little really does go a long way.

Variegated from reds to oranges to yellows
Solid yellow or solid red to coordinate

The goal is to find a solid colored yarn to match one of the mid-range colors contained in a variegated color way. This variegated yarn is a combination of shades from reds and oranges through to yellow. My preference would be to pair this variegation with an orange solid color. Right now I don't have any orange. So red or yellow solid can do and I have used both. But neither are my actual first choice.

The variegated yarn is wrapped around the solid yarn cone to get an idea of how they would work together. My aim to use a mid-range color is so the colors come and go within the whole of the warp. That is, I want there to be one main color into which the variegated ends seem to appear and disappear. Ideally I want these magical color highlights to be both darker and lighter than the solid main color.

Trying to decide a solid color to pair with this variegated yarn

Here are a few possible base colors to pair with a variegated that morphs from white to yellow, teal, green and purple. Since there are so many colors included in this variegation, there are lots of possibilities for solid pairings. These are the choices that happened to be on my shelf. I like the brighter teal, second from left. But there wasn't enough of it to use for the entire warp. So I used it as border stripes combined with the more dusty teal.

When winding the warp sometimes I will add a variegated end at random intervals. But this time I was using my Miniature Norse Kitchen draft and carefully planned where I wanted those extra colors to "peek-a-boo" within the weave structure.

Miniature Norse Kitchen Overshot
"Peek-a-boo" variegated ends placed at intervals
Bright teal added in as border stripes

This combination is what I am weaving at the moment. I'll show you how the towels turn out once they are off the loom and finished.

One last note. Recently a weaving friend asked me if there was a difference between variegated and space-dyed yarns. Perhaps there is a difference in process or color arrangements. I guess I'd assumed they were the same. But I honestly don't know. Do you?

Warp On/Weave Off,
RepWeaver

Norse Kitchen Miniature - Second Warp

Miniature Norse Kitchen by RepWeaver, Group photo

Miniature Norse Kitchen by RepWeaver, Group photo

Norse Kitchen in miniature was such a satisfying weave project I couldn't wait to get back to the loom for another round.


This time I chose a warp of 20/2 UKI perle cotton in color #52 Chestnut. To this I added variegated ends at specific spots in the draft across the warp. These warp ends range in color from brown to gold to olive green to red. Click on the detail photos for a closer view of how these variegated colors seem to magically appear and disappear in the finished towels.


Even though overshot is a two-shuttle structure, weaving these was a lot of fun. Watching the variegations morph from one color to the next adds interest during the process. When warping I don't try for any Ikat effects but sometimes this happens. Serendipity is part of the fun.

Warp On/Weave Off,
RepWeaver

Norse Kitchen Miniature
Detail showing variegated warp ends

Norse Kitchen Miniature
Detail showing variegated warp ends

Norse Kitchen Miniature
Detail showing variegated warp ends

Conundrum Solved

How did I solve those four problems that bothered me about "Norse Kitchen"?

Miniaturized "Norse Kitchen" (red)
"Norse Kitchen" original towel (blue)

Recently I have been inspired by the work of Josephine Estes and Bertha Gray Hayes and have been weaving a lot of Miniature Overshot. So the ideal solution was already on my radar - write my own miniaturized version of "Norse Kitchen".


Once I'd finalized my Mini "Norse Kitchen" draft I needed to adjust the number of center repeats to maintain the same width as my original towel warp. Then I cut off the first few towels I'd woven using the old draft and rethreaded the remainder of that warp with the revised design. This required three additional warp ends. I also decided to add one more twill repeat at each selvedge which added another eight ends.

Miniaturized "Norse Kitchen" towels

While I was at it I changed the direction of some of the border twill lines so each border is symmetric. You can see the change in the red towel above the original blue one. It is even clearer in the detail of the magenta towel below.

Weaving the rest of the warp was thrilling because the result brought me great joy. Never again will I view an overshot draft without wondering how it would work in miniature. Such fun!

Miniature "Norse Kitchen" - Detail

Miniaturized "Norse Kitchen" towels showing the reverse sides.
It's hard to decide which side is my favorite.

Warp on/Weave off,

RepWeaver

Shedding Some Light

Handbook of Weaving by Caroline Halverson
Copyright Oslo, 1927

The book arrived last week. Here it is. The author, Caroline Halverson, is not named on the cover.

This is a great little book filled with interesting drafts. Fortunately actual drafts, like music, are universally understood. Unfortunately, I do not speak or read Norwegian so the text is beyond me.

Checking online translators gave a general idea of the description for the original draft #185 on page 104 of Halverson as referenced by Marguerite Porter Davison with her "Norse Kitchen" draft.  But that raises the question, "Is the Halvorsen draft the actual original?" Somehow I doubt it and unless someone has further information to share or someone who understands Norwegian can find a reference within the text there doesn't seem to be any other trail to follow. Perhaps you have seen similar designs and can point me in the right direction.

The Norse Kitchen design from the Davison book is clearly derived from the draft in the Halverson book. They are very similar but not exactly alike. In Halverson there is a photo of the woven piece that looks very much like Davison's photo but with additional repeats in the border sections. Interestingly, some of the things that bothered me in the Davison draft also appear in the original draft. Those wavy lines all curve in paralell directions in both drafts (bother number three). And the unbalanced nature of the draft (bother number four) is apparent in both drafts as well as in both photos. There is an unsettling unbalance in the Halvorsen border in that of four oval figures in the corner block, three are closed or complete but the fourth is not. Interesting, isn't it? Davison changed the draft to close that fourth oval.

The most striking aspect of the piece in Halverson is the design is woven perfectly to square. It is so precisely woven that one has to look with a very critical eye to notice some of the problems I found with the draft. Those problems are far more obvious in the Davison example. The Davison piece is clearly not woven to square. The design is compressed warp-wise, most noticeably in the corner blocks (bother number two).

It would be an interesting exercise to make adjustments to the Halverson draft and weave it. But for now I will have to be content with the solution I found for my Christmas Conundrum. I am now weaving a second warp using my own version of the draft. I'll let you in on what I came up with in my next post. Maybe by that time I will have photos of the finished pieces currently on my loom.

By the way, I realized that somewhere along the way I stopped signing my posts. So I will do my best to remember from now on.

Warp on/Weave off,
RepWeaver

Bother Number Four

This is the last one, I promise. Going by the level of annoyance, this really is number one on the list.

After the first few inches weaving this problem really stood out. It was especially apparent in the repeating middle section. Take a close look and you will see what I mean.

"Norse Kitchen" from draft in A Handweaver's Pattern Book by Marguerite Porter Davison

The ground interlacements on either side of each little white cross are not even. Checking the draft from the Davison book, one side of the center repeat section has six ends alternating on shafts two and three and eight ends on those two shafts on the other side. This problem pops up in the border sections as well but isn't as noticeable.

If you look at the photo accompanying the draft in the Davison book you will see that sample also shows this problem. I guess this is a lesson to look very carefully at sample photos as well as at drafts. It's dangerous to make assumptions.

The Davison sample photo is curious. It is so different from other samples in the book. It appears to be an entire woven piece and clearly shows crease marks. This made me wonder if the draft had been copied from the woven article and not actually woven by Davison herself. At the top of page 186 is a notation "Adapted from Caroline Halvorsen's Page 106 - No. 185".

Last week I did a search and discovered a book by Caroline Halvorsen and placed an order for a used copy. I do not know if this particular book is the source of inspiration for the Davison draft. But I aim to track it down.

Reading the "Understanding Overshot" chapter in The Complete Book of Drafting for Handweavers by Madelyn van der Hoogt it looks as if this draft may have originated in an abbreviated form. If you read the section "Variations in Drafting Format" on page 41 there is a clear explanation of how an unbalanced draft could occur.

When the Halvorsen book arrives I'll let you know what I discover. Then I will show you my solution to the problems with the Davison draft.