HANDSPUN SCARF OFF LOOM

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

Mended but not washed.

Actually, there was no real mending to be done.  Simply trimming off the ends left from changing bobbins.  I will trim the fringe after wet finishing.

Measurements:

Width: 7.25” (same as on loom)
Length: 78” (on loom, 88” = approximately 11% loss)

Dave Daniels commented on my last post:

FOURTEEN? Wow, good for you for getting that much extra out of it. Amazing!

The reason I could weave so close is that I have a big loom.  It is a Nilus II LeClerc with rear-hinged treadles and from front beam to back beam measures 47”. 

The longer warp length also reduces stress on the warp ends. That is why I can weave under high tension with little or no warp breakage.

Small looms are wonderful for little spaces and for travelling.  But nothing beats weaving on a larger loom.

"Handspun Scarf Off Loom” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on December 12, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

HANDSPUN SCARF: END OF THE LINE

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

Dave guessed that I would be able to weave a sample four inches long.  His guess was off by 14 inches……  Above is the apron spread from back beam to the heddles.

Waste at back: 17" x 98 ends = 1,666" ÷36" = 46 yards

Is this too much?  In this case, no, because I had more than enough handspun.  Still 46 yards of plied handspun seems like a lot to me. But the fact that I could weave as far as I could on the warp will cause me to think carefully next time as to whether or not I will use a dummy warp.

And here is a close up that shows just how close the rod came to the heddles.

Actually, too close for comfort.  The back rod was rubbing against the heddles and I didn’t like that one bit.  Had I been really intent on weaving as much as I could (and I could have woven possible two to three more inches), I would have taken the trouble to move the rod and apron back a wee bit.  But this was only a sample and I just wanted to finish the weaving.

The amazing thing was that this last bit of weaving created a great deal of tension on the warp because the warp ends, when sheds were created created terribly great angles when a shed was made.  But not a broken thread in the bunch.

And no floating shafts!  Why do I have trouble with floating shafts in my complex crackles and no floating shafts in plain twill?  It does not happen because of unequal distribution of warp ends on the shafts.  Give or take one end, there are always the same number on each shaft.

Related Posts: 
Floating Shafts
Handspun and Dummy Warps

"Handspun Scarf: End of the Line” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on December 11, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

HANDSPUN SCARF IS WOVEN AND I HAVE A QUESTION

Posted by Peg in South Carolina
 Here is the scarf, still on the loom.  On the loom, it is 88” long and the width is 7.25 inches (the width at the reed is 8.0 inches.

I have done the hemstitching…..after re-checking the directions! I find it amazing how easy it is to hemstitch this fabric as compared to hemstitching my 60/2 silk pieces.  And how much better the hemstitching looks here.

And now I have a question.
I wonder how long I will be able to make the end-of-the warp sample I would like to have for testing wet-finishing?

Related Posts: 
Handspun Shawl Done….Almost
Hemstitching

"Handspun Scarf is Woven and I Have a Question” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on December 10, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

 

ALMOST DONE WEAVING THE HANDSPUN

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

I have removed the raddle so that the back rod could move up onto the top of the back beam. 

I have woven 80 inches so far.  I plan on weaving only six more inches. That may (or may not) give me space to weave a short piece that I could use for sampling the finishing.

I have decided, by the way, that I like the sheds I get better with the raddle off the back beam.  So for the next warp, I will remove the raddle after I am done threading. Then, of course, I will leave the lease sticks in.

Related Post:  Finished

"Almost Done Weaving the Handspun” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on December 9, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

TWILL LINE

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

I am working at getting 12 picks per inch.  What I had intended to do was to use my right angle rectangle to place against the fabric to check the angle of the twill.  But this fabric is so busy with all its nubs that I cannot see the angle. At least not when I am looking straight down at the fabric.  For all anyone might care, this reads simply as plain weave.

But I wanted to weave twill, because the twill structure, even though the fabric does not read as twill, will allow the fabric to hang nicely around the neck.

I discovered quite by accident that if I looked at the woven fabric on the loom from a certain angle, I could clearly see the twill line.  So I tried to get it on a photograph.  After many failed attempts, I finally got this one.  If you look at the left side of the fabric, the twill line is visible.

"Twill Line” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on December 8, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

BEATING THE HANDSPUN

Posted by Peg in South Carolina 

When I beat, I am used to slamming the beater into the fell.  Indeed, I have equipped this beater with a weight to take some of the work off my arms.  Adding the weight really goes back to my early years of weaving rugs.  I keep the weight on because it helps very much in beating my fine silk pieces.

But this is neither a rug nor a 60/2 silk piece.  Instead of using the beater to beat the weft into the fell, I use it to gently place the weft where it needs to be.  This is a two-step process for me:

1. I raise the shed, throw the weft, and bring the beater a couple of inches away  from the fell.

2. I change to the next shed and carefully bring the beater towards me to place the weft where my eye tells me it needs to be.

Actually, “bringing the beater towards me” is usually not quite accurate.  Because the beater is generally tipping more or less towards me (and remember that the beater is weighted), I am actually holding the beater away from the fell and then allowing it to go to the place I want it to go by resisting the force its weight is trying to exert.

"Beating the Handspun” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on December 7, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

WEAVING FINALLY BEGUN ON HANDSPUN WARP

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

This is a bird’s eye view of the piece.  It is still window screening.  Clicking on the image will raise it full size;  then the window screening will really show!  But it is window screening as it ought to be.  When the scarf comes off the loom, the fabric will close together a bit.  Washing it will close it up still more.

I have decided to weave this piece with a temple.  I think the selvedges will look better.  I think the whole piece will look better.  Despite the fact that I move the temple after 8 shots…….  I’m getting used to it, though.

If you go to the related post on temples, you will see that when I wrote that—in July of 2007—I said that I had never used a temple on my handspun, only on silk warps or wide warps that needed to be beaten very tightly.  A girl can change her mind…….

Related Post:  Temples

"Weaving Finally Begun on Handspun Warp” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on December 4, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.