Off the Loom but not Finished

The fabric is off the loom, and waiting....... The first and main yardage is, as I was beginning to guess, a bit sleazy. The reason for this is that the sett was for plain weave but the treadling was really a twill treadling. Twill treadlings require a closer sett than plain weave treadling. The photo does show how nicely it drapes, even unfinished, but it does not show the sleaziness of the fabric. I am hoping that washing and pressing will help reduce that. I'm sure it can be made up into the jacket that I planned.


The second yardage, designed for trim, is nice, not at all sleazy. It is woven on opposites. It is in essence a plain weave. The sett, really a rather firm sett, seems to have been just right. Washing and pressing will reveal the truth of this.



The colors are a little strange on the photo of this last sampling. I guess I was losing patience..........As in the second yardage, this sampling is not sleazy. However, it is a bit firmer and thicker than the second yardage. The fabric's resistance to draping seems quite clear. It is treadled in the same way as that yardage--on opposites. But instead of the 20/2 mercerized cotton, I used 10/2 mercerized cotton. The 10/2 is twice as thick. Perhaps a slightly looser sett was in order there? Only sampling would really tell the truth of that. But again, washing and pressing might change some things here.




So now I am ready to finish the fabric.

But first, there is the loom to clean up. Things to put away. Dusting to be done. Vacuuming to be done. Then my weaving space will be bright and clean and ready for work.

Then there is the machine zigzagging to do on the fabric to keep the ends from ravelling. But then comes one of my unfavorite activities: checking both sides of all three pieces for errors. In unrolling it off the loom I noticed one place which is probably a treadling error. Regularly long lengths of yellow weft appear across the width in one shot. Can this be mended? We shall see. In any case, I have a new warp to put on, so I can always take my time with the checking and re-weaving........ I'm fairly good at procrastinating.

Then there is the measuring. Lengths and widths.

Then comes the washing and then the pressing. And more measuring.

All in all, I am not unhappy with what the loom has produced. One way I can tell is that I am suddenly getting inspired to get the details of the next silk warp in order so that I can start the dyeing, so that I can make the warp, so that I can weave..........

However, the next warp is still going to be the dark red 10/2 mercerized cotton warp. I am much too curious about what that is going to teach me.