Life History of a Scarf - Final reflections

Well the scarves are done, and you might be thinking that this seemed like a lot of work and a lot of days.  I can assure you that it did not really take 9 days to make these 2 scarves. ​

These 2 scarves were actually a joy to weave, and the only complication in the whole project was deciding what colors to use and planning my draft.
 
My timetable probably went something like this:

• Planning:  1-2 hours
• Measuring the Warp:  2-3 hours
• Winding onto the back beam: 1 hour
• Threading the loom:  2- 3 hours
• Getting Ready to weave: 30 minutes - 1 hour
• Weaving the samples:  30 minutes
• Weaving the scarves: 4 hours
• Finishing the Scarves: 3 hours
• Documentation: 1 hour

Total 15-18 ½  hours for 2 scarves and samples

Scarf with the blue ming tencel weft

Scarf with the black bamboo weft

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Four Harness Alternatives
I have had a request for a draft for a similar scarf for those who only have a 4 harness loom.  It is not possible to mix plain weave and twill in the same way with only 4 harness, but I have come up with a draft that uses the same bamboo warp in a twill, with a couple of possible options for treadling.

Note: Because both of these drafts are entirely twill and have no plain weave, I might be inclined to sett them at 27 epi rather than 24 epi. I frequently sett bamboo and tencel at 27 epi for a slightly warp emphasis cloth.  It has a lovely hand.  But as always, sampling is recommended if you are unsure.

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Alternative 1
This draft uses EXACTLY the same colorway and treadling as the scarves that I wove.  It has 281 threads, just like the warp I used.  It is a point twill threading, and I would recommend using a floating selvedge with this treadling. The draft is shown below, and a partial drawdown is shown to the right so you can see what the cloth would look like.  Click on either photo to zoom in.

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Alternative 2
This draft uses the same colorway as the scarves I wove EXCEPT that the last group of aqua threads on the far left of the draft has 11 threads in it instead of 12, giving a total of 280 instead of 281.  This allows for a multiple of 4 for the straight draw threading.  You would not need a floating selvedge with this threading (as long as you start your shuttle from the right side).  This draft uses the same treadling as the scarves that I wove.  The draft is shown below, and a partial drawdown is shown to the right so you can see what the cloth would look like.  Click on either photo to zoom in.

​Tip!

I intentionally set up the threading for the straight draw so that I thread 4-3-2-1 (going from right to left).  If you are sitting at the front of the loom  and you pull over a group of 4 heddles, one from each harness, it is much easier to thread 4-3-2-1 than 1-2-3-4.  If you thread 1-2-3-4, you will have to reach around  the 2, 3 and 4 to thread 1, then to thread the 2 you will have to reach around the 3 and 4, and to thread the 3 you will reach around the 4. Uncomfortable!

To review, go back to Life History-Day 9