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A Wedding Commission

11/11/2020

2 Comments

 
Click on any picture to zoom in
​
A young woman named Collette emailed me last spring about possibly weaving bridesmaids shawls for her September wedding,   I really enjoyed weaving shawls for my son's bride and their bridesmaids a few years ago , so I was definitely interested.  Collette and I talked and planned over the next couple  of months to make sure the shawls would be just what she had in mind.
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First, Collette sent me a picture of the flowers she was that going to use and a picture of the fabric in the bridesmaids' gowns.   She wanted to pick up the colors in the flowers and, initially, thought she wanted to use some form of cream, blue, teal, and a deep red.

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​I pulled some Tencel off my shelf and mailed her several yarn wraps to give her some ideas. 

She settled on yarn wrap #2 but wanted to swap the azure for grey blue to better match the dress fabric.

Now to plan the warp.
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Yarn wraps

​Collette had seen a shawl in my online shop and decided she like the plaited twill in that shawl.  So all I had to do was work with the colors in Fiberworks to work out the proportions of the colors in  the gradation.  We came to an agreement, and I got busy measuring warps, getting them on loom,  and weaving color samples.
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Strickler pattern #360
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4 warp chains ready to be wound on
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Warp spread in the raddle
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Warp wound onto the back beam
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Color sampling
Collette decided on the navy blue Tencel weft.  I wove the shawls over the next month.  Lots and lots of fringe! Almost 800 bouts of twisted fringe took a few more days and, finally,  the shawls were ready to be shipped off to her.
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A couple of months before the wedding, Collette reached out to me to have shawls woven for her mother and future mother-in-law.
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​In September, Collette and Kyle were married at a beautiful setting in New Hampshire. 

The bridesmaids and moms wore shawls that I created. 

​The bride was wearing a  gorgeous shawl woven for her by her aunt.
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The bride's mother
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The bride's mother-in-law
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Collette and Kyle. The bride is wearing a shawl created for her by her aunt.
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2 Comments

Weaving for a Wedding: A Labor of Love

1/19/2017

2 Comments

 
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​My son, Ryan married his darling bride Alex in Boulder, Colorado this past October.  I have posted pictures in my Gallery of the weaving I did for the wedding, but I have not yet shared much of the story of how the weaving got done.  Nor had I shared pictures of the finished pieces in use.  

​So now that story begins.  

The Bride's Shawl

The bride's shawl was the first project I undertook.  I wove samples for her shawl last winter and took them to her in March for her approval.  Originally I had intended to surprise her with the shawl but quickly realized that that was a really bad idea: a) she might not want a shawl, b) she might buy her own shawl, and c) the shawl might not look good with her dress.  I was very relieved that she loved the idea and that the samples of the Bronson Weave lace in 20/2 natural tencel matched her dress perfectly!
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Bronson Lace samples
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So the shawl warp was planned:  Hoping for shawls of 20" x 95", I put on a warp of 839 ends of 20/2 tencel sett at 36 epi (3/dent in a 12 dent reed), measuring 23.3" wide in the reed,  No floating selvedge was needed because the draft had a plain weave edge on each side.  I put on enough length to allow for weaving 2 shawls to 104" and allowing for 12" of fringe on each end and loom waste.

The draft was a simple 4 harness Bronson Lace weave with plain weave borders.  Click on the draft to zoom in
So the warp for two shawls went on the loom: one for the bride and one for a gift our outgoing guild president, Janice.  A dozen of our guild board members took turns in April weaving off the first shawl so that we could present it to her at the May board meeting.  I wove the bride's shawl off in  May.
  • Weaving with the 20/2 tencel was surprisingly trouble free
  • The fact that 12 people could weave on 1 shawl for our guild president and have virtually no problems and a very even beat was the biggest surprise of all!
  • My sister-in-law embroidered the bride and groom's initials and their wedding date on one end of the bride's shawl as a lovely finishing touch.
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Shawls on the loom
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Another guild member taking a turn on Janice's shawl
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Guild member weaving on Janice's shawl
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Guild member fringing Janic'e shawl
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Janice opening her shawl
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The bride's shawl
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The bride's shawl, detail
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The bride's shawl, detail
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The bride

Next... Shawls for the Wedding Party

I offered to weave shawls for each of the four bridesmaids and my daughter, the "best sister".    I put on a warp for 6 shawls: 5 for the wedding party and an extra:
  • 8/2 warp tencel in silver and light gray stripes sett at 20 epi
  • 22" in the reed, woven to about 95" in length.
  • Hemstitched on loom and  finished with 8" long twisted fringe 
  • Bronson weave threading that allowed for several treadlings: triangles, curves and extended curves
  • Charcoal gray wefts for all 4 bridesmaids' shawls and the extra shawl which is for sale in the SHOP
  • Burgundy weft for the "best sister" shawl
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Bronson Weave Triangles with charcoal weft
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Bronson Weave Curves with charcoal weft
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Bronson Weave Curves with burgundy weft
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The bride with her bridesmaids & my daughter/ "best sister" 
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The extra shawl, extended curves
For sale in the SHOP

Next... A Shawl for the Mother of the Bride

This shawl was a little more of a challenge.  Or at least it caused me a little more angst.  Mostly because I only had a photograph of Jamie's dress.  So after exchanging photos and yarn samples, I finally decided on a huck lace shawl in 2 shades of teal, charcoal gray and mauve in the warp.

​The huck lace pattern I used was adapted from a Handwoven scarf pattern (March/April 2008, p. 30–32).  I widened the draft to 22" and I used 4 colors in the warp.  I "ombred" the colors at each color change so there were no harsh stripes in the warp.
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Sticks padding the loose warp areas at the back of the loom
Tip!
This draft has huck lace stripes alternating with plain weave stripes.  Because the takeup was much less in the lace areas than the plain weave areas, it did not take long for the warp to get loose in the lace areas, and tension was becoming a problem.  I solved that by doing 2 things:
  1. After 20-25" I "wove" a stick under the loose area at the back of the loom and tied it to the back beam.  Every 20-25" I added another stick.
  2. I cut off after the first shawl and retied for the second shawl.

​Again, I wove 2 shawls: the first I wove with the greyed teal for the mother of the bride., and the second with the dark teal to sell.
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Mother of the Bride's shawl, woven with a greyed teal weft
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The bride and her parents, Jamie and David
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Extra Shawl, woven with a dark teal weft

Finally... Pocket Squares for the Groom and the Dads

I really wanted to weave a pocket square for my son, but I wasn't sure if I would have time and I wasn't sure exactly what would work.  After sampling quite a bit with 60/2 silk, I settled on a very simple plain weave square with some burgundy stripes on 2 sides and hemmed on 4 sides.  I made 4 squares: 1 for Ryan, 1 for each of the Dads and 1 extra.
  • 60/2 silk in natural and burgundy
  • 632 ends, sett at 40 epi , 15.8" wide on loom
  • woven in plain weave at 40 ppi
  • After hemming on all 4 sides the squares measured about 13.5" square
  • Weaving with the silk was a breeze
  • Hemming and mitering the corners was definitely the hardest part for me
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Pocket squares

And What Did I Wear?

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My scarf

​I don't often wear my own handwovens - other than a couple of beloved, very beat up scarves and shawls.  I was dressed in a simple sweater, silk pant and silk top and so I didn't think a shawl would work for me.  But I knew I would get cold.  So I did wear one of my silk scarves, woven with 60/2 silk in a pretty twill in my favorite color: teal.

2 Comments

Tales of Bad Selvedges: Part 2  (Tencel Likes to be Wet)

5/16/2016

4 Comments

 
​Consider this an Addendum to yesterday's post about my attempts to weave off 6 shawls for my son's wedding attendants.
 
There was an additional adjustment to my weaving that I made midway through Shawl #1.  Once I realized that the tencel was going to be "sensitive" and prone to breaking, I began misting the warp lightly with water every time I advanced the warp.
 
The tencel experts of the weaving world have told me that tencel like to be wet and that keeping the warp damp (especially the selvedge threads) helps to strengthen the fiber.  This can be especially helpful if you have to unweave tencel!
​


​Tip!
Every time I advanced the warp I spritzed the warp lightly:
  • between the fell of the cloth and the reed
  • behind the reed
  • and between the heddles and the back beam
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I use a little spray bottle with a fine spray so I don't soak the warp
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4 Comments

Teaching an Old Lamb New Tricks:  Tales of Bad Selvedges

5/15/2016

2 Comments

 
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There are two things you may or may not know about me:
  1. I pride myself on good selvedges
  2. I always beat with a closed shed
Along comes a project that changed everything.  I have been happily charged with weaving the shawls for the attendants in my son's wedding. These are shawls I have woven many times before (see photo on the left), using the exact same yarn I have used before.  
​It should have been a no-brainer.  Apparently not!
 
I wound a 20 yard warp for 6 nice long shawls in stripes of light gray and silver 8/2 tencel.  Each shawl was to be woven in a modified Bronson weave using a charcoal gray weft.  I decided to weave several different treadlings so that the shawls for each young lady would be a little different.
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Right from the start, there was trouble.  The silver tencel began to break - sometimes at the back beam, sometimes behind the heddles, sometimes it was a thread near the selvedge, sometimes about 6 inches in from the selvedge.  Before I knew it, I had about 10 repair threads hanging from the back of the loom and I was sure that I had a bad batch of tencel.  The light gray tencel was behaving just fine.  The repair threads behaved better except that one of the 3 threads near the right selvedge continued to break about every 6 to 10 inches.  Needless to say:
  1. The right selvedge was suffering (a lot),
  2. I would have a lot of repairs to do,
  3. Weaving was going very slowly,
  4. And I was getting really frustrated!
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This mess is what the back of the loom looked like after a dozen or so broken threads had been repaired.

Tip!
​Repairing broken threads: 
1. Attach the repair thread to the woven cloth
2. Hang it off the back of the loom
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​First wrap the broken thread back around a T-pin in a figure 8. (left)
 
​After threading the repair thread properly through the heddle and reed, wrap it around the same t-pin and secure it around the pin with a figure 8. (right)
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This is how I hang and weight my repair end at the back of the loom: a thread keeper, a ring and a heavy washer
​HOWEVER, If I just let it hang, it will spin and the yarn will unply itself (not good). So I secure the hanging thread keeper and weight to the loom by tying it loosely to the loom with shoelaces as shown on the right.
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​The saga continues:
 
I cut Shawl #1 off the loom and retied the warp to make sure I had perfect tension before beginning the next shawl. 
 
The selvedges in Shawl #2 were somewhat better, but I continued to have broken threads along the right selvedge as well as in two sections in the center of the shawl.  By the time I cut the shawl off the loom, I had about 20 repairs to make, and more than a dozen of them were along the right hand selvedge.  And I can assure you I do not enjoy making repairs in the finished cloth - especially along the selvedge edge!
​
Before starting Shawl #3, I had two light bulb moments:
  1. My friend Sue suggested that I add a strand of 10/2 pearl to each side of the warp to strengthen the selvedges.  I happened to have some pearl cotton in colors that matched the 2 edge colors pretty well so I could "buddy up" one strand of pearl cotton with one warp thread.  I simply threaded a strand of 10/2 pearl through the same heddle and dent with the outermost warp thread on each side of the shawl and hung it off the back of the loom with a weight - just as I do with my repair threads.
  2. I decided to try to reduce draw-in even more (even though I was already weaving with a temple) by beating with my shed open.  That took a little getting used to because I have beating on a closed shed for almost 30 years!
Tips!
​I was shocked at how much this helped!  The selvedges were great and I did not have a single selvedge thread break for the entire 95" length of the shawl.  

I still had threads break in the other two trouble areas of the shawl, confirming my belief that this batch of silver yarn was probably defective, under-plied in sections, or otherwise weakened for some reason.  But just to be able to solve the problem on the selvedge was a huge relief!

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Nice selvedge! :-)
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Three shawls down, three to go…
​

2 Comments

Facebook Art Challenge - Day 2

2/6/2015

1 Comment

 
Today I am posting 3 shawls. The first is a Bronson Lace shawl woven in turquoise and light gray tencel. The second is a silk shawl woven on 16 harnesses on one of the rare warps that I dyed myself. The third picture is a pair of tencel shawls woven in cinnamon and rust tencel in a block twill.
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Bronson Lace Tencel Shawl
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Hand Dyed Silk Shawl
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Tencel Shawls - One rust, one Cinnamon
1 Comment

    Pattie Lamb

    I have been happily weaving since my son was born in 1988.

    All pictures on my blog are "zoomable" - just click on them to enlarge.

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