Sunday, September 20, 2009

Light At The End Of The Tunnel

By Leigh

In my case, the tunnel is house renovation, and the light is finally catching a glimpse of what it will be like to have a huge project in the living room done, tearing down the old fireplace and putting in a new hearth and chimney for a wood burning stove. This has not just meant spending most of our time on this, but it has also meant an upheaval of our living quarters. Because deconstruction and working with bricks and mortar is such as dusty, dirty job, we've moved all of the living room furniture to other parts of the house. We've been sporting that "just moved in" look for months now!

The tearing down phase seemed the quickest. The rebuilding part is going much more slowly. Still, we're finally getting to a point where I can visualize having our living room back. And with that, I'm starting to think about weaving for it.

What I'm currently contemplating, is weaving drapery fabric. I've never attempted anything like that before, but when we first bought the place, I immediately started to think about all the things I could weave for it: kitchen, bath, and table linens, rugs, curtains, drapes, throws, upholstery fabric, etc. Although I haven't yet given much thought to design and weave structure, I have been contemplating color.

Here are the colors I have to work with...

This is the fabric on my couch.
Coordinating fabric on cushion (came with couch)
Area rug - actually matches perfectly.
The colors are roughly accurate on your computer monitor.

Plus, I've been collecting paint chips for wall color ........

image fail of paint chips

......... well, never mind the paint chips. They would neither photograph nor scan anywhere near their actual color. Suffice it to say that they are coordinating pale to light neutrals for my walls. I also have one burgundy chair and my furniture is a medium/dark cherry.

I'm inspired enough with this that I would like to dig through my stash and pull out various colors of yarns to compare with my sofa, rug, cushions, and chair. Unfortunately, my stash is another matter, because I can't find all my yarns! Thanks to the current state of chaos in our home due to our project, some yarns are in my studio hidden behind piles of boxes, others are still packed away ............. somewhere.

Though we still have a long way to go on any number of house projects (especially kitchen and bathrooms), weaving is something to contemplate as cooler weather approaches. As much as I've loved being out of doors this summer, I am also looking forward to spending time indoors this winter, cozy with that new wood burning stove, and fibernating.

14 comments:

Susan B. said...

Fibernating! I love it!
I am thinking of drapes too for the family summer cottage so I have time. There are too many colors to consider so I am thinking light lacy drapes blowing in the wind....
Off to begin to fibernate!

Woolly Bits said...

I am not a good enough weaver for this and I don't think knitted curtains would do here:)) but I think natural linen tones and maybe colours dyed with madder and maybe a soft green would be lovely! I think re-discovering stuff that has been hidden in all the boxes will be fun - eventually:))

Julie said...

I love the colors!!

charlotte said...

I love these colors, and I am looking forward to see what you are going to weave. I hope you find your yarn.

Life Looms Large said...

Nice color palette - our sunroom has some similar colors - plus more oranges. I'll be interested to see what you come up with.

My favorite kind of weaving is weaving for my house. I don't know why....I know tons of other people weave for clothing or accessories - but I just love to make things for my house.

Glad to hear that the chimney project is winding down. Long projects like that are hard to sustain. You guys have been troopers!

Have fun!
Sue

Theresa said...

Yes, winter fibronating...all good. Bring on the snow!

Peg in South Carolina said...

Glad to see you are thinking about weaving again! The Gimp has the tools you need for getting the right color from your scans and photos. And, from my book on The Gimp, it looks like it is much easier for the novice to understand and use than the tools on either PaintShopPro or Photoshop.

Yvonne said...

A friend did a lovely lace swag for her guest room out of 8/2 cotton, because she needed something that could easily be washed. It was gorgeous. I know you'll come up with just the right design. Your palette is scrumptious!

bspinner said...

I love your color palette!!!! I suppose because it's so much like my own. I can't wait to see what you weave for your home.

Janet said...

I'm not sure it would go with the style of the room, but I love the look of Swedish lace curtains - something like the samples in The Big Book of Weaving or from Handwoven several years ago. The colors are great - should be interesting.

Dorothy said...

Now this is going to be fun!! By the way, after your comment about my colour and weave log pattern, I was in a museum last week where there was a chair that had been re-upholstered in the same pattern, woven in cotton, a deep indigo blue and white. It looked superb.

cyndy said...

One of the best parts of a project (IMHO) is the planning stage...contemplating what and how to put it all together!

Looking forward to watching you make it come true!

Sharon said...

Those colors are wonderful. Draperies would certainly be ambitious, but a perfect application for weaving since they're flat and it would be a great way to display your work.

Janet said...

I've woven the curtains for several rooms in our house. I used rug wool as warp and weft. The resulting curtains are quite heavy but they have worn well. Sadly, we won't be taking them with us - I'm leaving them for the purchasers of the house. A good excuse to weave curtains for the new house in Seattle - if I can find a big space to set up my loom again. In the meantime, I might think of knitted lace on a large scale.