All of your comments on measuring weaving length were much appreciated. Quite a few of you use cash register tape, which seems a very nifty trick. This time though, I decided to use Charleen's method of knotted string, though I did adapt it a bit.
I secured one end of the string with a t-pin, and passed it under a few warp ends every time I advanced the warp. When I got to my knot, I threw a few shots of plain weave and started all over again. Happily, the lengths of my towels are quite consistent. A happy improvement from the first set.
What wasn't consistent, was the shrinkage after washing and drying them. The yellow weft did not seem to shrink as much as the green warp. It is most noticable in the detail below, which looks a bit sloppy.
Of course, this means that the weft wasn't cotton, as I'd thought! I admit that I have a lot of mill ends and odd cones, some of which aren't labeled. Even so I thought I knew the fiber content of most of what I have. Obviously I don't. My guess is that the yellow is rayon. I've not heard of anyone using rayon for dishtowels before, so I'm not sure how well it will work with the cotton. Any guesses????? I'll have to let you know!!!Ah well. Live and learn.
© 2007 Leigh's Fiber Journal
3 comments:
The towels are beautiful. Thanks for noting the references for each picture.
I like your measuring string idea too. You can't have enough tricks up your sleeve!
Thanks for the info, Leigh! These are, indeed, beautiful. Let us know how the rayon does as toweling...it's cellulose like cotton, so maybe you've lucked upon a new fad. :)
I'm also of the school of live and learn, only I seem to live better than I learn. My towel/placemat weaving experiences have left a lot of space for learning.
Post a Comment