Well, I'm certainly glad that I did a sample for this waffle weave project. For more reasons than one. You can probably spot one reason right off the bat.
The red bled! And this was in a cold water wash. It would have been very disappointing if I had skipped the sampler and just tried to do the towels.
The other thing I decided I didn't like was the the treadling. Usually, waffle weave is treadled the same as the threading, 1 through 4 and reverse. However, I used the treadling from Mary E. Black's The Key to Weaving. The waffle weave treadling from this book called for treadles 1 through 5 and reverse, which makes the waffles a little taller. I think this makes the warp floats too long however. So for my towels, I will use the more common treadling sequence.
The other important bit of information is the shrinkage. Mine was approximately 29%. This is about what several of you have experienced with your own waffle weaving, so I think that 30% is a safe estimate to use in the future. Lengthwise, the shrinkage was 21%.
Using 10/2 cotton and a sett of 30 epi made a fairly thick fabric. I think this would be suitable for a heavy dishtowel or perhaps as fabric for a lightweight vest.
So there you have it. The bother of sampling justified. I'm just not sure what to do with that cone of red however. This is the second cone of red cotton I've had bleed. Does anyone know if it's possible to salvage a yarn like this? Fortunately I got each for only a couple of dollars somewhere, but still, I hate to think that I have to test all my yarns for colorfastness. *Sigh*
Related Posts:
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The other thing I decided I didn't like was the the treadling. Usually, waffle weave is treadled the same as the threading, 1 through 4 and reverse. However, I used the treadling from Mary E. Black's The Key to Weaving. The waffle weave treadling from this book called for treadles 1 through 5 and reverse, which makes the waffles a little taller. I think this makes the warp floats too long however. So for my towels, I will use the more common treadling sequence.
The other important bit of information is the shrinkage. Mine was approximately 29%. This is about what several of you have experienced with your own waffle weaving, so I think that 30% is a safe estimate to use in the future. Lengthwise, the shrinkage was 21%.
Using 10/2 cotton and a sett of 30 epi made a fairly thick fabric. I think this would be suitable for a heavy dishtowel or perhaps as fabric for a lightweight vest.
So there you have it. The bother of sampling justified. I'm just not sure what to do with that cone of red however. This is the second cone of red cotton I've had bleed. Does anyone know if it's possible to salvage a yarn like this? Fortunately I got each for only a couple of dollars somewhere, but still, I hate to think that I have to test all my yarns for colorfastness. *Sigh*
© 26 July 2008 at http://leighsfiberjournal.blogspot.com
Related Posts:
Waffle Weave
Light Bulb Moments with Waffle Weave
List of all my Waffle Weave Posts
11 comments:
Could you perhaps skein it off and give it a salt bath? Even at $2 a cone it's an awful shame to have yarn you can't use....
What a wonderful lesson in why to sample! I think Halcyon Yarns recommend that you prewash dark and bright colors before you weave with them. That, of course, means skeining, washing, and making a ball or cone. Some weavers I know warp and wind on bobbins yarns directly from the skein.
Cally, I agree that it's still worth an attempt to salvage!
Peg, thanks for the tip. I have a swift, so skeining off and prewashing sounds like the best solution. I've wound balls for knitting from my swift, so I don't see why I couldn't wind bobbins from it either.
Did you save any part of the sample as unwashed? If you did, you could pick up a box of the Shout Color Catcher sheets to add to the laundry and sample with those.
The info. on the box says: "absorbs and traps loose dyesto help keep colors vibrant". I've been using them for awhile, especially when there are reds in a new fabric...either purchased or handwoven. I haven't had any bleeding yet since I've been using them. However, I've not sampled...ie. one sample w/ the color catcher and one w/o.
Well, it never occurred to me to save a sample of unwashed! I will have to do that next time. And I will have to look for the color catcher. Thanks for telling me about Valerie!
After this happened to a friend I've gotten in the habit of winding off, washing and then blotting the yarn in a white paper towel. If it runs I get rid of it.
I'v held off working on any weaving because of back problems but as soon as I can continue I'll let you know how mine turns out.
Handweaving.net http://www.handweaving.net/Home.aspx has a couple of drafts too.
Never heard of Shout Color Catcher. Sounds like a great product.
Oh Leigh, you keep the challenges coming. I'm still trying to finish threading for Ms and Os - now trying to thread a block each morning before I leave for work - sigh. This dialogue confuses this novice weaver. I thought we were supposed to weave unpreped yarns so that they would "relax" into the weave structure after being washed. So if you skein and prewash some of your yarns, will that affect the finished project???
Sharon, you raise a very good question! Washing an unmercerized cotton will cause it to shrink---how much? So what will happen if you weave with some yarn that has been "preshrunk" so to speak, and some that has not been? Do you have to wash ALL your yarn?......groan!!!! I think this is a really good question for the weavetech list.
Hmmm. Good points on both counts. My tendency at the moment is to test yarns for bleeding and avoid those altogether!
Speaking of WeaveTech, I say the message about "Dye Grabber. I gathered that it was used after the color already bled(?). I am going to look for this along with the Shout Color Catcher which Valerie mentioned.
I have always heard that if you wash it in vingar on the first wash it will set the color.
Well, the pre-bleed and the Shout sheets have already been mentioned, so my only other thought is to use the red only with other colors where the bleeding won't be that noticeable, which would eliminate the white. Probably not the look you were going for though.
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