Thursday, October 31, 2024

Crackle Manners of Weaving: Woven as Summer & Winter

Samples #11 & 12 of my 4-shaft crackle manners of weaving sampler.

Summer & winter (S&W) combined with crackle is mentioned by both Susan Wilson (Weave Classic Crackle & More) and Lucy Brusic (A Crackle Weave Companion), but they approach it differently. Brusic refers to crackle treadling on S&W threading (page 44 of her book). It's an idea she gets from Mary Snyder's The Crackle Weave), while Wilson discusses S&W treadling on crackle threading (pages 36-38). Since my sampler is threaded for crackle, Wilson's is the option I chose. 

I did a study on summer & winter years ago (list of posts here), so I had my own notes to review. I focused on the treadling, of which there are six classic ways to treadle the pattern weft in S&W (You can see examples in this post). All use tabby:
  • 1-2-1-2
  • 2-1-2-1
  • 1-2-2-1
  • 2-1-1-2
  • 1-1-1-1
  • 2-2-2-2
Wilson discusses two of them in her book:
  • 1-2-1-2
  • 1-2-2-1
The difference is in how the pattern weft threads line up, either alternating or stacked in pairs.

Left: treadled 1-2-1-2. Looks like alternating bricks.
Right: treadled 1-2-2-1. Looks like stacked bricks.

This is using the standard 2/2 balanced twill tie-up.

Numbers in right-hand column indicate shafts.
Numbers along the bottom indicate treadling.

Here are the samples.
 
Sample #11: 1-2-2-1 S&W treadling

Sample #12: 1-2-1-2 S&W treadling

Both samples use 10/2 doubled for their pattern wefts. By sample 12, I had figured out which shed to use for smoother looking transitions between the blocks. Consequently, I like the second one better. 

No matter what I'm weaving, my mind is always busy wondering. Some of my thoughts are creative curiosity (what if I changed this? or tried that?). Some of them contemplate practical applications (what project could I use this for?) For these samples, I'm thinking ahead to a (probably distant) future project, which is to weave drapery fabric for my dining room windows. What I want, is something to coordinate with my Blue Willow dishes. 

The Scandinavian Favorite table runner I wove last year.

Blue Willow has an intricate blue and white border pattern around the edges.


I've been looking for something that would compliment that, and I'm thinking crackle threading with summer and winter treadling could work very well. I'll add it to my list of possibilities.

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Sunday, October 27, 2024

Crackle Manners of Weaving: On Opposites


In weaving, opposites can refer to either:
  • Pattern blocks. For example, one pattern block is woven lifting one or two particular shafts, and the next block is treadled with the opposite shafts. Tabby must be used to avoid long warp floats and stabilize the fabric. My Cottage Windows table runner is woven this way.
  • Alternating opposite sheds. For example, a shed from shafts 1-2 is alternates with 3-4. Tabby is optional, but produces a more stable fabric.
Sample #9: Blocks On Opposites

The draft for this sample is based on one from Anne Dixon's The Handweaver's Pattern Directory, page 131. 

Sample #9, crackle blocks on opposites

  • Warp and tabby are 10/2, pattern weft is 10/2 doubled
  • Alternates sheds 1-2 and 3-4 with tabby.
 
Sample #10: Opposite Sheds with Tabby
 
Sample #10, woven on opposite sheds

Sample #10 close-up
  • 2 pattern wefts in different colors with tabby
    • 1-2, a
    • 3-4, b
    • repeat as desired
  • Warp and tabby are 10/2
  • Pattern wefts are 6/2
Based on the sample photo in Weave Classic Crackle & More, I was fully expecting to not be impressed with this one. So, I was surprised when i liked the look of it. I got to thinking it would make nice yardage for a lightweight jacket or heavyweight shirt. I wove more, rotating the blocks:
  • 1-2 and 3-4
  • 2-3 and 1-4
  • 3-4 and 1-2
  • 1-4 and 2-3
It makes a nice but subtle patterned fabric. I particularly like plaids and checks, which would be easy to create with this manner of weaving. I'll keep it on my "to try" list for a future yardage project.

Another example

My Cottage Windows table runner woven on opposite blocks.

Resources
  • Wilson, Susan, Weave Classic Crackle & More, pages 45, 52
  • Brusic, Lucy M., A Crackle Weave Companion, page 29
  • Snyder, Mary E., The Crackle Weave, page 11
  • Dixon, Anne, The Handweaver's Pattern Directory, page 131

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Saturday, October 26, 2024

Crackle Manners of Weaving: Polychrome

Poly (many), chrome (colors). In weaving, polychrome describes a category. The effect is produced by using a variety of weft colors, treadled in one of several ways to create blocks of color. 

I particularly like Susan Wilson's definition of polychrome, because it's based on her research of the weaving literature to find the common factors in all the definitions. I think this is important, because I'm seeing that many books describe only one of the various polychrome treadling patterns.

Polychrome Characteristics

  • multiple weft colors (2, 3, or 4)
  • typically a single warp color
  • the treadling pattern creates blocks of color side by side
  • includes a variety of treadling methods
  • commonly used with crackle, but also overshot and summer & winter

Because polychrome covers a number of treadling methods, I chose a few to start and added examples from other blog posts. I may try more later, depending on how much sampler warp I have.

Resources
Usually, I put my resources at the end of the post, but since I'm picking and choosing from them for my sampler, I'll list them here and refer to the page numbers with each sample.
  • Snyder, Mary E., The Crackle Weave (1961 edition)
  • Brusic, Lucy M., A Crackle Weave Companion
  • Wilson, Susan, Weave Classic Crackle & More
Sample #7: Polychrome Blocks (Snyder page 101, Brusic pages 52-53) 
 
#7 Polychrome Blocks
  • 4 weft colors
  • woven in overshot manner
  • rotates 2 colors per block
    • pattern weft is one color
    • tabby is a different color
  • rotate through the four colors as follows:
    • Block 1 (lift shafts 1-2) 
      • pattern: color #1
      • tabby: color #2
    • Block 2 (lift shafts 2-3)
      • pattern: color #2
      • tabby: color #3
    • Block 3 (lift shafts 3-4)
      • pattern: color #3
      • tabby: color #4
    • Block 4 (lift shafts 4-1)
      • pattern: color #4
      • tabby: color #1

Sample #7 polychrome blocks detail
Weaving Notes
  • In my first picture, I can't see my blocks as distinct entities and am pondering this.
    • Firstly, I'm thinking heavier pattern wefts would bring out the blocks more.
    • Snyder's study recommends using 10/2 for both warp and weft, set at 24 e.p.i. I'm using 10/2s but my sett is 20 e.p.i. (as per Wilson's sampler instructions.) Can't help but wonder if I wouldn't like the tighter sett better.
    • Also, I'm thinking the light color warp washes out the color effect of the blocks. I'll have to experiment with a darker warp in the future.
  • Getting the sampler off the loom and wet finished with make a difference also.
  • In general, the draft seemed complicated at first, but the sheds and color rotation are logical and easy to follow.

Sample #8: Traditional Polychrome (Wilson, pages 54, 57, 58) 
 
#8 Traditional Polychrome Crackle
  • 3 shuttles
    • 2 pattern wefts in different colors
    • 1 tabby weft, can be same as warp or a different color
  • colors and tabby are rotated in the same sequence throughout
  • treadling is a 6 pick sequence (translated here as a lift plan because I'm using a table loom)
    • Block A
      • 3-4 (weft color 1)
      • 1-4 (weft color 2)
      • tabby a
      • 3-4 (weft color 1)
      • 1-4 (weft color 2)
      • tabby b
    • Block B
      • 1-4 (weft color 1)
      • 1-2 (weft color 2)
      • tabby a
      • 1-4 (weft color 1)
      • 1-2 (weft color 2)
      • tabby b
    • Block C
      • 1-2 (weft color 1)
      • 2-3 (weft color 2)
      • tabby a
      • 1-2 (weft color 1)
      • 2-3 (weft color 2)
      • tabby b
    • Block D
      • 2-3 (weft color 1)
      • 3-4 (weft color 2)
      • tabby a
      • 2-3 (weft color 1)
      • 3-4 (weft color 2)
      • tabby b
Weaving Notes
  • In light of my observations for sample #7, I decided to use a heavier pattern weft.
    • warp and tabby are 10/2 in natural
    • pattern wefts are red and dark gray in 6/2
  • I think that was a good choice.
More examples of polychrome from previous posts projects

Classic Crackle sample #2, details here.

On Opposites Photo is from my Cottage Windows table runner 
  • In weaving, opposites can refer to either:
    • Alternating opposite sheds. For example, a shed from shafts 1-2 is alternated with 3-4. Contrasting colors are used for the wefts. Tabby is optional, but produces a more stable fabric.
    • Pattern blocks. For example, one pattern block is treadled with shafts 2-3 for so many shots, and then treadled 1-2 for so many shots. The second block is treadled with the opposite shafts 4-1 and 3-4. With this treadling, tabby must be used to avoid long warp floats.
  • produces a weft-faced fabric
  • See Weaving On Opposites for more information.

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Thursday, October 24, 2024

Crackle Manners of Weaving: Woven as Twill


Crackle is a twill derivative and can be treadled as for any twill pattern, of which there are dozens. It may be woven with tabby or without. I've done a number of these previously (see End of Warp Sampling), and so for this sampler, I decided to experiment with different twill patterns. I found one in Davison called "Rambler Rose," that can be woven with or without tabby.
 
#5. Treadled as Rambler Rose I with tabby

#6. Treadled as Rambler Rose II without tabby

Weaving Notes
  • Warp for both samples is 10/2 cotton in natural
  • #5 pattern weft is 10/2 doubled, tabby is same as warp
  • #6 pattern weft is 5/2 cotton, tabby same as warp
  • Adding tabby obviously expands the pattern (almost loses the pattern)
  • Neither is especially interesting to weave
  • Nor can I think of anything I'd use them for

More examples

As mentioned above, I previously wove a number of twill treadled samples on the remaining warp of a  Scandinavian Favorite table runner. These can be seen at my End of Warp Sampling blog post. 

Click here to see the samples listed below

All were treadled without tabby:
  • straight twill
  • point twill
  • broken twill
  • birds eye twill 
  • rosepath twill
  • twill and reverse
  • skip twill
  • pebble weave (Davison)
  • & a different birds eye twill
Resources
  • Wilson, Susan, Weave Classic Crackle & More, pages 31-32
  • Brusic, Lucy M., A Crackle Weave Companion, pages 28, 36, 
  • Snyder, Mary E., The Crackle Weave, pages 13, 23
  • Davison, Marguerite Porter, A Handweavers Pattern Book, page 37
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Tuesday, October 22, 2024

Crackle Manners of Weaving: Overshot Manner


Overshot manner (also known as traditional crackle) is probably the most well known and popular of the crackle manners of weaving. In fact, some books (such as Anne Dixon's The Handweaver's Pattern Directory) show it as the only way to weave crackle. It's the most traditional way (hence the name "traditional crackle") and is probably synonymous with crackle in the minds of many weavers. 

I wove two samples in overshot manner. The first (sample #3) was "as drawn in" for the threading pattern, i.e. I followed the threading draft for the treadling. The second (#4) was a small "novelty" overshot treadling I found in Marguerite Porter Davison's A Handweaver's Pattern Book.
 
#3. Crackle in overshot manner woven as-drawn-in
 
#4. Overshot manner crackle in one of Davison's patterns
Overshot Manner Crackle Characteristics
  • two shuttles
  • alternates pattern and tabby wefts
    • pattern weft
      • heavier than tabby wefts and warp
      • contrasting color to warp and tabby wefts
    • tabby weft - same as warp
  • as with overshot, the tabby wefts alternate to create a plain weave ground cloth, while the pattern weft is supplementary, floating over and under groups of warp thread
  • differs from overshot as there are no floats longer than three threads. The pattern weft is tied down every 4th warp end.
  • typically uses a 2/2 twill tie-up (or lift plan for a table loom)
    • shaft 1: 3-4
    • shaft 2: 1-4
    • shaft 3: 1-2
    • shaft 4: 2-3 
  • treadling (numbers indicate shafts, a & b = tabby shots)
    • block A: 2 a 2 b
    • block B: 3 a 3 b
    • block C: 4 a 4 b
    • block D: 1 a 1 b
  • most overshot treadling patterns will work with crackle threading
  • Patterns featured in Marguerite Porter Davison's A Handweaver's Pattern Book and Anne Dixon's the Handweaver's Pattern Directory use this manner of weaving.

Weaving Notes
  • Sample #1
    • warp and tabby are 10/2 in natural, pattern is 6/2 in gray
    • treadled following the threading draft, as drawn in
    • I should have used a pattern weft with a better color contrast
    • And I think a heavier pattern weft would have looked better
    • woven to square
  • Sample #2
    • warp and tabby are 10/2 in natural, pattern weft is 6/2 in navy
    • I like the stronger color contrast better
    • the treadling pattern is variation VII of Valley Forge Dogwood, a small novelty overshot from Davison's Handweavers Pattern Book, (page 148)
    • overshot treadling drafts can be long and complicated, but for my sampler, I wanted something short and easy to follow. This one was perfect and I like it.
  • Overshot manner weaves a little faster than classic crackle, I reckon because the tabby is always 1-3, 2-4, no matter what block I'm on.

Another Example

Detail from my overshot manner table runner, Scandinavian Favorite.

Resources
  • Wilson, Susan, Weave Classic Crackle & More, pages 33-35
  • Brusic, Lucy M., A Crackle Weave Companion, page 26
  • Davison, Marguerite Porter, A Handweavers Pattern Book, page 148
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Sunday, October 20, 2024

A Second Classic Crackle Sample

This sample was woven with pattern weft the same weight as the warp and background wefts. 

Classic crackle with warp and both wefts (pattern & background) the same weight.

The pattern is more subtle than the first sample, which used a heavier pattern yarn.

Classic crackle with a heavier pattern yarn.

But it's still quite visible because the pattern yarn is thrown every other shot, making it 50% of the treadling sequence. 

Pattern weft is dark green, background wefts are gold
and mustard yellow. Warp is natural. All in 10/2 cotton.

The heavier pattern weft makes a more textured fabric, of course, and that's another design element  I can easily control. It's another example of crackle's versatility.

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Friday, October 18, 2024

Crackle Manners of Weaving: Classic Crackle


#1. Classic crackle sample woven in 10/2 cotton, pattern weft doubled

#2. Classic crackle woven in 10/2 cotton, all yarns the same weight

Pattern weft is dark green, background wefts are gold
and mustard yellow. Warp is natural. All in 10/2 cotton.

Classic Crackle Characteristics
  • 3-shuttles, each carrying a different color
    • pattern weft (typically a heavier yarn, but can be the same weight)
    • ground x (typically same weight as warp)
    • ground y (typically same weight as warp)
  • 2/2 twill tie-up (which, since I'm using a table loom, this will be my lift plan)
    • 3-4
    • 1-4
    • 1-2
    • 2-3 
  • no tabby
  • treadled as drawn in, i.e. treadling draft follows the threading draft (see threading keys in this post)
    • Block A
      • 1 (ground x)
      • 2 (pattern)
      • 3 (ground y)
      • 2 (pattern)
    • Block B
      • 2 (ground x)
      • 3 (pattern)
      • 4 (ground y)
      • 3 (pattern)
    • Block C
      • 3 (ground x)
      • 4 (pattern)
      • 1 (ground y)
      • 4 (pattern)
    • Block D
      • 4 (ground x)
      • 1 (pattern)
      • 2 (ground y)
      • 1 (pattern)
    • incidentals use ground x
  • color order remains the same in all the blocks
  • particularly useful for color weaving
Weaving Notes
  • I've decided  to experiment with color with each sample, i.e. choose color combinations that are untypical for me.
  • I have a bunch of bobbins with 10/2s, leftover from my Cottage Windows table runner. I'll start with those for my weft colors.
  • I was uncertain about using natural for the warp, but I think it's going to be okay.
  • Pattern weft for this sample is 10/2s on my double bobbin shuttle.
  • I'm used to weaving with that bulky t-shirt yarn, so this is quite a change! A nice change. 
  • I was wondering why my sample didn't look like the picture in the book. Then I realized that I wasn't treadling as drawn in (which would have been block A, D, C, B, D, A, B, C, D, A.) I treadled A, B, C, D. In some ways it doesn't matter, because this is just an example of classic crackle. On the other hand, I'm curious how it's supposed to look. Maybe I'll try it again later.

Another Example

Classic crackle bath mat woven in 4-ply cotton. Pattern
weft is the same size as warp and background wefts.
Resources
  • Wilson, Susan, Weave Classic Crackle & More, pages 17-18
  • Tidball, Harriet, The Weaver's Book, pages 125-126
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Wednesday, October 16, 2024

Crackle Weave Study Part 1: Manners of Weaving on 4 Shafts

I mentioned in my last post that crackle is primarily defined by its threading, which follows a set of specific characteristics. As a review, I'll start by listing those.

Characteristics of Crackle
  • Crackle is a twill based block weave.
  • The blocks are composed of 3-shaft point-twill threading units,
  • but it isn't a unit weave. In a unit weave, the blocks weave independently of one another.
  • Crackle blocks do not weave independently of one another because each block shares pattern shafts with one of its neighbors. (See threading key below)
    • Blocks A and B share shafts 2 and 3
    • Blocks B and C share shafts 3 and 4
    • Blocks C and D share shafts 1 and 4
    • Blocks D and A share shafts 1 and 2
  • Exception: by omitting one block in the sequence, it's possible to weave rows of only one block.
  • The number of blocks is determined by the number of shafts. 4 shafts can weave 4 blocks.
  • In 4-shaft crackle, blocks weave as either pattern blocks and background blocks.
  • As a twill derivative, treadling follows the odd/even shed order of twill.
  • To maintain that order, transitional thread ends (incidentals) are used between blocks.
  • Floats are no longer than three ends or picks. 

When I first started looking at crackle, I struggled to understand all of that. Now, I can pull most of that out of my memory, although I did double check myself to make sure I didn't miss anything.

So, those are the ground rules, with variety found in the choice of yarns and colors, and the size and arrangement of the blocks. Crackle's true versatility, however, is found in the numerous ways in which it can be treadled, called "manners of weaving". The first part of my study plan is to explore those ways by weaving a sampler on my 4-shaft table loom.

4-shaft Crackle Sampler
  • Based on the sampler idea from Susan Wilson's Weave Classic Crackle & More, page 30.
  • warp
    • 10/2 cotton
    • 160 ends
    • 20 e.p.i.
    • 10-dent reed threaded 2 per dent
    • width: 8-inches 
    • length: 5-yards
  • weft
    • 5/2 (or 10/2 doubled) cotton pattern weft
    • 10/2 cotton ground weft
  • threading
    • Susan recommended something with diagonals, points, or zigzags
    • I used her diamond motif threading (page 34) because it includes both consecutive and non-consecutive blocks. That way, I'm hoping to get a better idea of what's going on.
    • threading key:

      Threaded right to left. O = incidentals, threaded at the end of the block only.
    • profile draft:


  • tie-up
Numbers in right-hand column indicate shafts.
Numbers along the bottom indicate treadling.

Right now, my plan is to weave several crackle samplers, each with a different emphasis.
  • Part 1: manners of weaving on 4 shafts
  • Part 2: color and crackle
  • Part 3: manners of weaving on 8 shafts

Also, I need to figure out how to organize my samples so that I can refer to them easily. For all the benefits of using a computer and a blog, information does have the amazing ability to become buried who knows where. I started a Manners of Weaving blog page last year, but I think it will need to be revamped. I'm thinking to make each sample it's own blog post, so that I can use the Manners of Weaving page as a index, with pictures of the samples and links to details and more examples. 

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Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Crackle Weave : Resources For a Proper Study

When I decided to delve into crackle weave last year, I started by taking a look at my 1961 edition of Mary Snyder's The Crackle Weave. The book is set up as a study plan to accompany a workshop in crackle, with lessons instead of chapters and projects based on those lessons. My idea was to weave a sampler by working my way through the lessons. 

I confess it was over my head. So, I bought two more books: Weave Classic Crackle & More by Susan Wilson and A Crackle Weave Companion by Lucy M. Brusic. I chose these because of the way they explore crackle. They are resource books rather than project books. I gave them a prominent place on my weaving bookshelf, and these became my primary crackle reference books.
 
At first, I tackled crackle with a hit-and-miss approach, choosing whatever struck my fancy. I had some successes and some failures. I learned a lot, but found I still couldn't wrap my head around crackle as a whole. That's when I decided to read Susan Wilson's book from cover to cover, start to finish. After that, I started on Lucy Brusic's book the same way. With a little crackle weaving experience under my belt. what I read was beginning to make sense.

The core of crackle is in the threading. That's what makes crackle, crackle. But it can be treadled in numerous ways, each with it's own attractive effect. Both of these books explore those ways. Does that mean there's a lot of overlap in content? Not as much as you'd think.

The basic explanations are similar, of course. But I have to say I really like getting the basics worded differently by the two authors. That helped clarify the concepts, plus I gleaned some unique and helpful tidbits from each one.

Wilson prefers classic crackle and Brusic prefers traditional (overshot manner) crackle, although both books extensively explore other possibilities. Wilson's samples come from her own designs, while Brusic utilizes the early crackle literature: Mary Snyder's The Crackle Weave, Mary Meigs Atwater's Recipe Book, and Marguerite Davison's A Handweaver's Pattern Book. To her credit, she does a good job of not requiring the reader to have these books, although it really adds a lot to have them. What I appreciate about this, is that I've been inspired by some of the patterns in these resources, and find the modern interpretation and application very helpful. Lucy's book is helping me understand them.

Part of the "& More" of Susan's book is 8-shaft crackle. In studying her samples, I see that 8 shafts opens up whole new design possibilities by creating plain-weave-like blocks in addition to the pattern and background blocks of 4-shaft crackle. She also discusses turned crackle and has an extensive section on crackle in color-and-weave. Lucy's book sticks with 4-shaft, but she explores interesting ideas such as block arrangement and swapping treadling drafts with different threadings. She also has more ideas on unique ways of using color in crackle.

Would I recommend one book over the other? EDIT: No. They both have a lot to offer and between the two of them, offer a well-rounded look at what crackle is and can do.  That statement is still true, but if I could only buy one book, I would recommend Weave Classic Crackle & More to start. I found it a little bit easier to read through, and it's set up better as an introduction to crackle. Lucy's book is an excellent second resource because it adds more ideas and possibilities. So, I'd still recommend both, but in that buying order. 

After reading these books, I've come up with a plan. In Susan's Weave Classic Crackle & More, she recommends making a sampler to work through many treadling variations. My plan is to use Susan's book to work through these, while referring to both Brusic's and Snyder's works as supplementary material for each of these treadlings. Hopefully, I will end up with my own reference book, with all pertinent information plus the woven samples. That should keep me busy this winter. 

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Saturday, October 12, 2024

Of T-shirt Yarns & Twill: Wet Finishing the Sampler

Wet finishing was the test. It's a process of soaking and washing newly woven fabric, which serves to relax, settle, soften, full, and shrink the yarns according to fiber content and weave structure. My first two t-shirt yarn fabrics (wanna-be bathroom rug and wanna-be upholstery fabric) did not turn out as hoped after wet finishing. What I learned led to this last sampler. 

Fresh off the loom, unwashed, 5.75" by 24.25"

Wet finishing consisted of machine washing in tepid water and hot machine drying. Ordinarily, I line dry everything, but the dryer serves to help test the fabric to its limits.

After machine washing only. 5" by 21.25"

Most notable is the plain weave section on the right. It did not shrink as much as the remaining twill samples, with a width of 5.75 inches. This is characteristic of combining plain weave with twill.

After machine washing and drying. 4.75" by 20.375" (twills)

I was much happier with how these held up than with the crackle samples. The plain weave sample was, well, plain. But the twill samples were interesting because of the patterns the warp yarn made. 

From the left: twill & reverse, balanced 2/2 twill, and plain weave

From the left: crepe weave, vertical skip twill, and vertical herringbone

The longer warp float in the twill & reverse sample (left) wasn't as much of a problem as it was in the previous samples. Even though I like the zig zags, I think this twill is better suited for finer yarns. The vertical herringbone (yellow sample) resolved that with crisp neat lines. 

Overall, I liked the density and thickness of the fabric. I think it would work well for a throw rug.

I'm happy to have come up with a good structure for this yarn! I'm happy with what I learned and have to thank the problems for that. I learn so much better through experience that by just reading a book. 

So, a t-shirt bathroom rag rug is still on the planning board. I'll just need to collect more t-shirts first. 

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Thursday, October 10, 2024

Of T-shirt Yarns & Twill: Weaving a New Sampler

I still have a bit of t-shirt yarn left, and wanted to test my observations while they are still fresh in my mind. True experiential knowledge is gained through trial-and-error, which makes experiments very useful. I want to see how the t-shirt yarn behaves with a different weave structure. 

My sample is 6-inches wide in the reed, set at 12 ends per inch with the same rug warp as the cushion fabric. Threading is straight twill.

I deliberately stuck with balanced 2/2 twills (over 2, under 2) with this weft yarn, because the 3-thread floats in my crackle samples were unsatisfactory. A 1/3 or 3/1 twill would likely be just as unsatisfactory. 

My first sample is plain weave.


Then I played around with some twill treadlings.

balanced twill

twill & reverse

vertical herringbone

vertical skip twill

crepe weave

Observations


  • I discovered that quite a few of the twill treadlings gave me a warp float of three wefts, such as the twill & reverse above.
  • These aren't a problem with finer yarns, but I didn't care for them with this bulky yarn.
  • The vertical herringbone corrects this "problem" by skipping one of the treadles in the treadling order.
  • This limits my choices for weaving with t-shirt yarn.
  • I like the pebbly texture the yarn creates. 

The real test will come in the wet finishing! Both of my crackle experiments looked good on the loom, but weren't satisfactory after washing them. We'll see what happens with these.


Related posts
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