Monday, March 03, 2025
Quick Update on the Runner Rug
Monday, February 24, 2025
Runner Rug: Glimakra Warped and Header Reveal
I've been plodding away through the planning, measuring, tying, threading, and tensioning process, all the while wondering if my woven fabric will turn out like the idea in my head. Often it does not! So I was a little excited to finally get the warp on the loom and start weaving the header.
The runner header reveals that, indeed, my idea works, and also that I will get the somewhat plaid like look I wanted by using the variegated yarn for both warp and weft.
Except.
Except this one green stripe that shows the same plain weave under and over pattern. I'm not sure why! I did correct some threading when I worked out where the stripes ought to be and tied on the new warp. But there was no way to catch this until I started weaving.
What am I going to do about it? Nothing. It's just the one stripe and for my purposes it doesn't matter. I can call it a design feature if anyone notices, which I doubt they will.
The finished rug will probably have more white than is desirable for a rug, but I got the yarn for the blue, green, and yellow bits to match my quilted bedspread curtains.
I'll have weaving details in my next post.
Wednesday, February 12, 2025
Coordinating Runner on the Dornik Herringbone Threading
Last summer I wove a throw rug for my newly set-up weaving room. As I wove, I entertained myself with a number of "what ifs" with the same threading. Could I use one of those ideas to weave a coordinating runner rug for that room? For example, something I noticed was when I wove the plain weave header, was that periodically I had two warp threads sharing the same over-under path.
This is because of the threading. Where the pattern reverses, the two adjacent warp threads are either both on even shafts (8 and 4) or on odd shafts (1 and 5).
This is usually considered a no-no for twills, but it works with the reverses in the herringbone pattern. What if I threaded these two warp threads in the same color (green) and everything else in the variegated yarn. I should get a rug runner with green stripes!
For the weft, I plan to use the same variegated yarn, which will give the effect of a pseudo plaid. Will it work? I'm fixing to find out.
Historical Research: American Weaving
One of the projects I have set for myself is to weave my family tree. i.e., samples of the traditional textiles from the cultures of my ancestors. I already have ideas for some of them (list here), but I'm starting with the most recent group, which is American. Trying to figure out distinctly American contributions to the history of weaving has been a bit of a challenge, because search information tends to be trendy rather than historically encompassing.
The time frame for my American heritage is broad, early 1600s to modern day. With that in mind, I've managed to piece together a somewhat approximate timeline of the relevant highlights.
Timeline of American weaving
- mid-1600s to 1725 - overshot coverlets and plain weave for garments
- 1725 to 1825 - coverlets in double weave and summer-and-winter
- white cotton and dark blue wool
- 1785 - power loom patented
- 1800s to early-1900s - shift to primarily industrialized weaving
- handweavers of note:
- Weaver Rose: William Henry Harrison Rose (1839-1913) of Kingston, Rhode Island. He and his sister, Elsie Maria Babcock Rose (1838-1926) remained traditional weavers during the industrialization of weaving. He collected and preserved many of the old weaving patterns from pre-industrial times.
- Women of rural southern Appalachia
- 1817: J. and R. Bronson published Early American weaving and dyeing : the domestic manufacturer's assistant and family directory in the arts of weaving and dyeing
- 1916 - Mary Meigs Atwater founded the Shuttle-Craft Guild to preserve and promote American handweaving.
- 1950 - Marguerite Porter Davison published A Handweaver's Pattern Book, based on the drafts preserved by Weaver Rose and the women of southern Appalachia.
I feel like this information gives me something of a historical dividing line between early and modern American weaving, with the end of early American weaving being due to the industrial revolution and the invention of the power loom. Large textile mills were built and weaving became a commercial enterprise. The result was that, apparently, hand weaving became almost extinct, except for a few dedicated handweavers. The resurgence of American weaving as an honored art and craft is largely due to the efforts of Mary Meigs Atwater.
So, maybe I'm looking at two samples?
Early American Weaving Characteristics
- Early American weaving had it's roots in Europe, and according to Mary Meigs Atwater's The Shuttle-Craft Book of American Hand-Weaving included Dutch, Mennonite, Scotch, Irish, and English traditions.
- Uses:
- fabric for clothing
- coverlets
- Yarns:
- wool weft
- cotton warp and tabby
- linen warp and tabby
- An interesting note from Handwoven Magazine: Pre-Revolution cotton production was forbidden in the British colonies. This was meant to create a monopoly on British-made cotton yarns, but the result was that American weavers began to replace cotton with linen (aka tow, from flax plants).
- Fabrics
- linsey-woolsey - linen (tow) warp and wool weft typically woven in plain weave or twill for garments.
- Colors:
- natural fiber colors
- natural dyes. Especially popular were
- indigo blue
- madder red
- Structures
- 4-shaft overshot for coverlets
- plain weave
- twill
- barley corn weave (later called spot Bronson)
- M's and O's
- huck
- summer and winter
Modern American Weaving Characteristics
Trying to identify specific characteristic of modern American weaving is more challenging. At some point, the focus shifted from utilitarian to artistic expression. Not that people stopped weaving useful items, but modern American weaving began to focus on weaving as an art form. In watching episodes of Textiles & Tea (hosted by the Handweavers Guild of America) I see an amazing amount of innovation and creativity. I have no idea if it's possible to weave a sample that represents all that.
Anyway, my plan is to do a first sample in an early American overshot pattern. I actually have an example of such a coverlet, woven by my 4x-great grandmother. (Pictures at that link.)
I'll decide about a modern sample later.
Monday, February 03, 2025
Weaving My Family Tree: Decisions Made
Our recent cold spell interrupted my weaving plans. It was so cold we closed off my sewing room to conserve heat in the rest of the house. So I couldn't get to my table loom. I finally got my bookmarks done, but I lost weaving momentum and mentally set the crackle pine tree table runner aside for now. I'd like to rethink it anyway. The bookmarks were interesting, but for the tree motif, I think I like 8-shaft summer-and-winter designs better.
Even though I couldn't get to my loom, I had plenty of time to start thinking about my genealogy weaving project. And I made some decisions on how to approach it (my list of decisions to be made is in this post.)
- I want to use the correct fiber types for the time period, but I don't want to spin my own yarns.
- Ditto for the colors. I want to approximate them but without dyeing my own yarns.
- I'm not going to worry about period equipment, I'll use what I've got.
- Size of samples will be standard notebook size. The plan is to weave 3 of each sample, and make 3 notebooks, one for myself and one for each of my kids.
Another decision to be made is sample order in the notebook. I plan to start with the present and work my way back. But there is some overlap of years. For example, my American ancestors date from 1620 to present, while my Irish ancestor arrived in Canada around 1825. My Prussian ancestor arrived in 1783 to fight for the British in the American Revolution. So, overlapping of dates.
There's no time table for this project, but I suspect it will take quite awhile. I'm starting with research for American weaving, but I'll put all that in a separate post.
Friday, January 31, 2025
Pine Tree & Snowflake Crackle Bookmarks
I had a yard-long warp and managed to weave three pine tree and snowball snowflake bookmarks. Atwater and Snyder called them snowballs, but I changed the name to snowflake because, as you can see, mine aren't solid like their diagrams.
 |
| Fresh off the loom in the order woven (left to right). The middle bookmark is backside up. |
Particulars
- Pattern: Mary Snyder, The Crackle Weave (1961 edition) page 24, which was based on Mary Meigs Atwater's The Recipe Book Series I, Recipe No. 12.
- Structure: 4-shaft crackle weave
- Yarns (all cotton):
- Warp: 20/2 cotton warp in light blue
- Tabby weft: same as warp
- Pattern weft:
- for the two on the left I used 6/2 in dark green and white
- 10/2 for the one on the right I used 10/2 in medium green and natural
- Warp ends: 100
- Sett: 44 e.p.i.
- Sley: 3-4-4 in a 12-dent reed
- Threading:
- Treadling: ad lib
Notes and Observations
- There wasn't a treadling draft so I experimented.
- I also experimented with yarn weights and colors.
- Of the pattern yarns, I like the heavier 6/2 better.
- It made a firmer fabric, which would be more suitable for a table runner.
- It made the pattern stand out more
- I had a couple of warp yarn breakages, some of which I didn't fix because the sett crams the heddles so close together, making it difficult to rethread them.
This was a good project and I gleaned good information for a possible future table runner in an adaptation of Atwater's coverlet pattern.
Pine Tree & Snowball Bookmarks: Planning
Sunday, January 26, 2025
Nature's Color Palettes: Thoughts & Observations
Continued from Nature's Color Palettes: A Few More
I'm still taking photos to play with for color palettes.
 |
| Moss |
 |
| Moss color palette |
By using Gimp photo editor's zoom, I was able to find "hidden" colors, like the orangey browns in the moss.
 |
| Quartz |
 |
| Quartz color palette |
 |
| Fungi |
 |
| Fungi color palette |
Interestingly, the fungi color palette is very similar to the natural colors of Shetland sheep fleece.
 |
| Handspun Shetland in whites, silvers, grays, fawns, moorits, and blacks. |
It also reminded me of one of the samples I wove for my Crackle sampler with natural, medium brown, and dark gray yarns.
 |
| Crackle sample #18 - Snyder's Shadow Blocks |
Maybe that's why the color combination was so appealing to me.
Then the Shetland samples reminded me of the colors of the natural cotton samples I got at a charkha spinning workshop.
 |
| Palette of natural cotton colors |
Observations:
- My winter season color palettes are primarily browns, grays, blues, and greens
- The greens are mostly warm greens.
- Also, I'm realizing how much my eye blends and assumes what colors I'm seeing. When I use the photo editor color picker, I get the color of one pixel which sometimes surprises me because my brain has interpreted the blend of colors differently.
- Because of that, I have to admit that these palettes are only possible because I'm using a computer.
- And that has me wondering about color blending in weaving, which is a complex topic.
- Lots more to ponder and explore.
Monday, January 20, 2025
Nature's Color Palettes: A Few More
Continued from Nature's Color Palettes: An Idea
 |
| Dawn Snow |
 |
| Dawn Snow color palette |
 |
| Snowy Pasture |
 |
| Snowy Pasture color palette |
 |
| Leyland Cypress Skyline |
 |
| Leyland Cypress Skyline color palette |
 |
| Holly |
 |
| Holly color palette |
© Jan 2025 by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal
Related post
Friday, January 17, 2025
Nature's Color Palettes: An Idea
The other day I went out to the barn for early morning chores. When I opened the barn doors, I looked through our bare woods and across the neighbor's field to see the sun coming up. I thought the colors were so lovely: pale pinks, peaches, purples, blues, greens, grays. I wished I'd brought my camera.
One of a weaver's many decisions in project planning is color. Sometimes I know what I want, but often I'm pulling out dozens of yarns to see what color combination inspires me. Sometimes it takes me days and days to decide. What if I had a selection of palettes available from which to choose? Nature always inspires me, so what if I took photos around the homestead and used Gimp (my photo editor) to pull out a variety of colors to make color palettes?
Here are my first ones, using Gimp's color picker and bucket fill tools to create
the palette.
|
| January Daybreak |
|
| January Daybreak color palette |
 |
| January Sunrise |
 |
| January Sunrise color palette |
 |
| Winter Evergreens |
 |
| Winter Evergreens color palette |
 |
| Pine Cones |
 |
| Pine Cones color palette |
Of course, more colors could be added for each palette. But I think for weaving, quilting, or knitting, these will work well for choosing color combinations. For the yarns, I have several options. One is that it will help me choose color combinations from my stash. Another would be dyeing my own yarns. I don't feel I need to be exact in my color matching; close enough would be good enough for me.
Being a color person, this exercise is quite fascinating to me and I've been making more to form a collection. I can see them forming seasonal categories. Not sure yet if I'll print them out, although a booklet would be helpful. But to start, I have them here on my blog.
Monday, January 13, 2025
Pine Tree & Snowball Bookmarks: Problem Corrected
Well, I got my setback sorted out. Turns out I needed to add 13 more warp ends to complete the threading pattern. Rather than unwind the warp and start over, just rethreaded the heddles from where the mistake was, and then weighted the additional warp bout in back.
Then I tested out the sheds to make sure the pattern was symmetrical and now I've got it.
Liftplan from the bottom:
1. Shafts 3-42. Shafts 1-33. Shafts 1-24. Shafts 2-3
Last time, I mentioned that there are no treadling instructions for the bookmark, so this gave me an idea of which sheds I need for the pine trees and snowballs. It appears that I'll only need sheds 3 (shafts 1-2) and 4 (shafts 2-3) for these, and shed 1 (shafts 3-4) for the squares between the motifs on the selvedges.
I'm referring to sheds rather than treadles because this is a direct-tie table loom that requires a liftplan instead of a treadle tie-up. It I did have treadles to tie up, the numbers (1, 2, 3, 4) would refer to the treadles.
Now I can get started on weaving some bookmarks.
Friday, January 10, 2025
Pine Tree & Snowball Bookmarks: Setback
There was no treading draft for this pattern, so I began my weaving with a bit of experimentation to see what all the sheds did.
I loosened the tension and tried to check the threading in the heddles, but it's too crammed to make an easy job of that. So I cut the warp right above the sample, removed the beater, and am making a more careful check.
I figured it could be one of two things:
- threading draft error
- miscounting on my part
What I discovered, is that I had the wrong number of warp ends. I knew from Lucy Brusic (A Crackle Weave Companion) that Snyder's book contains some errors. But I could see that the threading draft was correct, so my next step was to count the warp ends in the draft.
The instructions (The Crackle Weave, 1961 edition, page 24) called for 88 ends. Yet the draft counts out to 112, including selvedges and incidentals. In checking Syder's 1989 revised edition, I saw that the bookmark width and number of ends was omitted. So someone must have caught the error and omitted it, but it would have been helpful to indicate the correct number of ends required.
So, mystery solved, but I'll have to add 24 more ends to the warp and rethread to correct that error in the middle of the warp. Fortunately it's a short warp and so should be doable.
Monday, January 06, 2025
Pine Tree & Snowball Bookmarks: Planning
In my project planning post, I mentioned that I want to weave a pine tree and snowball table runner. For it, I'm thinking of adapting a coverlet pattern from Mary Meigs Atwater's Recipe Book.
|
|
Mary Meigs Atwater, The Recipe Book, Series I, "Coverlets," Recipe No. 12. |
It's a complicated pattern, however, and I've learned that the threading drafts in that book don't always jive with the image. Happily, Mary Snyder adapted the Atwater draft for bookmarks.
|
| Mary Snyder, The Crackle Weave page 24, 1961 edition |
Starting with this will give me a chance to better understand the threading and treadling,
before tackling the larger project. Plus, I'm thinking that having a selection
of bookmarks on hand will be nice for little gifts as needed.
Snyder has some good suggestions for yarn colors too, although the bookmarks call for a much finer yarn than I will use for a table runner. The bookmark call for 20/2 cotton warp at 44 e.p.i. With my 12-dent reed, I will sley it 3-4-4. Tabby weft is the same yarn as the warp. The pattern weft is heavier, so I'm going to start with 10/2s . My color choices are medium blue for the warp and tabby, white weft for the snowballs, and green for the pine trees.
 |
| Not the best representation of the green. Hopefully, it will look more accurate when I photograph the bookmarks in progress. |
I haven't decided about the little squares that separate the motifs. Maybe a red to give them a Christmasy look? Or black or blue? I'll have to experiment.
Currently, the loom is being threaded, so weaving will begin soon.
© Jan 2025 by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal
Related posts
Wednesday, January 01, 2025
Weaving My Family Tree
In my last post (Project Planning), I mentioned the projects I have in mind for my table loom and my Glimakra. But while I start on yarn selection and warp calculations, my mind is still pondering an idea that has been percolating for some time now - weaving my family tree.
This project would combine two of my favorite hobbies: weaving and genealogy. It's fascinating to research one's roots. For some people, genealogy is all about names and nationalities. But I find the cultures of my ancestral peoples even more fascinating. Maybe that's because another of my interests is traditional crafts and skills. As a fiber artist, a particular interest in culture is clothing, textiles, and how these things were made. What if I were to trace my ancestral origins through their textiles? Might that not be an interesting project?
This past Christmas season, I made a series of posts on my homestead blog entitled "Christmas Songs of my Ancestors." It traced back through the general regions and ethnicity of the various people groups in my family tree, focusing on their languages and music. Thanks to that series, I now have somewhat of an outline that can would help me weave my family tree.
- American: this would extend from modern times back to the early 1600s, when the first of my ancestors migrated to the New World.
- Native American: 1600s
- Irish: 1800s
- Prussia: 1400s to 1700s (I just learned about this one)
- English: 1200s to 1500s
- Norman French: 1000s to 1100s
- Viking: 700s to 900s
- Saxon: 400s to 1000s
- Celtic: prior to the Roman and Saxon invasions, all the way back to who knows when
There are a number of things I'd have to research for each one:
- fibers
- weave structures
- colors
- dyes
- equipment
And I'd have to make decisions such as:
- How historically accurate do I want to be?
- Do I want to use authentic fibers and yarns?
- Do I want to spin the yarns myself?
- Do I want to use historically accurate equipment?
- Do I want to do the dyeing myself, with plants they would have used?
- Do I want to weave actual period objects, such as blankets and clothing?
- Or do I just want to weave samples?
Obviously, this will take some time to research and make decisions. And it will take some time to plan, source and obtain materials, and weave. But I'm not in a hurry. I just like the idea of combining two interests like this. And I do love a good research project.
This post, then, is my starting point for this project and will serve as a reference for my research.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)