It's a Wrap! The Twill Gamp Dishtowels Are Done

My three dishtowels are off the loom, wet finished, and hemmed. I have to say that this was a great first project for my return to weaving. I learned that a gamp is definitely an interesting way to explore possibilities. I can see why weavers can spend months weaving them. I'd say gamps are the very best in sampling options. It's fascinating to see the patterns revealed pick by pick, how the colors interact, and be able to compare the different patterns side by side. 

Here are some close-ups of each of the towels.

Towel #1: Same color for both warp and weft gave let me see the textures.

Towel #2: Different color weft was good to see color interactions.

Towel #3: Overshot manner gave a completely different look to it.

Finishing them off, I realized the impact of having them in hand. When I look at a photograph of handwoven fabric, I see it. When I hold the actual fabric, I experience it. Does that make sense?

Notes and Observations

• I knew the draw-in for the various twill samples would vary, but it's acceptable.
• The draw-in for the overshot fashion towel was consistent for the length of the towel, however.
• Even though my favorite is the towel woven in overshot fashion, overshot is not something I am drawn to exploring. It doesn't spark my interest.
• I experimented trying to get the squares square, but I failed, I fear. With towel #1, I tried to weave each weft section a quarter inch longer than the square width. The other two, I made the same number of weft picks (threads) as warp ends (threads). My observation is that the different patterns react differently in their draw-in, take-up, and shrinkage.
• All the obvious random warp tension issues seemed to work themselves out with wet finishing.
• Hemming. I need to weave more between the towels for hemming, from now on.

I really like several of the individual woven samples in the towels. I'll get pics of them and make a draft for each, to file away for future projects.

It's a Wrap! The Twill Gamp Dishtowels Are Done

© Sept. 2023 by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

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Twill Gamp Weaving 6

This is the last of it! The third of my three dishtowels is woven, so the next step is getting it off the loom. Then I'll wash it and dry it, and we'll see how they turned out.

I only had one thing to figure out this time. I wove through many of the short treadle draft patterns first and then took a look at some with longer sequences. I'm using The Weaving Book, remember, and many of the patterns have sections that repeat the treadling anywhere from 2 to 6 times. This is characteristic of overshot and creates large pattern shapes, but I avoided these at first because I wasn't sure how to keep track of the treadle order. 

This one, for example. In my case, it's a liftplan, so it indicates the pairs of shafts that I'm lifting:

1. 2 - 3 (x 4)

2. 3 - 4 (x 2)

3. 1 - 4 (x 2)

4. 1 - 2 (x 2)

5. 1 - 4 (x 2)

6. 3 - 4 (x 2)

That's a total of 28 pattern weft shots. Did I really want to work with 28 beads? My numbered bead method for keeping track was working well for ten or less treadle changes, so I had to decide what to do about the repeats. I finally decided to work with just six beads and slide the bead to the middle of the stick until I completed all the repeats.

 

I'm on #4 in the pattern, lifting shafts 1 and 2 twice.

When I complete the repeats, I slide the bead all the way to the right and I'm ready for the next one. I found this works quite well, because it's easy to see the repeats in the fabric and make sure I've got them all.

For future reference, here are the last five sections.

Weft section 5, II 238 to II 241 (page 73)

Weft section 6, II 254 to II 257 (page 74)

Weft section 7, II 278 A to II 281 D (page 75)

Weft section 8, II 298 A to II 301 D (page 77)

Weft section 9, II 294 A to II 297 D (page 76)

Current length on the loom is about 24.75".

Twill Gamp Weaving 6 © Sept 2023

by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

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Twill Gamp Weaving 5

Two dishtowels down and one to go. But first, I had to decide how I wanted to weave it. I've done something different with each towel, so for this one, I finally settled on exploring the 'overshot fashion' section in Helen Bress's The Weaving Book. It continues with the same four twill threadings I've been using for my gamp (straight twill, point twill, rosepath, and broken twill), with overshot's heavier pattern weft and a tabby weft the same as the warp. 

Third twill gamp dishtowel woven in overshot fashion.

For my non-weaving friends, overshot is a traditional weave structure that uses two weights of yarns. The heavier yarn creates the pattern, and the lighter weight yarn basically holds the pattern in place. This is important because the patterns typically call for multiple repeats to build shapes of color in the cloth. The lighter weight tabby (which is just plain weave) serves as a binder between the rows of heavier yarn. You can see pictures of an overshot coverlet woven by my 4x-great-grandmother here.

My yarn stash is mostly 8/2 and 10/2 cotton, with very few choices in heavier yarns. Of the 6/2 that I thought would be an option, the only colors I have are pink, gray, white, and navy. Only navy looked good with my warp colors, so navy it is! I'm using navy for the pattern weft for the entire length of the dishtowel, and rotating tabby colors the same as my warp.

Notes and Observations

• My lever sequence counter is working very well, although I still have to remind myself to move the beads when I change the levers.
• I think I'm going to need to clamp the loom to the new desk. It has a smooth surface and the loom wants to move with every beat.
• I'm finally starting to take advantage of the two dowels on which the beater bar can rest. Being a compact loom, there isn't much distance between the breast beam and the castle, which means I have to advance the warp frequently. Simply moving the beater back gives me a few more inches before I have to do that!

• I'm wondering what it would look like if the pattern weft was a little heavier, although for the purposes of a dishtowel, it' fine.
• Maybe that's just an excuse to talk myself into buying more yarn.
• The addition of a third color makes each unit visually more complex, which intrigues me.

Even though I'm finding weaving on a table loom to be pretty slow, I still seem to be making good progress. Here are the first four weft sections, each with a different treadling pattern and tabby color. The treadling patterns don't have specific names, so I'm just identifying them with the codes given to them by Bress plus their page number in the book. All can be enlarged by clicking on the image.

1st weft section,  II 198 A to II 201 D (page 70)

2nd weft section, II 210 A to II 213 D (page 71)

3rd weft section, II 270 A to II 273 D (page 75)

4th weft section, II 202 A to II 205 D (page 71)

Twill Gamp Weaving 5 © Sept 2023

by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

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Weaving Notes and Observations

• As grateful as I am to have my table loom, I can't get a weaving rhythm going. With treadles, the whole body is involved and the hands are freer to get rhythmic throwing of the shuttle. Having to change the levers for every pick doesn't lend itself to that.
• I'm not entirely happy with the tension as I advance the warp. But now that I have a raddle, I can try warping back to front on my next project. 
• I need to start thinking differently about color. I tend to think of colors as individual entities and influence their relationship by placement. But the effect in weaving leans more to color blending. That's something different.
• I need to come up with a way to keep track of where I am in the liftplan. I make mistakes because I get "lost." Or get interrupted and don't mark where I left off. Any suggestions?

Here's my weaving progress since the last time.

Weft section 4, warp emphasis treadling (II 43 A to II 45 C) from Bress.

As I wove that section, I started thinking about the pebble weave I was intrigued with. I decided to use that treadling for the next section, to see what it did with the other threadings. Several caught my eye.

Pebble Weave on broken twill, point twill, and rosepath, cut and pasted to compare.
Click for a larger view.

Here's the entire weft section.

5th weft section treadled with Marguerite Porter Davison's Pebble Weave. (VIII)

And that kept me going with more treadling patterns from A Handweaver's Pattern Book.

Weft section 6, Swiss Twill (XXIII)

Weft section 7, "Tweel for Pillow Cases or Bed Ticking" (XIX)

In that section, I especially like this one . . .

Treadled on broken twill threading.

Next,

Weft section 8, cord weave (VI)

Eight sections plus blue borders puts my total length at about 23 inches. That will make the finished dishtowel shorter than my projected 24 inches, but I'm okay with that. 

Now to decide what I'm going to do on the last twill gamp dishtowel.

Twill Gamp Weaving 4 © Sept 2023

by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

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In the comments of my Evolution of a Project post, Michelle suggested swapping the dark green yarn for the blue. That lead to wondering about color play if I did a complete color swap for the weft yarns. 

a change-up of weft colors

The dark green weft made a lovely contrast.

The other two colors, not so much, as you'll see below.

Weaving Notes & Observations

• I'm concentrating more on making my squares square, so I'm counting picks to be the same as the warp, 48 x 48.
• If the towels shrink at the same rate as the sampler did, then they probably still won't be square.
• Except that 48 weft picks measures a little more than 48 warp ends. 
• Using the same color weft as warp on the first dishtowel seemed logical, but somehow I like the greater variety of colors in this one.
• The nice thing about weaving a dishtowel for learning, practicing, experimenting, or sampling is, in the end, a usable product is produced regardless of errors and mistakes.

Here are the first three sections with the new weft colors. Click to enlarge.

1st weft section is a straight twill treadling (II 9 A to II 12 D)

2nd weft section - twill & reverse treadling (II 18 A - II 21 D)

3rd section is weft emphasis treadling with tabby. (II 74 A to II 77 D)

Twill Gamp Weaving 3 © Sept 2023

by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

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Twill gamp dishtowel (1st of 3).

I finished the first towel last night.

Weaving Notes & Observations:

• I'm still experimenting with beating the weft, and have been firming up my beat. The beater bar, being small, isn't terribly heavy, so it's up to me to supply the right amount of force. That's a little trickier than just letting the weight of the beater do it.
• I seem to get the most consistent results if I apply a second beat after I change the shed.
• Color mixing observations (warp and weft) are as with my sampler, i.e. the weave structures are featured best with good color contrast.
• Same color warp and weft creates interesting texture in the fabric. I find myself wondering how to explore it. One idea I'd like to try is a fine variegated thread, perhaps for blouse-weight yardage.
• I also find myself wondering how some of these would look with different size yarns. Much larger yarn, for example, or much smaller. How would it effect the pattern? How would that affect the appeal of the fabric? 
• The twill zigzags (which have always intrigued me) in some of the woven squares only appear with the straight twill threading.
• My squares aren't going to be square.
• I need to fix the drive band on my bobbin winder.
• I need a taller weaving stool.

Here are the next weft sections. The color is inconsistent depending on the time of day I took the photo and whether or not I used the flash. The codes correspond to Helene Bress's The Weaving Book. Click for close-ups. Warp threading is here.

4th is a warp emphasis twill with plain weave. (II 70 A to II 73 D)

5th section is a variable twill treadling. (II 30 A to II 33 D)

6th is a miscellaneous treadling from The Weaving Book. (II 144 A to II 147 D).

7th section is straight twill order (II 9 A to II 12 D).
There's a treadling error in this section. Can you spot it? 

8th is a warp emphasis twill without plain weave. (II 70 A to II 73 D)

Current woven length is about 25 inches. I'll finish up with a couple of inches of plain weave and start on the next one.

Twill Gamp Weaving 2 © Aug 2023

Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

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Weaving has commenced on my dishtowels. The warp sections are threaded (from the left):

dark turquoise - point twill

light turquoise - rosepath

yellow - broken twill

dark turquoise - straight twill

light turquoise - point twill

yellow - rosepath

dark turquoise - broken twill

You can see the threading patterns here.

The first three weft sections are complete. The codes in parenthesis are those in The Weaving Book. I'm including them for future reference. If you click on the images you'll get larger close-ups. 

First is a twill and reverse treadling order. (II 14 A to II 17 D)

Second section is a broken twill treadling. (II 93 A to II 96 D)

Another twill and reverse, repeating twice before changing direction. (II 24 A to II 27 D)

I'm having a little trouble with the tension (I always did, warping front-to-back). I wonder if it's because I didn't use a 2-stick header, having used all my sticks as warp separators. 

I've woven about ten inches so far and am still working out the squares. After wet finishing my sampler, I had more shrinkage warp-wise, so I'm making the squares just a tad taller than their width. Hopefully, that's the right decision.  

Twill Gamp Weaving 1 © Aug 2023

Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

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My dishtowel gamp will have seven sections which rotate three colors and four twill threadings.

straight twill

point twill

rosepath

broken twill

There are many other possibilities, but these are the four explored in The Weaving Book, which is what I'm using for this exercise. Because I have seven sections and four threadings, one of these can only be used once. I used the straight twill threading for my sampler, so that's the one I'll use only once. 

I didn't draw the entire threading plan, (with 374 little squares) because I think I can keep track of it with a simple list.

From the front, left to right:

dark turquoise - point twill

light turquoise - rosepath

yellow - broken twill

dark turquoise - straight twill

light turquoise - point twill

yellow - rosepath

dark turquoise - broken twill

The blue ends are threaded straight 1, 2, 3, 4.

Twill Gamp Threading © Aug 2023

Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

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Boring Rambling Notes For Planning My Dishtowel Gamp

Gamp - a woven piece divided into equal sections for the purpose of exploring interactions of structure or color. Common examples are color gamps, twill gamps, and block weave gamps.

I want to weave a set of twill gamp dishtowels to explore straight twill, point twill, rosepath, and broken twill threadings with a variety of treadling patterns. Finished size of each towel will be 16" x 24".

Random Planning Thoughts

• A 16-inch woven width means I can have four, 4-inch squares, each with a different threading.
• Or eight, 2-inch squares, which would repeat the threading patterns.
• Do I want to border each square or leave them side-by-side without borders? 
• It's a twill gamp, so I like the idea of borders to frame the weave structure samples,
• which means I'd probably do better with the 4-inch squares. 
• But I like the idea of smaller squares, so maybe no borders?
• I would like repeated threading sections to be different colors.
• I plan to repeat the warp color sequence in the weft.

I'm using information from my sampler to plan this project.

Sampler Notes

• yarn: 8/2 cotton
• sett: 20 ends per inch
• actual shrinkage after hand washing and machine drying:
• width: 5%
• length: 8%

To make my calculations, I grabbed my copy of Learning To Weave to review how to figure out warp length and width. 

Warp Formulas

Length

72" project length for 3, 24" towels

+ 9" for folded, sewn hems for 3 towels

+ 10% for take-up

+ 10% for shrinkage

+ 20" loom waste

= 117" = 3.25 yards

Width

16" finished width

+ 1 inch draw-in

+ 10% for shrinkage

= 18.7" width on loom

× warp set (20 epi)

= 374 warp ends needed

Analysis (more rambling thoughts)

• 4 sections (4" squares, each threaded differently) of 374 ends would be 93 ends each and would look something like this
• 
  
  
  
  
• 8 sections (2" squares) of 374 ends would be 46.7 ends each
• if I make it 46 per color I'll end up with 368 ends
• If I make it 47 ends per color, I'll have 376 ends
• 46 would make it easier for sleying 2 per dent, and I'd only be 6 short of the width calculation
• I'm using 4 threading patterns, so 8 sections with four warp colors means I'd be repeating each threading section with the same color.
• 
  
  
  
  
• To explore color interactions, I'd like them to be different colors.
• 7 sections of 46 ends each would be 322
• so I'd get the color rotation I wanted
• but one threading pattern would only be used once.
• I'd need 52 warp threads more to make my targeted width.
• Maybe I can add my borders after all, to add more warp and be closer to my target width.
• 
  
  
  
  
• 8 border stripes of 4 ends each adds 32 more for a total of 354
• Still short 20 warp ends
• Maybe widen the squares to 48 warp ends each (times 7 sections = 336 ends)
• Plus the 32 ends for the borders = 368
• Plus 2 more for floating selvedges = 370
• I'm still short 4 ends of 374, but my actual draw-in and shrinkage for the sampler was 5%. The formula used one inch for draw-in plus 10% for shrinkage, so if I follow this plan, I should still be on target for a 16" total finished width.

I hope I explained that well enough so that I remember what I'm talking about the next time I read it.

Boring Rambling Notes For Planning My Dishtowel Gamp 

© August 2023 by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

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