Choosing Weft and Taking a 180 Degree Turn

I've been having huge problems with loading photos on Blogger....can it get any slower?

Talk about changing my mind….I wanted to make a couple of summer weight cotton shibori scarves fine enough to wear with just a shirt so I started stash hunting. My stash is dwindling quickly but I did find two partial cones of 2/18 mercerized cotton, one in pale, pale pink and the other in coral. The coral really called to me and I knew it would be perfect dyed with navy; or at least that was the idea.

The plan was to make the scarves about 5 inches wide and 70 inches long. The shibori crinkles would make the finished width about 4 inches wide. I decided to sett the 2/18 cotton at 30 epi so that the scarves wouldn’t be stiff.

I started pulling the warp with every pass on the warping board I fell more and more in love with this almost iridescent coral colour. I had my 156 thread warp pulled and on the loom when I knew I couldn’t bear to dye it. So doing a 180 degree turn I’ve decided to weave these scarves in twill!

Now my problem was going to be to find a weft that would work with the 2/18 cotton. Again dipping into the stash I found this singles thick and thin silk that I dyed a few years ago in purple and aqua….perfect!

This is the pattern I’ve decided to use, it is an 8 shaft twill that used exactly the number of threads I had!

Here it is on the loom showing that side A will really show off the coral colour.

Side B features the variegations in the purple silk. Please forgive the lousy photography but I had to push the lens through the unwoven web to get it. Needless to say, it will look soooooo much better when it's been washed!

One of the best things about weaving is that you can change your mind, and the pink cotton is perfect for shibori, next time!