My Polka Drop fabric was woven some time ago, and now it’s time to move on with the sewing, not my strong suit by any means. I’m a competent seamstress, but not an intuitive one, so it's a real challenge for me.
I found two patterns that I liked a lot. The Butterick pattern is a reproduction of a 1952 pattern and I love, love, love it – but it didn’t have set in sleeves or a separate collar. The sleeves and the collar were attached to the back and the front, so they were huge pattern pieces. The Burda pattern had separate sleeves and collar pieces, so this was the basic pattern that I used.
When I did my final fabric inspection I found a skip float that was about 12 inches in from the selvedge right across the whole width of the fabric! I had to use every square inch of my 30 inch wide fabric, so to make sure that I didn’t forget it, I marked it with red thread.
With a lot of messing around I managed to get the error right at the end of the sleeve, so it would be on the inside hem - whewwwww.
I tried laying the pattern pieces every way I could think of on my doubled fabric, but I just barely had enough to handle the four major pieces.
This didn’t leave a lot of fabric unused and what was left was in small pieces and I didn’t have enough left over for my collar!
When I did my final fabric inspection I found a skip float that was about 12 inches in from the selvedge right across the whole width of the fabric! I had to use every square inch of my 30 inch wide fabric, so to make sure that I didn’t forget it, I marked it with red thread.With a lot of messing around I managed to get the error right at the end of the sleeve, so it would be on the inside hem - whewwwww.I tried laying the pattern pieces every way I could think of on my doubled fabric, but I just barely had enough to handle the four major pieces.
This didn’t leave a lot of fabric unused and what was left was in small pieces and I didn’t have enough left over for my collar!
There wasn't much left over at all, and what was left was oddly shaped and the collar pieces just wouldn't fit!
I decided to purchase some navy velvet to use for the collar. 
I decided to purchase some navy velvet to use for the collar.
Not only would this allow me to customize the collar to make the coat unique but it would overcome any fabric scratchiness around the neck and face. Here is the jacket at the based stage and other than being too big for my model - it's looking good.
I made a huge effort to line up the dots on the back of the jacket, isn’t Ngaire a great model in that perfect hand to the collar pose? 
Originally I'd hoped to have this swing jacket unlined, so that the reverseable fabric could be seen, but after cutting I knew this was not going to be. Now to sit down and attack the lining and collar!
I made a huge effort to line up the dots on the back of the jacket, isn’t Ngaire a great model in that perfect hand to the collar pose? Originally I'd hoped to have this swing jacket unlined, so that the reverseable fabric could be seen, but after cutting I knew this was not going to be. Now to sit down and attack the lining and collar!
At the ends of the scarves I am doing a solid black section to represent the piano and to give a clear definition of the keyboard. I am using black chenille and I am using a LeClerc doubling shuttle because the rest of the scarf is done as clasped weft which is a double pick so the end of the scarf needs to be done doubled also to give the same weight and look to the scarf. I am not using floating selvedges so throwing the shuttle twice was not practical.
The other shuttle that I am using is the Howell’s Little Man because it has the longest bobbin, 8¼ inches. I can get all the white chenille that I need for one scarf on the bobbin. The shuttle is also great because the side slit is as long as the bobbin so there is no pulling on the yarn as it comes out. On some shuttles the opening is too short and the angle that the yarn is forced into stops any movement.
One of the great benefits to clasped weft is that the second weft is used when it is still on the cone, so my fourth shuttle is actually a cone sitting at my feet!
Disaster has struck, I have run out of warp and I still need to weave 20 inches. The warping bar is touching the heddles but if I can extend the warp I can finish the scarf. So with my Mum’s help we cut each warp thread and knot a purple thread 40 inches long to either side of the cut warp thread.
The view from the back is not so bad but the front is scary. To keep the back neat and tidy we pulled the warp forwards and it looked like a tangled mess.
It look a long time to finish because we had to be careful to make sure that the extender threads were the same length and that we were knotting at the same length also because it affects the warp tension. But I was able to finish the scarf although I had to shorten the scarf by 6”. By the end the knots were just touching the back of the reed!
Because the scarves are two different lengths I don’t feel that I can give them to the person that commissioned the scarves so I am planning on doing the scarves again; this time I'll be using 100% chenille.
The scarves look fantastic and overall I am happy with them. They are very striking and make for a very graphic punch when placed with the other scarves that we have for sale.
I actually sampled, I had to because I wasn’t sure if the weft was going to cover the warp and I had to figure out the pattern, and I wanted to have the keys the correct size after washing. I don't have a piano, so I went to the internet and printed off a real keyboard. I copied it exactly, right down to the note/half note placement. I did two samples, the first I had black chenille as my floating selvedges because I was trying to hide the black chenille going up the side when I didn’t need it but it just looked messy on both sides, so I nixed that idea. The second sample was without the floating selvedges and it looks cleaner and I also changed the pattern a little. In the picture below is both samples, the first sample is the background and has been washed. The second sample had not been washed so I could get an idea of the shrinkage.
I developed the pattern on the warp because there isn’t a really good way to graph the keys. I used a picture of a keyboard and carefully wrote down the pattern. At the end I had the main pattern repeat having steps A through X, with a step having 5 to 8 picks. It is a long repeat and it takes me about an 1 hour to do, by the end I was a little faster but it was still slow going.
Here is a little peek of the scarf. It looks very neat!
The first scarf is finished, although still on the loom, and I am starting on the second. Watching a piano grow on my loom is a little surreal but fun! Stay tuned, the second installment will be soon!
With the Snowflake Twill Scarf off the loom, I faced a little problem. The warp had been hand painted so there was a lot of variation of colours in the fringe and I didn’t want to end up with a candy cane effect in the fringe. So my solution is to make a fringe with lots of thin twizzles. If I could go back and repaint the scarf I would make sure to paint the fringe area in one solid colour.
The fringe looks really nice, the colours are clear and there is only a little candy caning but it only really can be seen close up. Because there are so many twizzles in the fringe and so many colours I don’t think that I am going to be beading this fringe. 
The scarf is a really interesting piece. The plum and navy splashes highlight different parts of the pattern which makes it truly attention grabbing. 
Weaving this scarf was a challenge because each snowflake has to be the same size. It was all about having the same beat every hour of every day of weaving which is really hard to do. I took a lot of measurements as I was going but I still had to do some unweaving! But the effort is really worth it; in both the scarf and my new awareness of my beat. 
The scarf has a lovely drape; it makes an almost liquid puddle. After washing that scarf was really stiff but after beating the scarf against the couch the gorgeous drape magically appears. 
I learned a lot about weaving with this scarf. I learned how to design a snowflake twill; it is almost as much fun watching the snowflakes appear on a computer screen as weaving one is! I also have a new awareness of my beat which I am going to be developing and improving this year, I hope!
I decided to knit both sides of this scarf at the same time to ensure that both sides would be the same length….nothing worse than running out with one side only half the length of the other! Nahhhh, I've never done that!
I started with a pattern called ‘candle pattern’ in my knitting book for the pockets and when I had the pockets deep enough I changed to stocking stitch for the back of the pockets, so they would lay flat and not catch on rings. I love the way the top of the pocket frills out. When I had the back of the pockets completed, I changed back to ‘candle pattern’ for the front of the scarf.
When it looked like I had just about used up my yarn, I switched to a 3x3 rib for about 6 inches on each side. This was to make the scarf thin enough to sit nicely under a collar. Now came the hard part …I tried to do ‘Kitchener stitch’ and sat down and followed an excellent Youtube tutorial only to find that I’d knitted one side right side up and the other upside down….I was following a tutorial for doing the toe of socks….duh, no wonder it didn’t work!
I scrapped that idea and used my own finishing technique. I decided to graft the stitches together with a nice pink seed bead….cute eh? And just perfect to keep the scarf weighted at the nape of Ngaire's neck.
When I 
This did not work with my bobbins….I was weaving away happily and then I came to a grinding halt….seriously, stopped dead in my tracks!
Lesson learned….clip that wee bit of sticking out yarn off before beginning to weave
I find it quite amazing that this tiny bit of yarn could cause me so much grief!
There was a little trouble with the weft; we pulled the weft on the warping board 3 yards long but no cross. It dyed beautifully but getting the weft into a ball was a little painful. The weft had to be draped over the warping board and gently teased out if it was pulled to vigorously it tangled! 
The weft is really pretty, lots of different shades of green and some browns even. It truly looks like moss. And I loaded a beautiful looking pirn that I just had to take a picture of because, well, it is rare that the pirn looks this good!
In the picture below the jagged warp painting can be seen. I really like Procion MX dye because the dyes are really well behaved, they stay where you put them so there is little to no bleeding therefore little to no muddying of the colours. 
The pattern for the scarf is a snowflake twill. It is one that I designed myself because there isn’t a lot of 12 shaft patterns! Looking at the back of the loom you really can see the pattern appearing in the heddles.
The snowflake is really pretty I like the big table in the centre, I just counted and there are 12 diamonds which I think is cool! There is a lot of texture to the pattern.
This is the first time that I have woven a snowflake twill and I can see why people love them. Watching the pattern appear with each pick thrown is really rewarding. Also the colours in the warp and how they are interacting with the snowflake is really fascinating.
I love this photo, when these shapes appeared in the heddles, I really got a great foreshadowing of my yardage project. I put on 6 yards of warp 30” in the reed, alternating navy and black 2 ply sport weight weaving wool. 
As I mentioned in my last post, the weft yarns I chose to use were quite different from each other both in colour and ever so slightly in grist. The only way I could effectively use them was to alternate picks as I wove to ensure that I used both wefts up at the same time and so that they blended in the cloth. 
I kept each of the wefts separate by labeling one of the shuttles ‘dark’. This helped me to keep track when I wove in the evenings and the light was less than perfect because they really did look alike at first glance. I was lucky to have 2 Leclerc rag shuttles that had been modified for extra large bobbins, so I could really load up the weft.
I have woven this pattern several times in the past as
Polka Drops wove up quite quickly at 10 epi and 10 ppi, but I was definitely slowed down by the constant shuttle switching….what a pain! I was quite disgusted whenever I looked under my loom too….dustbuffaloes abounded. Seriously huge drifts of dark fibre everywhere I looked! The roll of yardage was really quite substantial and stood quite well on its own. 
Here is Polka Drops unfurled…..I ran out of weft at 5-1/2 yards so I wove up ½ yard with a mid blue weft. I don’t think that my calculations with the McMorran Yarn Balance were off at all, I just didn’t anticipate the amount of stretch that would occur due to weaving under tension. Not sure what purpose I’ll get out of my wee bit of blue yardage, but the main portion is destined to be a 1952 style swing jacket….