Winning by a Mile

So after the frustration of the multiplely woven first inch, the runners are done!

The warp is 2/8 orlec in rust and 2/8 cotton in straw, the weft is 2/8 orlec in rust.  To help design the placement of the circles on the runner I cut out little pieces of paper the correct size and then I play with the paper.  It really helps to be able to actually ‘see’ the final result.  I sat down with my tape measure and tried lots of different design placements; I decided to go with ‘more circles the better’ placement!

The runners had a tendency to draw in so I had to use a temple.  I got into a good rhythm of weaving with the temple that I barely noticed the interruption of moving the temple.    So much so that I didn’t take any photos of the runners on the loom!

After removing the runners from the loom I like to braid the fringe loosely before washing.  It was a good idea in this case because of the two different fibres in the warp.  The cotton shrunk more than the orlec and that would have definitely made a twisted fringe wonky.  And there is nothing worse than pullingn out an already twisted fringe; that's a long and tedious task!

I really like how these runners turned out.  I designed them to go across the shorter width of the table so they could also be used as place mats.  The runners only got a quick press with the iron so I could take photos for the blog, they will be steam pressed soon and that makes a world of difference.

The runners are dual sided and they are stunning either side.   Although I think that the red side is more exciting because of the dramatic colour and the shine from the orlec.

The gold side looks quite different from the red side; it is almost hard to believe that it is the same runner!

I really like these runners and they are something that I will be doing again.