Reversible Twill Scarf ~ How Can This Be Wrong!

I have woven an absolutely stunning scarf and its allllllll wrong ~ three big errors!

I miscounted when I pulled the warp for this pair of Swedish Twill scarves and I was three threads short. Thinking I was a being a very efficient smarty pants, I pulled the three warp threads and wrapped them around a sewing bobbin together and hung them from the loom in a weighted canister.

Well let me tell you that was the wrong thing to do!

Can you see the selvedges? The three warp threads in peach are coming forward when they should be tucked onto the other side. This isn’t a huge mistake, but it really shows.

The second problem with this scarf is that because the hand dyed silk I chose to use as weft has long thick and thin areas, the motifs are different sizes, again not a huge problem, but since I weave to sell, not acceptable. Sometimes I really wish I thought things through just a little more!

The third problem is that the 2/18 mercerized cotton that I used as warp, shrunk an impossible amount! I wove 70 inches of pattern and finished up with a 53 inch scarf….no kidding 17 inches of shrinkage! I’m really glad that I love this scarf, because it’s mine, mine, mine and will look very jaunty with my peach jacket.

Before I started the second scarf I fixed the selvedge problem and hung each one of the missing warp threads from the back of the loom in its own weighted canister. Now they can take up independently.

I changed the weft to 2/8 magenta tencel, so the thick and thin problem is fixed too, above is the magenta side.

This is the peach side and I can’t believe the amazing iridescence the magenta tencel creates with the peach warp….this scarf is a real beauty. But, because I wasn’t aware of the impending doom caused by shrinkage, this too is a rather short scarf, coming in at 57 inches, plus fringe.

Not to be daunted by weaving failure here is my next set of scarves. This pattern is one I tweaked with and it is woven on twelve shafts in a modified crackle weave. The teal and ivory are amazing together.

I’m a sucker for shine and lustre and this scarf is going to deliver that in bags!

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!