Monday, November 18, 2013

8 Shaft Tea Towels - Pinwheel Pattern

 The never ending story of these 8 shaft twill tea towels continues, with yet another set back. 

The warp was on the loom and I had threaded the heddles and was almost completely finished sleying the reed.  I began to notice that the warp was getting wider than I thought it should….and that’s when my basic math skills leapt to the fore.  I was sleying the threads 4 to a dent in an 8 dent reed….yup 4x8=32 and I was supposed to be at 36 epi.  I wish I could say that I grabbed the wrong reed, but no, I remember looking specifically for the 8 dent reed and not the 9 that was right beside it!  Complete brain fart!
Since I was working with 868 ends I really didn’t want to pull all the sorted ends out of the reed and start again, so I popped the reed out of the beater and placed it onto the framework of the loom behind the beater with the cut ends face down.
I put the 9 dent reed into the beater and one by one I carefully transferred each 4 end bundle into the dents. 
 Surprisingly it went very quickly and without a hitch. 
Finally, ready to weave!
If you squint just a wee bit I think you can see the pinwheels developing, but only a wet finishing will tell if I’ve got this right.
I made myself a template tape to help me keep consistent, and I run it along the left of my web.  I marked off 2” for turn-under and then I insert a red thread guide my first pressing line.  I separate each towel with 4 picks in yellow as a cutting guide.  I’ve also marked off when to start the pattern on each end.
Just thought I’d show you how different the same pattern can look with different warp and weft…on the left is hand-painted silk and bamboo weft, the middle is tencel with muga silk weft and the pattern elongated and the right is tencel with tencel weft; a super versatile pattern! 

3 comments:

Linda said...

These will be pretty towels, Lynnette! I don't know if I would make it through the whole warp wondering if they were going to wet-finish to the pinwheel proper.....I'm assuming that you've done these before? I appreciated seeing your marking process. I usually only have one throw of alternate color between the towels. I can see that having a turning thread and more than one guide to machine baste with would be helpful! Thank you for sharing another lovely and helpful post!

Cheap Towels said...

This is my first experience to see that and i am wonderding if they were going to wet finish to the pinwheel proper. I think for make this need hard working and very nice after making this maker proud of himself . i can see that having a turning thread and more than one guide to machine baste with very helpful. thanks for providing this helpful.

Wholesale Salon Towels said...

i think its a good looking towels and i know this is not easy to make it. very hard word is required for that work. I like this post and say to you that Excellent work done man..