Spring Plaid Table Runners

The yellow, peach and pink plaid runners are off the loom.  They made a very satisfyingly large and heavy pile while I was taking them off the loom.

The runners were then washed and air dried.  I run them through the steam press for the first pressing before folding up the hems for hand hemming.  With the plaid pattern there were an amazing number of ends to clip!

The runners are now waiting to be hemmed, just need a sunny day because sitting in the sun and sewing is really lovely.   Now that it is early spring and the garden is calling to be cleaned up every time the sun shines, so a real conflict!

I did a small photo shot to show what the final runners look like.  The first table runner that I wove had a very long repeat; so long, in fact, that I couldn’t see the whole thing as I was weaving.  I was a little worried about it but the runner came out great.  I like the large scale of the plaid stripes.

The second runner has more stripes of plaid and it’s longer overall.  I have to remember when I photograph these runners for Etsy, to take my time to straighten the stripes.  They looked straight on the table but the camera really exaggerates even the smallest of the wiggles! 

I really enjoyed weaving these lovely runners and I’m already thinking about putting more plaid runners on the loom.

The garden photo is crocuses.  They were hidden under some leaves so they are a little bedraggled but they are very welcomed sign of spring in the garden.

Sunshine and Spring Table Runners

There are many different ways to design a weaving project; do you choose the item, the fibre or the pattern first?  For this project I start by looking into the stash for colours that pleased me.  What caught my eye were large cones of 3/10 cotton in sunny yellow, warm peach and spring flower pink.

I decided to do some more table runners; that Etsy shop section is still low on content.  The fresh colours of the warp are such a pleasure to work with on the cloudy late winter days.  

The runners are going to be plaid so I started with the draft for the Lynch tartan, our family tartan.  Mom wove the Lynch tartan back in 2014 using wool in the Ancient colour palette of blue, green and scarlet (blog post 1 and blog post 2).  I have changed the colours to yellow, orange and pink.

For the first runner I choose to weave double the number of threads in each stripe, for example the pink stripe went from 4 to 8 threads.  It made for a surprisingly long pattern repeat of 20 inches!  I was only able to get three repeats for the entire runner.   

I’ve just started weaving the second runner and I went with a smaller repeat, which is lovely but I’m changing colours a lot more frequently, so the weaving is slower too.

Final Garden Picture is a vase full of willow branches in the front hallway.  The branches are lined with fuzzy silver tufts of catkins; they are a lovely sign of spring, and a gift from our neighbour.