Weaving - Day One…

 

Wahoo!   It’s finally time for my first official weaving class!   It was held at Beth’s studio in Round Hill.  

 

 

 

Check out the close-up shots of the finished valances that I helped weave way back in April.   They’ve been finished and hung and now adorn the windows of Beth’s studio.  Don’t they look great?   It definitely took a “village” – several very experienced weavers, inexperienced but enthusiastic weavers (like me), a fabulous seamstress (Chantal) from the finishing and a wonderfully organized and talented weaver (Sandy) to pull it all together!

Here’s a peak at Beth’s (The Barefoot Weaver) studio.   It’s a wonderful space.   It’s a pleasant ride out to Round Hill…and you can just feel your creative juices start to come alive as you look around the studio!  There were three of us taking the two-day class…and we couldn’t wait to begin!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beth had a little booklet with the information about our projects and some weaving basics and references.   She had pre-warped the looms for the first project.    Thank goodness!   The first project was a towel….and there were so many warp threads!   If I had to warp it myself for this project, it would have taken several weekends…just to get to the part where I’d weave!  

I started by practicing before starting on the actual towel by weaving in plain weave.   Just when I started to feel confident, I had to change bobbins….and I forgot to change the treadle when I started the new one. (You can see two threads following the same path in the middle of the picture on the right – click on the photo for a closer view.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, it was time to start the towel.   I Wove a border in plain weave, and then started on the pattern.  This was sooo exciting!   I made my first plaid!   I never knew how plaid was made, so this was especially thrilling!  It was like magic!

 

 

Well, I’m finally finished with the towel and ended the last plaid rows.   I then finished off with some more plain weave for the hem of the towel.   Wahoo!   I’ll have a finished object in no time!

 

Before I cut the towel off the loom, I did some more “practice weaving”.  Beth taught us how to do twill.   You can see may experiments on the left.   I’d always wondered what twill was vs. plain weave.   This too was an “aha moment” for me!   The diagonals and v’s are all twill patterns.   Hmmmm…I’d always thought that “twill pants” were a “style” of pants….little did I know it’s actually a weave pattern!  My towel “off the loom” is on the right. 

Next step will be to wash and hem my towel.    Washing will help make the weave even tighter.   Notice how once off the loom, the weave has already tightened up quite a bit.

Tomorrow….day two.