Pastel fabric

Last year was a good one – at least as far as weaving was concerned. Perhaps I will gradually be able to report here.

I have made some progress in the field of weaving on vertical looms. Previous attempts were uneven – usually time-consuming and not very engaging. I already have two weft samples from a tapestry with a linen warp and two mixed cloths, so it was time for pure wool.

The warp was supposed to be short, more for show and so that the kids could have fun weaving. Once I decided that the audience had been given a proper portion of attractions, I got to work myself. I unraveled all the test rows and added more weights to make the warp more taut. At the same time, I came up with the idea of tying every other weight to a longer string, so that they would fit into this small width and freely weigh down the individual portions of threads without hitting each other.

Testing, correcting and uncertainly walking around the loom took me some time, but once everything was nicely set up, the actual weaving itself was done in one day. The pace is quite a contrast to my previous fabric on vertical looms 😉 Here, things were simpler – quite narrow and short warp, smooth material and thick yarn… and the warp coverings are more visible (which means fewer weft interlacings).

This time, I finally managed to do without fighting with the edges. I didn't add any extra edge threads or any special weight to them. It's possible that it was possible thanks to the right tension and separation of the warp threads - they didn't run parallel to the weights, but rather spread out. This slight "spreading" of the threads also helped to maintain the same width of the fabric.

I have a plan for the purpose of this little fabric – it will become a gift, a napkin for the table. And currently the above photo serves as my phone wallpaper 🙂