The Sewing Place
The Emporia => A Good Yarn => Topic started by: mudcat on June 11, 2021, 23:46:57 PM
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Today I finally had the rigid heddle class. I enjoyed the class and will be taking up weaving. I see it as a relaxing thing to do in 30 minute increments as I did find the actual weaving portion of the class too long. The class itself was four hours but part of that was doing the warp and learning different aspects of the process. My back was starting to hurt mostly because I had to sit on a wooden bench and had no back support. Plus no padding on the bench was not so good for my elderly behind.
Here's a photo of the two yarns I chose and a sample of the weave. I still need to tie off one end and wash it. I'll post another photo when that's been done.
My weaving itself was not so consistent but I am sure it will improve with time.
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Well done @mudcat those 2 yarns look really good together. I'm itching to get my loom set up again.
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That looks great mudcat, I am really keen to see how you get on. I also like to weave in small belts of time
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You've made an excellent start @mudcat. I can't see inconsistencies, only neat weaving in a lovely colourway :thumbsup:
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Oh my goodness I LOVE this. Your colourway is fabulous @mudcat
This might be a stupid question, but what do you do with it? Could you weave fabric to make a jumper, for example? Is is stretchy or not, because it's woven? Sorry, that's actually two stupid questions. :laughing:
*Goes off to Google rigid heddle like I need another craft...*
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@charlotte I'm at the same stage as Mudcat i.e. I've woven one scarf. My mission is to weave stuff to make clothes. No it's not stretchy but could be used for any appropriate woven pattern. I say appropriate because the weave is much looser than commercially woven cloth.
I have been very disappointed in my googlings for sewing clothing from hand woven fabric. The majority of weavers appear to be non sewers or terrified of taking a pair of scissors to their fabric. Most clothing appears to consist of rectangles lashed together. Whilst some people may be able to carry off that style, I can't so I will forge ahead and try stuff once I get my sewing room operational and a reasonable size loom. There are only so many scarves one can wear :)
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I agree @Ploshkin at the moment I am still experimenting and don’t mind scarf lengths or the occasional hand towel but am looking for more.
Have you seen the magazine Handwoven https://handwovenmagazine.com/ It is available from the library app Libby at least in my area.
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@Celia I seem to get regular e mails from Handwoven with some useful articles but I haven't seen a full issue of the magazine. I have bookmarked some of the one off 'Little Looms' editions which include more rigid heddle stuff.
Gist yarn have some good stuff too, iseem to get e mails from them too. and you can get their yarns in the UK from My Fine Weaving Yarns.
Have you looked at Sarah Howard - Get Weaving? I have her book and it has some useful bits in it. It seems that she usually has a stand a the annual 'Wonderwool' show which is held in the Royal Welsh Showground not far from us. Of course it didn't happen last year and won't be held this year either but next time it is I'll be there ( I've not been before).
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@charlotte For the class I made scarf length/width but my ultimate plan is to make yardage to sew garments out of. Probably would make only loosely structured jackets with minimal pieces. I went to one of those art fairs once and this woman had racks of jackets she had made from her woven pieces. They were gorgeous and of course expensive.
I washed the scarf on gentle wash and put it in the dryer for about three minutes and now it's on the drying rack to finish so I should be able to take a photo later. The scarf didn't tighten up as much I had hoped for and I still have the hanging threads from my two joins and I'm afraid to snip them. The instructor said to do it after washing. I was also quite sad to find I had one floater in the scarf. :boohoo:
I don't know if floater is what you would call a skipped "stitch" but that's what she called it.
The yarn shop has their summer schedule out and there are two more classes to learn different techniques so I'm going to try to sign up for them tomorrow. If I enjoy the next two sessions I'll order my loom. I thought it would be good to verify my enjoyment before spending a bunch of money.
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Can’t wait to hear more @mudcat
@Ploshkin that book looks great. You are right little looms is better for RHL but it isn’t available from my library I do have the latest one though. I find Handwoven useful as they do have a lot more project and some are done for both Floor/table and RHL it depend on how you want to progress.
Width of the fabric can be a problem but I remember hearing that some really amazing fabrics that are used for clothing are made on 12 inch looms, can’t find the details now but i will post if I can find it.
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@Celia Sarah Howard also does some patterns specifically for narrow handwoven cloth under the label Get Weaving. Available on Etsy ( and elsewhere I think).
@mudcat that's great that you have somewhere that runs courses. I may have been able to find a course but taking up weaving was a lockdown thing for me so there was nothing going on anywhere. I look forward to seeing your progress
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Ooh I shouldn’t have looked @Ploshkin I think I am now lost on the internet but Thank you I am loving it, these are soooo interesting.
I love some of the fabrics my little table loom can make but it is only 12 inches wide and I really thought it was too narrow to do anything. Other than scarves etc.
I don’t really have the space or energy etc to get a bigger one, even if I wanted to I don’t think I could put it together on my own, the 12 inch one took enough effort from me and him in doors to do.
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Photo after washing and trimming the fringe to 3" length.
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@mudcat amazing i love it.
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Love the colour @mudcat
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Yesterday I had a second weaving class called "the next steps" which went over different types of things you can do like Leno lace, clasped weft, two colors, intentional floats, etc. I have one more class in three weeks that is on clasped weft using multiple colors.
It's apparent from my work that my Leno lace doesn't look so good and I will have to work on evenness. I didn't bother with completing the ends or washing this one since it's not usable for anything which is a pity since I like my color choices.
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That looks very complicated, well done.
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The colours do fit well together. It's good to have a class like that where you can have a go at things that you might otherwise have deemed too complicated. You may not be ready to use them yet but you will know that you can.
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Looking good, it’s great to experiment it something I am not good at, I love trying new things but I want to end up with a project,
Love to see more weaving are you going to buy a loom and if so which one?
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@Celia ... yes I'm going to buy a 25" Schacht loom (https://www.schachtspindle.com/). They're made in the state of Colorado. The shop only sells Schacht and Ashford ... the latter made in NZ. I asked about the differences and they were minimal though the weaving teacher prefers Schacht and given the choice I prefer to buy things made in my own country.
25" should give me enough width to weave yardage which is my primary goal.
edit: fixed spelling error ... why do I not see them?
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Brilliant @mudcat I have a Schacht 20 inch flip and it is great, much better than the Ashford that I have also used at least it is for me.