Handtowel in 8 shaft point twill

Cottolin Handtowel 

If you follow my blog, you will realise that I love weaving towels.

Cottolin is great for tea towels but is also very hard wearing and absorbent for handtowels. Here is a pattern for towels that i finished last month.

Warp: cottolin in dark blue, light blue, white and natural
Weft: natural cottolin

Sett: 24 dpi

Weave structure: Point twill on 8 shafts.  I used an extra shaft for the selvedge but a floating thread for the selvedge is fine.

Please note that using the point twill structure the colour stripes do not line up with the twill.  I like this as it seems to add a dynamic quality to the design.

Warp 

Dark blue     16         12            12         12            12                Central blue section can be adjusted.
Natural                20                         16                          20         I used 152 ends.
White                              2     2                   2      2
Pale blue                             4                           4


You can adjust how wide you wish the handtowel to be by altering the central dark blue section.

I used 152 ends for the centre section.  This is shown on the Weave Drawdown in turquoise blue although fewer ends are shown so that the pattern will fit onto the page.
You can use as many dark blue threads as you wish for the centre area depending upon your chosen overall width of the hand towel. The sett is 24 epi so you will need to count how many warp ends you want in the dark blue.

Total number of warp ends: 424

Weave Drawdown

eight shaft point twill

Before washing                                      After washing

Width:   17.5 inches     44.4 cm                        Width: 16 inches  40.6 cm

This pattern uses a single colour in the weft.  The length of the handtowel can be adjusted easily.
Remember to weave the first and the last 10 picks in 16/2 cotton.  This will make the hem less bulky.

Close up  of the pattern.

Here is a close up of the two striped areas.  As you can see the point twill is off set in one area.  This adds an extra dynamic to the design although I have to admit that it was a mistake. I meant to have both sides of the towel in a regular twill. You can see the difference in the striped patterns on both sides.

The full pattern showing the difference in the striped areas on the left and right. 

The centre dark blue area can be as wide as you wish.

Hanging tag

As usual I wove a hanging tag in cottolin using the same colours as the handtowel.

Here is the pattern.

Warp for hanging tags

Dark blue      6                      6
White                2               2
Pale blue               4       4
Natural                      4

Total number of warp ends: 30
Weft: dark blue

Width of hanging tag: 11mm

woven band and hanging tag

Here is the finished towel alongside a tea towel hanging up in my kitchen.

Happy Weaving!

Susan J Foulkes  1st June 2019

Handtowel in linen and tow linen

Black and White

Here is a lovely hand towel that I wove for my black and white bathroom. It is made from linen and tow linen.  Tow linen is a cheaper alternative for linen but is very 'hairy'. This makes it very absorbent for towels, but be warned, it sheds for the first few washes.

Beware: A lot of colour comes out in the wash so I suggest washing it by hand for the first few times.

The towel is so pretty.

Close up of the linen and tow warp. 

It is difficult to show in a photograph but the warp in the centre of the towel alternates between 24 ends of black tow linen no 6  and 12 doubled ends of 16/2 black linen.

The 16/2 linen has a shine but the tow linen gives a matt finish.  I like the way that alternating the black stripes in the centre shine against the matt black.

The white stripes are 12 doubled threads of white linen. The weft is 6 tow linen in black. Tow linen is very 'hairy' and is not as strong as ordinary linen. The borders on each side start with the warp of 8 doubled ends of black linen.  This makes the selvedge strong.

There are four stripes of white on each side. In the centre the sequence is carried on with black linen stripes

Weaving details

Warp: black tow linen 6 and 16/2 linen in black and white.
Weft: black tow linen no 6

Warp sequence

Black 16/2 linen used double   8d                                                      12d                                         
Black no 6 tow linen                     24        24        24        24        24       24  now reverse the sequence     
White 16/2 linen used double            12d      12d      12d      12d                       

Total number of warp ends = 364

For the hems at each end I wove 12 picks using black 16/2 line singly.  This makes the hem less bulky when turned down.

The drawdown 

drawdown for hand towels

I have coloured the drawdown to make the pattern easier to see. The turquoise stripe at each side is the selvedge. The 8 warp ends are doubled 16/2 linen in black because tow linen would not be strong enough for the edge of the towel.

The weft is black tow linen. The white stripes at each side of the towel are in doubled 16/2 white linen. In the centre of the towel, the stripes continue in doubled 16/2 black linen and black tow linen. If you look at the close up picture you can see the black linen stripes.  They have a sheen to them which stands out against the tow linen stripes.

Hanging tag

I made a hanging tag for the towel. I designed two variations.

Two variations for the hanging tag.

 I felt that the predominantly white tag provided a better contrast. here it is on the towel.

white and black hanging tag on the hand towel

Warp and Weft

The hanging tag used white and black 16/2 linen.
There are 40 warp ends. The weft is white 16/2 linen

The band width is 15mm.

Reversing the colours gives an interesting variation but I preferred the predominately white band for the hand towels.

I enjoyed weaving this towel and it co-ordinates with the bathroom tiles.

Next month I will be posting the instructions for the black and white bath mat that I wove to co-ordinate with the handtowels and the bathroom.

Susan J Foulkes April 2018

Traditional handtowels Cat Track and Snail Trail

The first book that I bought when I started to learn to weave was A Handweavers Pattern Book by Marguerite P Davison.  It was first published in 1944.  It is a treasure - lovely to browse and full of traditional patterns with wonderful names such as Gothic Cross, Queen's Delight, Batchelor's Fancy, Wall of Troy, and Saterglantan.  The last name felt very exotic and it was many years before I discovered that Saterglantan is a weaving college in Sweden.

I decided to weave one of the patterns - Cat track and Snail trail which I saw in an Interweave Press booklet.  In Marguerite Davison's book it is known as Wandering Vine.

 This is a design that can be played with and new combinations discovered.

Another variation for cat track and snail trail.

Here is another version. The cat track is more distinct and the snail trail is narrower. Remember that there needs to be a plain weave tabby in between the pattern weft.

A variation of the pattern

I decided to adapt the pattern to make four shorter cat tracks surrounded by the 'snail trail'. Perhaps it should be christened kitten track and snail trail. 

weave chart for cat track and snail trail

The hand towel warp is 16/2 cotton and the weft is 16/2 cotton and the pattern weft is 16/2 linen doubled.
The sett is 24 epi for the 16/2 cotton stripes.
The ppi is approx. 40 because of the tabby overshot.

The warp is in stripes 40 ends in white and 40 ends in colour. I used five stripes of white alternating with six stripes of green.

Here is the weave chart with the tabby weft included. It does seem a little more complex but it is easy to weave.

Weave draft with tabby weft highlighted in blue.

The draft may seem a bit confusing but it is easy to get into the swing of using two shuttles. One shuttle has the plain weave weft of 16/2 cotton.  The other shuttle has a doubled 16/2 linen yarn.

Adapted cat track and snail trail.

The handtowel is very sturdy and absorbent. On the loom, the cloth will seem very stiff and rather hard.  Do not worry. Once it is washed it becomes soft.  This cloth is very absorbent.

I decided weave another version using blue and white stripes.

Weaving on the loom

Of course, the design can be varied by using a blue or white tabby yarn and a blue or white linen pattern yarn. Once threaded the pattern can be woven with either two small footprints or four smaller ones.

I  made a long warp for four towels. This warp had been lying around for some time so I used it for the online workshop with the Online Guild for Weavers, Spinners and Dyers for January 2017.  the first workshop of the year is always UFO  (Unfinished Objects)  This is a chance to look through your projects half finished or as in my case not even started and make a good effort to complete them.
I really like this workshop and each year I have managed to find the extra effort to complete long abandoned projects.  It is such a good way to start the year.  Even owning up to what you would like to do is an added incentive to really achieve your goal.  I am so pleased that I finished this before the end of January.  i really found it difficult to get up the enthusiasm needed but once started and with encouragement form other Guild members, I was away.

In between each towel I used a few picks of yellow cottolin. This is where I cut the long fabric after weaving. At the beginning and end of each towel, I wove 10 - 12 picks using 16/2 cotton in plain weave.  This is to make the hem less bulky.  The white cotton is folded underneath and will not show when the handtowel is hemmed.

Here you can see the difference when using a blue linen pattern yarn with either a white tabby weft of a blue tabby weft.

For the pattern yarn of a doubled 16/2 linen I use my large shuttle which can take two spools of yarn.

A two spool boat shuttle. 

Whenever I need to use a double yarn, I always use this shuttle.  I have tried winding two threads together but I find that there is always some slack in one yarn.

Once the fabric is off the loom, cut it into the towel lengths.  I iron the top and bottom of each towel to press the material for the hem.  I tack the hems and add the hanging tags and press again.  Then I sew the hems using a zig zag stitch.  The towels are washed in a normal machine wash.

Hanging tag.

I wove a hanging tag for the towels.  There are 35 warp ends in two colours.  i used 16/2 cotton doubled for the warp ends.  The weft is blue cottolin.

I like the effect of the dotted pattern and the horizontal stripe in the centre.

Here are two finished towels.

Two handtowels one with a two footprint cat track and the other with a smaller four footprint track.

Measurements of the two towels before and after washing.

Two track pattern

Width before washing: 45 cm                    After washing:  41.5 cm
Length before washing: 64 cm                   After washing: 61.5

Four track pattern

Width before washing:    45 cm                After washing:  41.5 cm
Length before washing:  64.5 cm              After washing:  62 cm

The towels look really lovely and are very absorbent.

Happy weaving

Susan J Foulkes May 2017

More handtowels on four shafts.

Delicate handtowels on four shafts

The pattern for these handtowels is known as 2 fold Ms and Os.

This pattern is from the wonderful book  Margarite P Davison  A Handweaver's Pattern Book on page 56. This book was first published in 1944 and was the first book about weaving that I bought. My copy is old and well used and used to be in the library at Edge Hill Teacher Training College. When I trained s a teacher, crafts were still considered important and I remember in my college large floor looms in the corridor as well as in the craft room.



Here is the weave drawdown for the pattern for these handtowels.

You can see how the Ms and Os are outlined in blocks of three by the blue warp and weft.  The weave structure makes these towels shrink in the wash but although they appear very delicate they are excellent for drying hands.

Warp and Weft

Total number of warp ends is 572
Width at reed  59.75 cm   23.5 inches
Warp sett is 24 ppi          12 reed with 2 ends per dent
Weft sett is 30 ppi

The warp  is 16/2 cotton and the weft is 16/1 linen in two colours blue and white. I use Swedish cotton and linen made by the same company so that the colours for the different yarns are the same.

Colour order for border  

white  10       10      8     8     10
blue          2         4     2     4        2

then the pattern threading is as follows

white  22
blue          2           18 repeats    then 22 white.  The order for the border is now reversed.

Hems

I use 12 rows in plain weave - for this threading true plain weave is not possible.  Then weave approx 1.5 inches in pattern to fold over to form the hem.

Weaving the towels. 

I made enough warp for three long handtowels.  

Tying the warp onto the front beam

This is a two shuttle weave using the 16/1 linen

close up of the weave structure on the loom

The weave structure is quite open as you can see from the photograph.  The weft sett is 30 ppi.  It is important to weave the design square even though the warp sett is only 24 epi.

 This photograph shows one end of the first towel.  I have woven extra blocks in white linen for the hem.  The coloured thick thread is the division between this towel and the next I am weaving. After I have taken the finished weaving off the loom, I cut each towel at the place where I used the thicker yarn.  I always turn up the hem and iron it as soon as possible after cutting the towels apart. I pin, then tack the hems in place before sewing them on the machine.

Shrinkage

I always machine hem the towels before washing so the measurements include the hem.

                        before washing                               after washing
length              80 cm   31.5 inches                         65 cm   29.75 inches
width                58 cm  23 inches                            53 cm    21 inches

Close up after washing

Here you can see how the design puckers up creating a lovely surface texture. There is some shrinkage.

I washed two handtowels by hand and the third in the washing machine.  I wondered whether there would be any difference in the shrinkage.  The measurements were the same.  However, there was an odd difference which I was not expecting.  The hand washed towel was slightly yellow.

Two towels, one handwashed and one machine washed.

I first thought that it was the machine washed towel and that there had been  a slight colour issue in the wash but it is definitely the handwashed towel that is not white.  The effect might be difficult to see in the photograph. I have no idea why this should have happened.



Of course I also wove a tag for hanging the towels.  Here is the pattern.

Draft for hanging tags.

I used 16/1 linen for the pattern.  There are 47 warp ends.  The width of the tag is  13 mm.

Linen hanging tag on the hem

I like to sew the hanging tag along the hem.  It is very firmly attached.

Two handtowels

This is a lovely light hand towel but excellent for drying hands.  It would make a pretty guest towel.

Susan J Foulkes

Traditional Handtowels in 10 shaft satin

Traditional Hand Towels

Swedish design is so crisp.  I love the clean visual effect of these traditional hand towels. They are easy to weave and of course you can vary the colour by changing the weft.  The weave structure is 10 shaft satin.

The satin is in two blocks: one block is on shafts 1 to 5 and the second block is on shafts 6 to 10. The large squares have 100 warp ends and the narrow stripes at each border have 15 warp ends.

Weave Draft.

Here is the weave draft.

draft for 10 shaft satin weave handtowels

The warp is unbleached 16/2 cotton.  The weft is 16/1 linen in green.  The sett is 48 ends per inch. No floating selvedge is required for this pattern.

Weaving the towels. 

close up of satin on the loom.

Here are the finished handtowels.  I wove them as presents for friends.

Three handtowels

I like this type of weave structure where the warp is one colour and the weft another.  It means that one warp can produce towels in different colours.  I wove one with green linen, one with blue linen and one with yellow linen.

Hanging tag

I wove a hanging tag for each of the towels.  Here is the pattern for the green towel.

closeup of hanging tag 

Linen hanging tag for hand towels. 

Linen handtowel tag

The tag was woven in 16/1 linen in natural and green. The number of warp ends is 51. The tag is 1.5 cm in width.


In the bottom of a drawer I have just found an old Swedish towel which was bought many years ago so I thought that I would add the picture to this blog.  I had been looking for it for some time.  It is a similar pattern to these handtowels but woven in much finer thread.  It is a large square and is suitable for drying dishes or drying hands.

Commercially woven towel bought in Sweden. 

  In January,  I will show a pattern suitable for a four shaft loom for a set of handtowels. Again the warp will be in one colour so the coloured weft can be varied.  I am putting the warp onto the loom today.

Happy weaving

Susan J Foulkes    November 2016

What is on my loom: hand towels

Weaving waffle weave hand towels.

I have just finished a set of hand towels in waffle weave.  I love this weave structure.

Here is the draw down. I have used green, red, blue and white to show the structure clearly. It is woven using seven shafts.

Drawdown for 7 shaft waffle weave hand towels.

Warp: 8/2 cotton in three colours, natural, light green and dark green.
Weft: 8/2 cotton in three colours, natural, light green and dark green.
Sett: 24 epi

Total number of warp ends: 589 ends.

The pattern repeat is 12 picks and 12 warp ends.  I used three colours: natural, light green and dark green.

The colour order is as follows:

24 natural, 12 light green, 12 natural, 12 dark green, 12 natural.  I varied the order in the centre but to balance the weave the final group of natural warp ends should be 25.  In all there are 45 groups of 12 ends and two larger groups of 24 at one edge and 25 at the other edge.  Look at the towel on the loom for the exact colour order.

There is no need for a floating selvedge as the waffle weave shrinks and fulls up beautifully.
To start, I used a fine 16/2 cotton for the first 12 picks ( one pattern repeat).  This is for the hem so that it will not be too bulky.

Here is the weaving on the loom.

I wove one towel with just the natural as the weft.  A further two towels I wove with five pattern repeats in natural, light green, natural, dark green etc.  The length of the towels on the loom was approximately 95cm (37 inches)

A close up of the weave structure whilst on the loom

Once off the loom I ironed the ends of the towels to make the hem. I turned up one pattern repeat -  (the first 12 picks in fine cotton)  and ironed it flat. Then turn a further pattern repeat in the 8/2 cotton.  This makes the hem which can now be tacked. Don't worry if your hem is slightly larger.

Close up of the hems before washing. 

I used a wide zigzag stitch on the sewing machine to hem the towels. Once hemmed the tacking stitches can be removed.

To wash the towel, I put it into the washing machine with  my normal wash and then into the drier.

This weave structure makes very textured towels.

 The shrinkage is as follows and is measured with the towel already hemmed.

Before washing ( and after hemming):   Length: 85 cm  (33.5 inches)     Width: 57 cm (22.5 inches)

After washing and drying.:                     Length: 62 cm (24.5 inches)       Width: 45 cm  (17.75 inches)

There is a lot of shrinkage for this weave structure.  The final towels are beautifully textured and make ideal hand towels.

Hanging tag.

I also wove a narrow warp faced band to use as a hanging tab on the towels.  I used the 8/2 cotton in the same colours.  Here is the drawdown.

Drawdown for warp faced narrow band.

The narrow band has 42 warp ends.  If you look along the top of the drawdown, you can see the colour order for the warp. Some of the dark and light green warp threads are doubled so that they stand out in the pattern. This is indicated by a thicker square on the drawdown.




I wove the band on my Swedish band loom.

These type of bands can be woven easily on an inkle loom or with a rigid heddle. (See my book The Art of Simple Band Weaving and the Youtube video Five ways of weaving narrow bands).

I cut the band into 4 inch lengths for the towel hanging tags. Turn under the ends of each tag and iron flat.

Pin to the edge of the towel and oversew.








The band tags were sewn onto the towels - just in time to be wrapped for Christmas presents.

The three tags: one is sewn onto the edge of the towel.

More narrow patterned bands.

Bell key ring holders by Tamaki

My friend Tamaki posted a lovely photograph of some of her key bell holders.  She has been making them to raise money for the orphans of the tsunami.

She loves band weaving and has made some lovely bands in beautiful colour combinations to go with the key holders.

She allowed me to publish her photograph. As you can see, she has been very busy making these lovely bands and knitting the key holders. All of the keyholders sold.

The colours are just right for Christmas.

And finally - a Happy Christmas to everyone.

Susan J Foulkes  December 2014