Durham Guild Open Day for spinning

Using a spinning wheel

Our Open Day for Spinning was a chance for us to demonstrate and teach.

Drop spindle spinning

One visitor was Hannah, a skilled spinner who loves all things to do with textiles.  She showed her considerable skills by using a spinning wheel with which she was not familiar.  Her spun yarn is very fine and even.

Hannah spinning expertly

a very fine yarn

More spinning

But not every one spins, so several members brought their looms.

Jane has an Ashford Knitters Loom on which she is weaving a leno scarf.

Leno lace weaver

Her yarn is a crepe vintage and it will be very interesting to see the final scarf.

Yarn from New Mexico

She loves her Ashford loom and brought along a selection of the scarves that she has woven. These two scarves were from yarn brought in a charity shop.  The yarn came from Hope, New Mexico and has a lovely feel.

Even plain weave can produce some wonderful effects.  Look at this clasped weft scarf with the wavy pattern.It is really unusual.

The wavy line is produced by the 'clasped weft' technique.

Douglas loves tartan and brought his four shaft table loom to finish threading his latest piece. He only weaves tartans and is a knowledgeable specialist.

Threading takes time and patience.

Hannah's mum and her unique crocheted blanket.

Hannah's mum was crocheting a beautifully designed blanket.  The inspiration was Seaham harbour and beach.  The colours and pattern are lovely and this unique design is for two special friends who appreciate the love and care which goes into handmade articles.

A tapestry piece.

The Guild has many other skills as well.  Here is a tapestry piece.

The Guild had a busy day and we enjoyed meeting new people interested in craft.

Weaving Open Day.

Durham Guild Weaving Open Day on Saturday 15th October 2016

Our next open day is about Weaving and is on Saturday October 15th in St Oswald's Institute. Put it in your diary.

There will be a number of looms ready warped and plenty of people on hand to help.  Do come along.

I will be bringing my backstrap and a number of heddles ready warped for anyone to try. One loom I will be bringing is my Swedish Band Loom. This was the first loom that I bought once I became hooked on weaving.

My first loom

Weave a friendship bracelet.

To see this loom in action go to my YouTube video:  Five Ways of Weaving Narrow Bands  
https://youtu.be/ZzhuDomPtxE

I will warp up this loom so that visitors can have a go and weave a friendship bracelet.

I am researching friendship bracelets at the moment and should have a good supply of examples to show. Here is my first idea which I wove on my Swedish band loom.

drawdown for friendship bracelet

This band is woven in 16/2 Swedish cotton used double using four colours.  The weft is a blue cottolin yarn.  There are 35 warp ends in total.  The band is 1.4 cm in width.

Close up of woven band

To finish the bracelet, the warp ends were plaited.  At one end, I divided the warp ends into two groups and plaited them separately.  The ends were whipped to finish.

At the other end, I divided the warp ends into two groups but only plaited them for a short length.  I then overlapped the two groups and plaited them as one.  This gave a loop at one end for fastening the bracelet.  Here is the result.

Friendship bracelet

I love the effect of a wavy stripes.


To see the another Swedish loom in action at Skansen, the open air museum in Stockholm, go to Slöjda med Skansen: Bandvävning   https://youtu.be/jPeBqxW6ZUw

Next post:

My next post in April will be about the colour green.  Do follow my blog to get updates.

Happy Weaving

Susan J Foulkes April 2016

Tartan Pink

Last month I visited Moffat in the Borders. It was very cold and frosty but the weather for the two days we were there was perfect.
There were many lovely walks and we enjoyed following the river around the outskirts of the town. I  love taking photographs and keep a file on my computer with images which I think might be useful for inspiration  for weaving.  Close up pictures of flowers can transform into colour studies. The texture of tree bark and moss covered walls can translate into weaving ideas.

snowdrops by the river

A moss covered wall

 This lovely little town has a strong weaving tradition and in the local mill shop this loom was set up to weave.

Moffat mill in Scotland

I have just finished the FutureLearn course about Robert Burns so I was delighted to find this information on the outside wall of a pub.

I love tartan. After seeing a shop full of tartan products, I went home inspired to design my own variation.  I decided to use up some of my yarn stash and weave an unusual version of my own.  I chose two colours of wool, pink and red, and devised a pattern. The weave structure is plain weave on four shafts. Using only two colours it is really a check pattern. I used a tartan pattern as the basic outline and reduced it to the two colours.

This weave draft shows 1.5 repeats.  Look at the actual scarf for the pattern.

Drawdown for tartan pattern in two colours

Here is the finished scarf. It was quick to weave.  It has been washed carefully as it is pure wool and will felt if treated harshly. The ends were knotted to form the fringe.

My pink and red tartan.

I like the two colours.It is very bright and cheerful for a cold, dull winters day.

The latest edition of the Swedish Weaving Magazine

I have just received the latest Vav Magasinet.  The editor travelled to the Shetland Isles, Elgin and then on to North Uist and Harris and Lewis.  Quite a trip!  It is a lovely edition with lots of fascinating details about tweed and the people who weave this sturdy cloth.

Happy weaving

Susan J Foulkes March 2016

Fashionable Woven Bands

Wandering through the centre of Durham in January, I saw a white coat in a shop window. Around the waist was a lovely black and white woven band.  I went inside the shop and it was part of the coat not a belt to be bought separately.

Black and white woven belt.

It is really lovely.  It has 27 patterns threads.  Here is a close up.

Close up of pattern

It is very unusual to see a woven belt on a garment.

The pattern is lovely but I have not had time to analyse it yet.
Here is a close up of one of the motifs.  The white pattern on a black background is very striking.

The ends of the belt were finished with a simple fringe.

A few weeks later they had this jacket in the window.  Such lovely patterns on the cuffs.  They are reminiscent of band patterns.

Geometric designs are fashionable at the moment.

I have just received the latest Journal for Weavers, Spinner and Dyers.

Go to the web page for details   www.thejournalforwsd.org.uk

I have a book review published in this edition.

Die fabelhafte Welt der brettchengewebten Stola und Manipel zu St. Donat, Arlon
By Claudia Wollny
Published by Claudia Wollny edition.  Paperback 128 pages
ISBN 978-3-00-047682-2

This beautifully illustrated book is in four languages German, French, English and Dutch.  Her web site is lovely   http://www.brettchenweben.com/ and will be of interest to all tablet weavers.

Susan J Foulkes  March 2016

What is on my loom - February

Handwoven Magazine

In 2003, Handwoven magazine had an issue devoted to stripes.  I love stripes and I particularly liked a set of tea towels which were is the exact colours to match my kitchen.  I wove a set and after constant use, they were looking rather tired so I wove some.  Handwoven is published by Interweave Press and you can now buy digital versions. Click here for details.

http://www.interweavestore.com/weaving/weaving-magazines

March/April 2003 issue 114
Dish towels pages 24 to 27

It is a very inspiring issue.

Two of my new tea towels. 

Another set of tea towels

I also wove a set with the colours reversed so that blue was the predominant colour. I altered the stripe width.
















I decided that I would weave some handtowels to go with these lovely tea towels.

Waffle Weave hand Towels.

I love waffle weave and chose the same colours as the new napkins I wove in January.  Do check out my blog for December 2014 when I wove a set of waffle weave hand towels.

Drawdown for waffle weave hand towels.

I used  Nialin which is a cotton/linen mix yarn equivalent to an 8/2 cotton. The waffle weave is on 7 shafts.
Sett: 24 ends per inch

Warp Order

White  36    6    6    18     6     18  
Blue         6    6    6
Yellow                         6     6


Finish with a group of blue .

Warp width at reed:;  26.5 inches (66.5 cm)
Warp width off loom before washing:  23.76 (63.5cm)

I wove several designs.  The first towel I wove as drawn in.  This was quite time consuming because colours had to be changed.  I used three shuttles.  The second towel I wove a border top and bottom of three blue stripes, two yellow stripes then three blue stripes. I wove the final length with an all white weft.  This is useful.  I had slightly miscalculated how much warp for each towel.  the final length is long but I can cut it in half and make two smaller towels.

Finishing the towels.

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 towels, I put them 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: 33.5 inches  Width:  22.76 inches (63.5 cm)

After washing and drying.: Length:  22 inches (55.5 cm) Width: 20.25 inches (51cm)

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

texture of weave after washing

Two towels; only one has been washed so that the difference in size can be seen.

You can see from the picture that there is considerable shrinkage for this weave structure.   Both were the same size before I washed the top towel. However, the hand towels are very absorbent.

Hanging tag.

I also wove a narrow warp faced band to use as a hanging tab on the towels. I used the Nialin in the same colours. Here is the drawdown. There are 37 warp ends

The width of the tag is approx   0.5 inches (1.4 cm)

I have really enjoyed making items for ourselves.  Napkins, tea towels and now handtowels.  What next?

Susan J Foulkes February 2016

What is on my loom - January

I live in the north of England and every year we go to Amsterdam on the local ferry for a couple of nights. The Opera, concerts and museums are wonderful.  On our trip two weeks ago, we visited Haarlem for the day.  The  railway station still has the old waiting rooms.

We wanted to go to the Franz Hals museum which we visited last year, but is well worth a second look. On the walk to the museum I passed a weaving shop.

Unfortunately the shop was not open as it only opens on a Friday. This was very good for my soul as the yarns in the window displays were so very enticing and I might have been seduced into buying more yarn. My New Years resolution was not to increase the size of my 'stash' so I was pleased that the temptation could be resisted.

What a colourful window display!

So very enticing!

The shop web site is www.meervilt.nl   Do take a look.

The weather was very cold.  In the centre of town there is an old cafe which is a very popular. If you go to Haarlem, visit this cafe.  It is splendid and lovely and warm on a very cold day.

Weaving in January - a set of napkins.

Four napkins

But now on to weaving.

I have just completed a set of table napkins.  I used cottolin and plain weave.  The design is very simple - just a set of stripes in two colours. For tea towels I use a set of 20 epi but for napkins I used 22 epi.

close up before washing showing the reed marks

close up after washing

Here you can see the material before and after washing.  Before washing the reed marks show clearly.  After washing the warp and weft comes together and the reed marks are minimised.  However, you can see that the material is not smooth.

Cottolin is a mixture of linen and cotton.  To iron, I use pressure to get rid of the creases in the cloth. Usually, it takes two or three washes and presses to make the cloth smooth.

The marble slab used for ironing.

My normal ironing board has a wire mesh underneath the cover and is not suitable for pressing.  I have found that this marble pastry board is perfect.  I can press very hard to eliminate the creases in the material.

A linen mangle from Denmark.

I visited Denmark a few years ago.  We stayed on a camp site outside Aarhus.  Whilst we were there, I went to an antiques fair in the town.. Normally, I do not check out antique shops but I was searching for a particular item.  In 1947, a wooden rigid heddle was designed as a tourist gift and I had read that it had been very popular. It had 17 long holes and 16 long slots so was made for 33 warp ends. It looks so lovely so I thought that I would search for one but no luck. I would have loved to have an old hand made item like this.

Made as a tourist gift in 1947.

What I did find and buy was an old linen mangle.  It was difficult to carry on the bikes as we had not brought any large bags and the board and rolling pin are very heavy! It hangs on the wall outside my weaving room.  Linen is wrapped around the rolling pin then the board is placed on top.  The horse handle gives a good grip and the board is rolled to and from over the rolling pin.  This presses the cloth.

An old linen mangle from Denmark.

In the 19th century, linen mangles were very popular. The custom in Scandinavian countries was that a young man would carve a mangle and present it to a girl he wished to marry. If she accepted the gift, they were betrothed. 

In Sweden there was a saying,' Beware a man who has too many mangles.' If the girl refused the gift he had to take his mangle home. Usually, the initials of the girl would be carved so he could not use it again.

These were always intended as decorative items to be hung on the wall. If you visit museums in Scandinavia, you can see many examples of these beautifully carved gifts.

Happy weaving.

I must let you know about a wonderful resource - not for weaving but for courses. Currently I am taking a short three week course with Future Learn about the Scottish poet Robert Burns. It is excellent.
 I took a course last year about Hans Christian Andersen run by the University of Southern Denmark.  I can really recommend the quality of the materials.

All the course are free and anyone can join. Indeed people from around the world take part.  There are no exams.
Here is the link. https://www.futurelearn.com/

Susan J Foulkes  February 2016

Slow cloth and slow craft and the Peacock scarf

One year ago, my blog described the Slow Cloth Manifesto.  It is worthwhile to revisit the article by Elaine Lipson which is from a talk she gave to the Textiles Society of America in 2012.  Read her original thoughts about slow cloth  and the link to her article here.  http://elainelipsonart.com/tag/slow-cloth/

Treasuring quality and creativity is a vital part of her description of worthwhile craft.  Slow cloth is about taking time and finding the inspiration and joy in learning and making.

Elaine Lipsons description of Slow Cloth. reprinted with her permission. 

Thinking back over the past year, it is those projects which have taken time which I most treasure.

• Spending a week teaching at Summer School was tiring but also invigorating.  Having the time to spend with a group of interested and enthusiastic weavers and see the progress in skills and understanding was wonderful. The preparation for a whole week of teaching was huge but in doing so I also gained insights into the learning and teaching process.  Learning was also a two way process.  We learned a lot from each other.
• Preparing the talk for the Braid Society AGM was a wonderful way to bring together my thoughts about my travels around the Baltic and my understanding of why patterned belts were so important. The background reading for this talk taught me a lot about culture, history, archaeology, symbolism, and so many aspects of peasant life  - far more than I needed for the  talk but so enriching for me personally. 
• The relearning of the principles of collapse weave took a great deal of experimentation to get the effect that I wanted.  The Online Guild of Weavers Spinners and Dyers is a great forum for learning.
• The sudden flash of my imagination when told about a cloth embroidered with peacock feathers sparked a desire to try to create iridescence.  Thinking about how to achieve this and sampling took time but I was thrilled with the result.  
• Preparing materials for my workshop in Tacoma, USA in August 2016 has been an ongoing revision of ideas.  Writing an article for the conference proceedings has provided a focus for my work in analysing patterned bands and taken me into areas that have been quite surprising. Three months later it is finally ready to send off!

My New Year resolutions for 2016 is to spend more time on fewer projects.  It is exploring ideas and techniques in depth which for me brings most satisfaction (and sometimes frustration!).

The Peacock Silk Scarf.

As I mentioned in my last blog, the talk about Chinese Imperial textiles inspired me to think of a way of creating iridescence in a design for a silk scarf.

The three colours of silk yarn.

The Weaving Draft

Here is the weaving draft. It requires 16 shafts and a floating selvedge. This is the first time that I have used three strands of 2/60 silk together. I was not sure what sett to use so I allowed an extra length for the warp to weave practice pieces. I could try different setts and  weft threads to create the best effect.

Here is the tie up drawdown for those of you who are interested.

There are 54 picks in the pattern repeat.

First sample

I tried a sample at 30 epi using three strands of 2/60 silk for the weft.  I used two strands of black and one of green 60/2 silk.  The sample was very firm and not suitable for a scarf. The colours in the weft obscured the colours in the warp.

My first sample at 30 epi with three strands of 60/2 silk for the weft.

As you can see, the green strand in the weft detracts from the threads making the pattern. I realised that I would need to use a solid colour for the weft. This would create a background for the colours of the silk warp.

Second sample

I decided to try using a fine 3/45 dark navy cashmere and silk yarn for the weft. This was a 'bin end' so I cannot buy any more. I used two strands used together.  I changed the sett to 25 epi. 

This time the sample material felt lovely and soft and the leaf shape was outlined by the dark navy weft. 

However, I decided that the finishing of the scarf should also be luxurious.  For the twisted fringes, I separated out the three colours of the warp yarns.  This was a slow, laborious task but I thought that it would add a touch of mystery to the finished project.  It took a day and a half to complete the fringes but I think that the extra effort was worth it for the effect.

Twisting the fringes.

I twisted the three colours together.  The fringes are a lovely twisted rope of silk.

Here is the completed scarf.

The completed scarf

close up

It is difficult to get the full effect of iridescence in a static image.  The colours glow when the material moves when it is worn.

There was a wonderful series on BBC television recently about colour called 'Colour - the Spectrum of Science.'  Episode two explained how iridescence works. There are still clips about the programme available to watch on the BBC web site. This clip is about peacocks.   http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0371l2f  




I wish you all a happy and creative 2016.

Susan J Foulkes