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jeanweaves

~ Jean Williams, Handweaver

jeanweaves

Monthly Archives: September 2013

Announcing…!

17 Tuesday Sep 2013

Posted by jeanweaves in Etsy, Uncategorized

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Etsy, Weaving

I am happy to announce the opening of my on-line shop on Etsy.com!

Each item in the shop began with fiber and a design. I tossed colors around to see which ones complemented each other. Then I measured the yarns and threaded the looms, treadled the warp until complete, cut off the fabric, washed, hemmed and pressed it.

You will find several towels, some placemats, napkins, and a few scarves. More will follow as new items are finished, so check back often. Simply go to Etsy.com/shop/JeanWeaves for more information.

A Word about Words

17 Tuesday Sep 2013

Posted by jeanweaves in Terminology, Uncategorized

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Loom, Weaving

No matter what field you are in, you are sure to speak your own “language”, using terms that lose people outside your expertise. Weaving is no different. Some weaving terms have worked their way into common idioms (Have you ever heard someone refer to “the warp and woof of life”?) but are still a little obscure. So here’s a quick little lesson to help clarify cloth-making for you!

The place to start is the loom. The loom is the primary tool used to create cloth. There are lots of different kinds of looms: warp-weighted looms, horizontal looms, vertical looms, Navajo looms, backstrap looms, barn looms, draw looms, dobby looms, and computer-assisted looms. To learn more about all the different kinds of looms used throughout history, check out The Book of Loomsby Eric Broudy (1979, University of New England). It is a thorough presentation of lots of different looms, even if it is an older book and doesn’t include the more recent computer-assisted looms available now. Here is the 12-harness Swedish draw loom that lives in my studio.

what1The harnesses or shafts are the frames that hang inside a floor loom and carry the heddles through which the warp is threaded. There can be anywhere from 2 to 24 or more harnesses on a loom. The more harnesses one has, the more patterning is possible. Each warp thread goes through one heddle (white string heddles here) on one shaft. The exception to this is the draw loom which has two sets of harnesses and the warp will be threaded through one shaft on each set. I know—it’s complicated. Here you can see the front harness on my draw loom with the draw harness hanging in the back.

what2The beater holds the reed which pushes the weft thread down to make the cloth. Each warp thread is threaded through one slot or dent in the reed and then through one heddle on one of the shafts. Here you can see the reed in the beater with the warp yet to be threaded on my 8-shaft loom.

what3The warp is the foundation of the cloth, the length-wise threads that are tied onto the loom. Here you can see the warp threaded through the reed.

what4The treadles are tied to the harnesses and control their movement, leaving the hands free to throw the shuttle, which carries the weft across the warp.

what5The weft is the thread that is interwoven with the warp. In some older texts, the word “woof” is used, but it is the same thing. Here you can see the weft thread wound on the bobbin in the shuttle with the weaving in progress.

what6That is a quick lesson in weaving terms and a quick tour of a warp in progress. More on weaving terms in coming blogs.

Moving into Autumn

06 Friday Sep 2013

Posted by jeanweaves in Overshot, Table Runners, Towels, Uncategorized

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Table Runners, Towels, Weaving

Autumn is my favorite season.  The weather cools down (or is supposed to!). Leaves start to change color in our part of the country. Winter squashes like butternut and acorn ripen. Apples appear in the farmers’ market. Hmmm…nice time of year!

The lemon yellow and daffodil gold hand towels are finished and off the loom. Spearmint green worked well as a weft, so that showed up in more than just one towel. These soft colors complement each other. The burnt orange pushed the yellow to the other side of the spectrum and resulted in a sassy, bold look that made the woven motif pop!

autum-1The hand towels were quickly replaced on the small loom with warp for overshot table runners. Overshot is a weave structure most often seen in early American coverlets. Snowballs, roses, stars, pine trees and other figures combine to make the overall design. Usually, overshot is woven on a finer warp using a heavier “pattern” weft alternating with a finer “tie-down” weft. Having two wefts means weaving with two shuttles but they are needed to create a stable cloth.

The longer floating weft threads of overshot give the structure its name. Each throw of the shuttle is called a “shot.” The pattern weft is shot over several warp threads before being tied down. The advantages are very clear motifs and uninterrupted colors. Because of the floats, an overshot works better in textiles like coverlets or table runners rather than kitchen towels. For these runners, the red threads float over the natural threads to show a bright rose-like figure.

autum-2The variety of overshot designs make them popular for traditional weaving. Volumes have been written, tracing the motifs through the various parts of the country.American Woven Coverlets by Carol Strickler (1987, Interweave Press) is a great resource. American Star Work Coverlets by Judith Gordon (1995, Design Books) is another. Look them up to find out more about overshot!

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