Finding my Weaving Voice

(Originally posted on WP 8/15/20.)

When I wove, back in the late ‘80s to early ’90s, I mostly wove rugs – rag rugs and handspun, naturally-dyed weft-faced rugs.  

 

 

But I also wove handspun & naturally-dyed scarves, and handspun & naturally-dyed linen placemats. I also wove I don’t know how many yards of Shetland wool plaid fabric for 12-14 window curtain panels, and some cotton flake dish towels.

 

There was also a handspun, indigo-dyed wool plaid blanket, and a coat fabric, which didn’t turn out as I wanted, so it became throw pillows.  Not too bad for just a few years of weaving, particularly considering the time it took to hand process, spin, and dye the wool and linen yarns.

This time around, however, I need to be more focused, not the least because I’m not 30 yrs old any longer, and as much as I don’t like to admit it, I simply can’t do everything non-stop.  I need to find a narrower focus, in which I can still have creative leeway, yet foster a profitable endeavor, without scattering my energy to the four winds. Am not sure I want to be a Jill of all trades, master of none!

This should be a manageable task!  If I was only weaving for myself or for the house, I could, and likely would, tackle all manner of techniques and projects, as I never did get to make the overshot coverlet, for which I purchased several specific weaving books  so to prepare for it.  But I don’t have that luxury, not this time.  

And just as it took awhile to find my knit designing *voice*, it also seems to be taking some time to find my weaving voice.

With knit design, although I can knit almost anything, what I seem to do best is Nature-inspired whimsy and color work.  I mean, how many knitters, when they’re first learning to knit, cast on a circular yoke pullover in their own color pattern in their handspun?  But that’s just what I did.  And hardly stopped for the next 30 years.

It’s a little different with weaving, as preparing the loom (warping, threading, and sleying it) means one really needs the idea well figured out beforehand, as it’s a lot of time and material to invest – not as simple as ripping back a few rounds of knitting! And it is best if the warp is a long one.  It’s not a practical use of time to warp for just one or two small weavings, as it simply takes too long to do.

This is one attraction for me, for weaving plain weave rugs.  I tend to put on about a 15-yard rug warp at a time, yielding 10-14 rugs. This length rug warp is about the longest I’d want to put on the loom, as weaving it all off takes time, which ties up the loom for other work.

This little baby should help with this narrowing-down process.

Although it could very well do exactly the opposite, and show me many more interesting and fun things I could weave!  

One fabric that has been usurping a disproportionate amount of brain space lately is tweed. Like this Irish tweed and this one and Harris tweed.

And lest not forget Chanel’s beautiful tweeds.

I just think tweeds are so classically beautiful!  And not typically made with baby-soft yarn. Harris tweed has *tooth*.  I have always loved wools with tooth – something interesting about the fiber, usually a bit of fuzziness, and definitely a bit of shine to catch the light, as with the long wools, especially (though not limited to) breed-specific wools.

This little 1948 book has also been fueling the tweed fascination.

And it came with a large, 2-page foldout of a loom plan! Whose beater definitely reminds me of an Oxaback, tho Ox’s are countermarch, not counterbalance.

 

Yeah, I know Americans have been on a soft-yarn binge, and I too love soft yarns, although I tend to take the softness bit to the extreme.  When I want something soft, it has to be store-bought (via Ebay and Goodwill) lightweight cashmere. I’m not needing anything heavier or thicker any more, so I haven’t wanted to design wool sweaters in over a decade.

And although I made a list of soft-ish yarns to consider for weaving tweed, they all make me go, Eh. They’d make nice fabrics, but I wouldn’t want to weave just *nice* fabric, I’d want to weave *interesting* fabric – fabric that makes you want to touch it.  And I have some ideas about interjecting interest.

But unlike those sweaters I don’t need and no longer want to design, here I am in weaving mode, wanting to weave tweed, which I don’t wear!, but which can make great afghans and blankets.  Nothing like a real wool afghan to curl up under in winter, not to mention capes, ruanas, and jackets/coats.

However, sewing handwoven clothing does not interest me.  I’d much rather weave the yardage for others to do with as they will, so I do have *some* weaving focus – handwovens for the home - rugs, afghans, pillows, kitchen and bath linens.  Creating a comfortable home has always been important to me, and that means textiles. They are what we touch the most in a home, so they should be pleasing in color, fiber content, and style, and be long-lasting.
 
I love too many things (if that is even possible), so I want to do *everything*. It’s a blessing and a curse!  What inevitably narrows down my focus is availability (and price) of the necessary materials. So, I’ll be sampling and dreaming, while I’ve got the dish towel warp on the floor loom.

Some are plain weave, others are getting twilled. If one doesn’t enjoy weaving twill, one won’t enjoy weaving tweed yardage! And, yup, am liking weaving twill, especially the way I have my loom set up.

4 treadles, tied up in walking fashion, 1,3,2,4.  
Threaded in straight draw, 4,3,2,1.
And weaving 1 and 2, 2 and 3, etc.

It means I don’t have to *think* about which pair of treadles I need to depress next. The right foot controls the 2 right-most treadles, 2 and 4. The left foot controls the 2 left-most treadles, 1 and 3. So, in weaving twill, although I use both feet, only one  foot changes placement on each pick.

It frees the mind to just count picks and relax, which seems to produce a better rhythm and hence, a better fabric.

Once the towels are off, though, it’s back down to Earth for me, with a new rug warp on the floor loom and, hopefully, coordinating pillow fabrics on the little loom - am looking forward working on these!

 

Onward,
Dawn