Bamboo Shawl, small tapestries and a family heirloom

Gwen Tooth has recently joined our weaving class. Gwen is a practicing artist as well as administrator and teacher, and has been painting for many years. She is currently part of an exhibition opening this weekend. WOMEN IN ABSTRACTION ART EXHIBIT Beaux-Arts Brampton Art Gallery, http://www.beaux-artsbrampton.com/ 70 Main Street North, Brampton. 905-454-5677 Dates: June 21 to July 2, 2011-05-23 Reception Date: Saturday, June 25, 12 noon to 3 pm Regular Gallery Hours: Tuesday to Friday, 12 noon to 6 pm; Saturdays, 9 am to 3 pm

Kate Kitchen completed these two small tapestries of landscapes while in the weaving class. It takes little detail to convey the illusion of a recognizable scene, surprisingly enough. These were both woven at 10 epi and she used Paternayan yarn. They still take a considerable amount of time to complete eventhough they are small.



















We have such an amazing group of talented people and I must say I am truly proud of what people can accomplish in this class. This is a bamboo shawl woven by Lis Bastion. To see it in reality is startling in a good way. The shawl is beautifully woven in a Diamond Twill pattern. Twills are difficult to weave well believe it or not. Your tension has to be very consistent throughout and when it isn't, it really shows. Being stressed can really wreak havoc with our weaving but Lis managed to be cool and consistent despite having a very busy and demanding work life! In addition, this is Lis' first project after her sampler. Bravo Lis! It is a remarkable accomplishment!

I apologize in advance that this is not the best photograph. Dark colours can be hard to capture, and in addition the warp and weft do not have high contrast. This was a very subtle overshot shawl using turquoise and mauve Briggs & Little yarn woven by Marion Kirkwood. It is an unusual pattern taken from the Handweavers Pattern Book.

We don't often post pictures of our weaving students and I'm not sure that people do want themselves posted on this website. This picture of Anne was taken by Ellen and she submitted it to me to post for our magazine blog for the class. This will be Anne's first project on a floor loom and when we last saw her she was looking rather disheartened and feeling a little overwhelmed by the project she choose to do: a doubleweave cape in fine yarns. A lot of threads to thread for sure! It's quickly forgotten though once you get weaving!

Barbara Brown very kindly brought in this pink suit woven by her grandmother, and the jacket is modeled here by Jutta. It was beautifully tailored and it was hard to tell that it was handmade.

There are still a few more pictures to come of final projects for the year and I think the last installment will be next week before we resume in the Fall.

Warp woes and herculean projects

Warp Woes (wars?)
Jill certainly deserves a medal for having the patience to endure the trial and tribulations this warp has created in trying to weave her shawl project. She used a lace weight yarn and we have discovered firstly, that it breaks too easily under the tension of a warp. In addition, I also failed to advise Jill at the start (likely because there was a lot of other things going on in the class) that it would have been technically better to wind this warp with the back to front method, however that would not have caused the problem that we see here, which is that the warp threads have an uneven tension as as one progresses through the weaving, the uneven warp threads become looser and looser. The only way around this is stuffing cloth where you need to increase the tension of the threads, but only at the back. Jill is almost finished this shawl and it will be a very sophisticated and elegant shawl despite all the trouble it has given her.

Another herculean project

Donna rose to the challenge to weave on the 60" loom. How long did this take you Donna? Did you start last spring or in the Fall of 2010? She is, rightly so, very proud of her achievement and looking at the blanket was hypnotic as it was a variegated twill. You can see how lively it is in the detail below. Donna used Lemieux 2 ply yarn which comes in about 50 colours and is relatively inexpensive at $5.25 a skein. She made the blanket longer than intended because our calculations provided her with some extra length.

detail of Donna's blanket

More projects from the Knitters Loom

Cheryl Yetman and a number of us are addicted to the spontaneity and simplicity of using this loom which is so portable and just plain ol' cute. These were the first projects that Cheryl attempted on her knitters loom with a lemieux 2ply warp and then using assorted knitting yarns she had in her stash at home. The colours are very spring like.

Bamboo

Incredibly this is Cheryl Yetman's first project on a floor loom. She has only recently started weaving seriously last Fall and she has hit the ground running. This is an undulating twill that imitates an overshot pattern found in the Handweavers Pattern Directory. Woven with 2/8 bamboo yarn, this fabric that will be made into a shrug feels luscious and satiny.