Monday, August 30, 2010

Twill Sampler

I was planning to show all of you my class projects in the order in which they were started. But then I decided I wanted a bit of finishing advice on this particular one, so it’s gonna jump in line. Ready?

When Teacher Tom presented this sampler, our second project, we were all given the option to weave either a table runner, with fringe on both ends, or a wall hanging. I have a spot on the landing of my stairs that is essentially the first thing you see when you walk into my house. I have quilts that hang there for Halloween, fall, Christmas and winter that I love. But as soon as snowflakes are no longer appropriate, I have to put something up there that I hate.

Which is why I picked the wall hanging. Everyone else picked the table runner. Dare to be different.

SamplerHanging.jpg

After doing enough tabby (plain weave) to create a hem that was hand-stitched down on the back. We got into our first section of pattern. No, I don’t know the names of any of these patterns. Someday …

TStop.jpg

We then put in four rows of brown, in pattern (and yes, that’s the identical brown in the vertical/warp lines and in the horizontal/weft lines), then onward to the next 4” chunk of pattern.

TSrow2.jpg

Next up was learning how to put in a floating selvedge (a very useful trick). No, you can’t see it. Just trust me that it’s in there and it makes life easier.

TSrow3.jpg

And, finally, we learned a technique called overshot.

TSovershot.jpg

See how the pattern is really elongated? That’s done by throwing the main weft (purple) through the same shed (pattern of raised and lowered warp threads) more than once. With something in between to make it not pull itself out. Yeah, I know that didn't really make much sense. Just trust me. It works.

Anyhoo, my question is about the very bottom of the sampler. See in the top photo how the fringe is reeeeeeeeeeeally long? I wanted to give myself the option to do a twisted fringe, like this:

ScarfFringe.jpg

Or should I just chop the fringe down to maybe 3-4” and leave it “natural.” Lemme know what you think!

TwillSampler.jpg

Class Twill Sampler

Warp: 3/2 Perle Cotton (natural with brown as dividers)
Weft: 3/2 Perle Cotton (purple with brown as dividers)
Tabby Weft: 10/2 Perle Cotton (natural) – this is for the overshot section
Sett: 15 EPI
Started: 24 August 2010, Beginning Weaving Week, The Mannings
Finished: 27 August 2010, Beginning Weaving Week, The Mannings

4 comments:

turtlegirl76 said...

It's so pretty. I would worry that the twisted fringe would pull in a bit at the bottom and you'd lose the nice rectangle you have. I'd trim up the fringe a bit and leave it as is.

Sarah said...

I happen to like the look of twisted fringe, but Cristi makes a good point. If it's going to affect the bottom of the weaving, I'd just do the trimmed fringe.

Donna Lee said...

I like the natural but how will it hold up? You know how some threads get all fuzzy and matted? Will this thread hang nice or matt up into a mess?
It's a beautiful piece and looks good on the stairway.

floribunda said...

It's beautiful! I think I like the fringe "au naturel" rather than twisted -- it just looks less fussy.