I wove in the ends of the straps as 4 rows of weft around the top of the bag, starting at each corner and overlapping at the centre of each side and end. I worked a row of soumak stitch to hold the edge of the weaving and then began to weave from the bottom up, following the colour-and-weave pattern in my chart. I carried the different colours up the back of the weaving rather than start a new thread each time the colour changed.
I needed a portable longer-term weaving project for two months away from home. I wanted it without pins so that I could work on it during airplane travel. It needed to incorporate colour-and-weave and be woven all-in-one-piece. I dug through my yarn stash for a set of colours. Then I charted a favourite criss-cross colour-and-weave design.
A conveniently-sized handbag that I already had gave me the measurements. I built a hollow cardboard weaving form and left the pins in while I warped the bag (weaving the bottom as I warped the ends). Then I fastened the warp to the form by stitching through the cardboard and removing the pins as I went.
On the first airplane journey I plaited the two 18" straps. 18 strands used in pairs made a 9 strand braid of the weight I wanted. (Look at a previous post for a quick explanation of this technique). I bound the ends of the braid and left the ends long so I could work them into the top part of the bag.
The first idea for fastening in the straps involved weaving and soumak stitch but after I got one end done, I didn't like the way it looked. This will get unpicked and I'll try another method.
To be continued.
All those colours were so much fun to spin! (see the spinning post) Here are my two favourite projects of the "wild flower meadow" series. In both these projects I was attempting to achieve the feeling of random colour scattered across a blended green background by using a "special" yarn along with the pure colours. The special yarn had elements of both the light and the dark yarn so it blurred the otherwise distinct colour and weave patterns.
The needle book cover has the warp and weft pattern ddl. I combined my different blended greens for the dark in both warp and weft. The light in the warp was "special": yellow and green plied together. Then I used a variety of pure colours for the light yarn in the weft.
The zipped bag has the pattern dl in the warp. I used the "special" variegated yarn as the light strand. I didn't have quite enough, so you can see where I switched to pure yellow part way along the bag. I interspersed groups of three threads of pure colour in the mostly blended green weft.
My friend's tartan cushion looks great among her sofa-full of hand made cushions. She machine zig-zagged the edges of the squares together and attached it to a fabric back with a zip along one edge. (See the post from 25 May for the weaving of the squares.)
While I was doing the first colour and weave experiments I was also travelling in western Canada. I got glimpses of verges and fields of wild flowers with brilliant spots of colour scattered across the mixed greens of the plants and grasses. To see if I could get that effect with weaving I bought some colours and began to spin. The first job was a selection of pure bright flower colours. I also made a ball of variegated, spacing the pure flower colours between sections of grey green to see if that will work to make the colours appear randomly across the weaving.
Then I began to create mixed variations of greens.
Here is my first sample to imitate the colour scheme of a field of flowers using the pure colours. I have yet to try the variegated and the full range of the greens.
This summer I've been playing with Colour and Weave. The starting point was a gamp from The Structure of Weaving by Anne Sutton (page 36). I recorded the combinations of threading and began to chart them myself and then weave some to find out first hand how this works. I prepared three-ply yarns from dyed fleece in light greys and dark greens and blues (from Custom Woolen Mills near Carstairs Alberta Canada).
One set that worked really well looks a bit like a basket weave pattern. I wove a single and then a double variation. (SINGLE: warp: 2 lights 1 dark, weft: the same as warp. DOUBLE: warp: 2 lights 1 dark 1 light 1 dark, weft: the same as warp)
Once I understood this pattern, I charted a triple version of it for a future weaving. (TRIPLE: warp: 2 darks 1 light 1 dark 1 light 1 dark 1 light, weft: the same as warp)
Another pattern looks like bars of colour with little dots along the bars. (warp: 1 light 1 dark, weft: groups of three of each colour with the first pick going under warps of the same colour)
All 16 squares are complete and ready for fulling. After that they go to my friend who intends to make a cushion with them. Currently they are about 5.25 inches square. The final size after fulling should be about 4.5 inches.
There are 8 twill squares. Green is the warp and one of the other three colours is the weft. Here's my favourite in the warm siena brown in a 3/2 twill.
I did two different tartan patterns.
One based on the proportions of a Graham tartan.
One based on the proportions of a Campbell tartan.
All the ends were left at the edges and caught lightly onto the back afterwards.
One set that worked really well looks a bit like a basket weave pattern. I wove a single and then a double variation. (SINGLE: warp: 2 lights 1 dark, weft: the same as warp. DOUBLE: warp: 2 lights 1 dark 1 light 1 dark, weft: the same as warp)
Once I understood this pattern, I charted a triple version of it for a future weaving. (TRIPLE: warp: 2 darks 1 light 1 dark 1 light 1 dark 1 light, weft: the same as warp)
Another pattern looks like bars of colour with little dots along the bars. (warp: 1 light 1 dark, weft: groups of three of each colour with the first pick going under warps of the same colour)
