Practice tapestry curves sampler

After helping lead a workshop on tapestry weaving, I thought about what we might cover next with the group (since they want to continue). Curves came to mind because they are hard. Rebecca Mezoff's book, The Art of Tapestry Weaving, has some exercises for weaving curves. I grabbed some yarn totally inappropriate for tapestry weaving and got to work.

Pattern: None, I did employ a "cartoon" to guide my weaving
Weave structure: Plain weave
Loom: Mirrix Tapestry Loom
Warp: 12/6 cotton seine twine (I think)
Weft: Some fingering weight samples from a natural dyeing workshop. I doubled the yarn for this piece.
EPI/PPI: 8/?
Ends: 42
Finished size: 23" x 5" (not including excess warp)

First, I just winged it, creating curves and outlining them as I went.

Then I clipped on a cartoon (using WonderClips - love them!) and wove line by line.

Next, using the same cartoon, I tried weaving the shapes first, then filling in later.

Finally, I turned the cartoon on its side and tried weaving vertical curves.

I decided what I would probably prefer to do is weave a few rows of a shape, then fill in the rest of those rows before continuing. That would help my old eyes keep track of the rows more easily. As it turns out, this is how Marcos Bautista (mentioned in my previous post) weaves!

Working with doubled yarn was tricky. I'm guessing it was sock yarn, which is usually superwash and/or contains nylon. It won't felt, so the doubled yarn would not "stick" together. Invariably, one of the plies lagged the other, creating selvage problems. Sometimes a weaver will lightly twist a "bundle" of yarn, but I don't think that would have worked in this case. Plus, sometimes the weaver may not want the plies to twist, for design purposes.

This was a good experiment - I learned a lot!

Leno and Brooks Bouquet sampler

I wanted to weave some curtains, but couldn't decide whether to make them using leno or Brooks bouquet. To help me make up my mind, I created a sampler of both, using the Ashford SampleIt loom with a 10-dent heddle, out of 3/2 mercerized cotton. For some reason, I photographed the sections in the reverse order than I wove them in, but I'm sure you will get the idea.

Doup leno without doups

Doup leno

Leno - Jane (Patrick) variation

Cheater bouquets without ties

Cheater bouquets

Ladder hemstitch - 2 warps

Ladder hemstitch - 4 warps

Brooks bouquet staggered over Brooks bouquet

Leno 2x2 continuous over Leno 2x2

Leno 1x1 continuous over Leno 1x1

Put it all together

In the end, I used the doup leno without the doups for my bathroom curtains. Doups are basically string heddles, and in this instance, I found them more trouble than they were worth. I also forgot to enter this project into Ravelry (now rectified) and didn't take very good notes, but was able to figure out what was what based on a fiber "log" I keep. I'm still thinking of using Brooks bouquet for some kitchen curtains, and my SO likes the ladder stitch patterns, so this sampler will come in handy for several projects.

(References: Inventive Weaving on a Little Loom, by Syne Mitchell, and The Weaver's Idea Book, by Jane Patrick.)

Chocolate and Vanilla sampler

The actual names for the colors in the tapestry sampler are 'Sable' and 'Creme', but they look like chocolate and vanilla to me, albeit fuzzy chocolate and vanilla. Lambs Pride yarn includes mohair, which creates a bit of a halo effect.

Source: Tapestry Weaving: a comprehensive study guide, by Nancy Harvey
Yarn: Lambs Pride Bulky, in 'Sable' and 'Creme'
Loom: a frame loom I purchased on our trip to Nashville, built by Bob Gustin, husband of the Homestead Weaver.
EPI/PPI: 6 EPI and I don't know PPI

I really had no idea of where to begin, so the book I used was instrumental. It included instructions for a variety of looms, including a frame loom. Otherwise, I would not have known to use dowel rods at the bottom to beat against. I was able to do some weaving with shuttles, but most of the time I had to create butterflies of yarn.

The previous tapestry I wove used a cartoon for one section, but this author's instructions included a cartoon for the whole project. I had to use three separate pieces of graph paper, so implemented the patterns a section at a time.

Note the use of Clover Wonder Clips to hold the cartoon to the tapestry. They are like little binder clips for sewers and other crafters. One of the best purchases I ever made.

One disadvantage to using a cartoon is, if it is not exactly the right size, designs that should be symmetrical may not be. I wish I had counted warp threads to make the shapes match better.

Tapestry weaving is weft faced, which means the weaver hides the warp threads by beating the weft. I tried to use a tapestry sword to beat the weft, but that did not work well with this loom because, without heddles, there was no way to prop the shed open. The tapestry beater worked fine, though.

The resulting fabric was rather dense, like a rug. I wonder if I needed to beat quite as hard as I did. One drawback of being basically self-taught is there is no one looking over my shoulder saying, Do this, don't do that.

I sent the following pic to Chris Gustin (the Homestead Weaver), so she could see I was actually using the loom. She posted it on the Homestead Weaver FB page, and it received some nice comments.

To finish the piece, I added wood beads top and bottom. At first, I mixed three shades of beads, which I liked, but not with the two-color tapestry. I replaced them with all dark beads. The supporting stick is from one of my apple trees.

The pics of the finished project make the top and bottom look narrower than the middle, which is not the case. The tapestry lays nicely on the floor, but when hanging, curls a bit at one corner. I may steam it so the yarn will full a bit and I can flatten and shape the fabric. Then the question will be, Where to display it?