On Monday and Thursday evenings, Halie comes to my studio for weaving lessons. She is a student of Interior Design at DAAP at the University of Cincinnati. She is thinking about a Master’s Degree in Textiles and wanted to learn to weave. We started working on a rigid heddle loom since it is small and quick to learn about plain weave. It is also a loom she can afford, can easily transport and can easily keep in different student housing situations. We will move on to a 4 shaft loom in the fall when she returns to school from a month of study abroad beginning in August.
She made two scarves that she direct warped to learn the basics, one with a multicolored yarn that gradually changed colors and one in a houndstooth check. Then we moved on to a color and weave sampler. We worked on the design together, basing it on some ideas in the books I have, and customizing it to work with one of my Cricket loom with a 10 inch weaving width, a 12 dent heddle and 8/4 cotton carpet warp. Halie used a warping board for the first time to wind the two colors separately.
She sleyed the rigid heddle holding the cross in her hand, first with the light color while leaving spaces for the dark color based on the warping plan we made. Then she filled in the dark color. You can see how the color sequence changes across the warp. The threading started out with a little bit of log cabin; alternating single ends of dark and light for about an inch, then alternating light and dark for a half inch, then back to alternating dark and light. After that, the sequences of dark and light changed to some other classic color and weave combinations.
It was a short warp and the color sequence to weave the weft was the same as the warp. Multiple iterations of color and weave effects can be observed in one small cloth and the sample is to be used as a reference tool for fabric design.
The sample was hemstitched on the loom, and now she needs to determine the edge treatment before the cloth is wet finished and pressed. I sent the classic Virginia West book, Finishing Touches for the Handweaver, with her for the weekend to select one. I am excited to see what she comes up with!
