So, the first set of samples is off the loom and I put them through a wash in the sink, albeit a vigorous one, because I really thought it’d be better to see how they’d change before deciding wether to resley or rethread. I’m glad I did. First off, a shot of the finished all-wool piece.
As you can see, I did a few combinations. The bottom is two color and a long treadling repeat to make squares rather than rectangles. The center section is also two colors, highly contrasting and the top is two color but nearly no contrast. They’re all interesting in their own way, but they all have one thing in common. Too open. For sure.
The shaping of the weave structure really starts to show, but there are big gaps between the threads. I really, really don’t like that. As you get closer, it gets worse.
Moving onto the two treadlings that are more “contrasty”, I’m really quite torn as to which I prefer.
I like the scale of the half-repeat for anything clothing-like, simply because the pattern isn’t too overwhelming.
And, the contrasting threads give a visual dimensionality to it. However …
the squares really are quite charming. For upholstery, linens, or maybe a blanket, great. But I just don’t think this would lend itself well to clothing. Just too big. (for reference, the “circles” are about 3/4″ in diameter).
Now – everything goes better with silk, right?
Right. Absolutely right. There’s a sheen that makes this fabric really gorgeous and the hand is also wonderful. But again, on inspection, too open.
So – in the finishing, there’s a lesson. I’m not going to change the threading at all. I am, however, going to resley this at 36epi and see how that goes. And, I’m going to spend a bit more time with the silk and with the contrasting colors. I do think that this is a workable fabric, I just need to pack it more densely. Best of all, this is a fast change so I can still make progress this month.
Now, if only I thought that dealing with taxes would be this easy.
I love those stripy little elongated squares (the last one in the wool series); they are really appealing. But I see how they wouldn’t work at that scale for clothing, unless you were planning on a floor-length cape or something (and why not?). I loved the glint of shiny silk among the matt wool, too. I’ll be really curious to see what happens and what you think when you sample at a tighter sett.
One good part about a tighter sett, those squares will become smaller. Each of them is 16 ends by 16 ends – and at 36epi, that makes them less than 1/2″ square on the loom, so they’ll get smaller still off the loom/post finishing.
I’m also going to be interested to see how much draw in and then shrinkage I get off loom/post finishing when I move to a tighter sett. My Brain tells me that there should be less of both, because there’ll be less space for the yarn to move, but it’ll be AWESOME to have that proven by experimentation.
I think I’m starting to be able to really wrap my brain around this …