Do remember watching “Stuart” on Mad TV? So funny! One of his famous lines was, “Look what I can do!” which was usually followed by a funny little jump or crazy pose – mostly hysterical because of the seemingly random timing of it! Sometimes good ‘ole Stuart pops in my head when something goes well and I want to share it with someone else! Ah, Stuart…
Time to start snipping!
I have woven as much as I can squeak out! Literally, the yarns won’t separate from each other enough to squeeze the shuttle through. So, time to grab the scissors!
Cut & knot, cut & knot!
Working from the inside, out!
I like to start in the middle and work my way out. Pretty sure the sky won’t fall on you if you do it a different way. But, I’m a fairly serious creature of habit. So, here we go!
Ah… love me a close-up!
I like to cut the yarn close to the back because it gives me many inches of yarn to manipulate when tying the knots. Then, I typically trim each tail so they aren’t crazy long. Very few things are more annoying that cutting the yarn too close to the fabric, so you can’t get your fingers in there to make the knot! It’s no good, I tell ya!
Unrolling is such fun!!!
It is such a joy to take the brake off and let the fabric unwind from the loom! It goes spinning around, dumping fabric and yard sticks all over your feet – so entertaining! And after many, many hours of working on the project, you definitely look forward to a satisfying release at the end!! From here, I typically remove the toilet paper from the beginning of the project, knot the ends close to the fabric, lay the project out over the living room floor and just grin for awhile! It’s a fantastic feeling starting with a few tubes of yarn and ending with a gorgeous, rich, interesting bolt of fabric! Yay!
Voila! We have fabric!
I loved this project! I have no idea what comes next – how’s that for honesty? I’ll come up with something for next week, I promise! Thanks for following along! Talk to you soon…
Chris, did you do this in one project? If so, I’m guessing you left space between the colors to separate later? I was surprised to see you knot on the loom; I’ve always tied knots on my husband’s work after it was off; then I’d pull out, gently, the thick, junk yarn he used at beginning and end or in between place mats, e.g.
What do you do with the fabric? Do you sew also?
Hey Carole! I did this in one feel swoop! I’ll be turning this bolt of fabric into handbags. So, I don’t worry about leaving space in between the colors, or tucking in the yarns at the edges. After the fabric is off the loom, I do pull out the filler at the beginning and knot close to the woven portion. I do have a fabulous seamstress who does the sewing for me. While I LOVE the weaving, I really, really don’t enjoy the sewing. And I’m not very good at it! So, I decided early on to farm that part of the process out to someone who enjoys it! I think it is interesting how many variations you’ll find on the same process! Everyone has a slightly different slant, that’s for sure! I always welcome the feedback! Thanks! chris