Here we are, in a sea of cream!

Moving right along!

We are coming down the final stretch for the project, which is great news! I’ve found over the years that sometimes shorter projects are better. So, I have it spaced such that about the time I’m ready for something new, the knots come around the bend! It’s wonderful when things work out that way!

Let’s dust in a little brown…

See the necktie making an appearance?

I love some of the warm, caramel colors in this section of the fabric! Reminds me of baked chocolate cookies – homemade, of course! (Mind you, not baked by me, but by my brilliant sister and Ma – who can completely rock some homemade cookies!)

In a caramel haze!

And what do we have here? The knots have stealthily worked their way up to the mid-section of the loom! I have no more space for weaving – meaning it’s time to pull out the scissors!

We’re at the knots! Woohoo!

Start snippin’!

I like to start in the middle of the project, cutting close to the knots in the back. Then, I shorten up the tails once I’ve made a knot at the fabric. Snip, knot and repeat until the fabric is free of the loom!

Working my way out from the middle.

Release the fabric!

Ahhhh… the fabric is almost completely off the loom! Next up, I’ll release the knots from the front and lay it out to see what we have! (I always forget how the project started by the time it’s done. So, it’ll be fun to check it out!) Talk to you soon…

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Rag shuttle to the rescue!

A tunnel for the shuttle!

I started with really dark greens and now I am firmly in the apple green colors! There are very few greens that I don’t enjoy. Some of the really yellowish versions aren’t my favorite. But, they still trump peach most days!

Coming around the bend!

Mixing in a little necktie action!

All throughout the fabric, I am mixing in strips of neckties to add a little color, texture and recycled-ness! (Hmmm… not so graceful for a made-up word. But, it might catch on!)

Easing out of green, into the neutrals.

The tie provides a little splash of color!

With the strips of ties, instead of sewing or knotting the ends together, I simply layer the ends. I don’t want to add any additional bulk to the fabric. And, once the ties are trapped in the yarns, it will be very challenging to remove them!

Overhead view!

It’s coming together!

For this particular fabric, I am laying in the necktie strips over the yarn – which I’ve found makes it a little bulky in some instances. Next time, I may try something a little different to avoid that. I have to give it a little thought… weaving is a lot of problem solving, let me tell you!

Making fabric!

And the weaving continues! There is still a bit more to do before the fabric comes off the loom. But, I’m getting there! Have a good one and I’ll talk to you soon…

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No one’s surprised I’m using green here…

The rule of weaving – some are up, some are down!

Putting the rag shuttle to good use!

The end of a necktie trying to escape…

Love seeing the cones in the background!

Ah, progress!

The woven landscape…

This is going to make gorgeous handbags!

Time to forward the project!

Next up, there will be more weaving – yay!!! Probably a little less green, but definitely more weaving! Talk to you soon…

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TP in first!

The loom has been dressed (set-up) and is now ready to go! First up, I’ll put in a little toilet paper to act as a spacer. You only need a handful of rows to even everything out. I like TP because the perforation makes it easy to remove later and I use the cheap stuff so I’m not investing too much. I try to save my money for yarn – lots and lots of yarn!!!

About 5 rows should do it!

Bring in the weft!

I’m going to kick things off with some green yarn – my favorite go-to! The plan is to take the colors in the warp (yarns in the loom) and mimic them in the weft (yarns in the shuttle). Plus, I’m occasionally throwing in a few strips of recycled neckties for good measure!

Green is a great place to start!

Rolling the fabric forward!

When you set up a loom, you start with all yarn on the back, and end with all fabric on the front. Imagine with me – you are weaving along and run out of space. The shuttle no longer fits through the tunnel of yarns. At that point, you release the brakes and roll the project towards you – with my loom, it is about 6″. Lock it back down creating the appropriate tension, and weave a little more! Rinse and repeat! You know the project is completely done when you can’t forward it any further!

A little necktie action to give it interest!

Watching the magic happen…

I’m still playing with the idea of a combination fabric – part traditional materials, part recycled. So, this bolt is another attempt at finding the right balance between the two! You know what they say about practice… eventually you end up with some kick-ass fabric! (Maybe that phrase should go on a pillow somewhere in a counted cross stitch pattern!)

A little tail!

Aerial view!

I am weaving right along! Next up, more weaving! (I know you are shocked…) Stay tuned to see what happiness comes next!

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Moving right along!

Coming around the bend!

The knots are coming up quickly, signaling the end of the fabric! I started the project with lots of blues, moved into some purples and now am solidly living in magenta-land! (I know many folks who could live quite happily in magenta-land without complaints!)

Love those rich colors!

Peeking over the edge…

I’m still incorporating a strip of necktie every so often to give it a beautiful change in texture. I love the subtlety! But, I may make the ties more prominent next time. We’ll see…

Check out the fun necktie! Little pink, little gray, little yellow!

The last few inches!

If you remember from the beginning of the project, I wound in a number of yardsticks to keep the yarns even. Now, all the yardsticks have fallen out of the back and they’ve been moved to the front, keeping the fabric consistent. What would the world do without yardsticks? Honestly, most folks wouldn’t miss them. But, I’d like to think weavers everywhere would! (Or, it could just be me. I’m OK with that!)

Ready for scissors!

Snip, snip!

Time to begin cutting! I like to start in the middle and work my way out to the edges, knotting as I go. I had a friend who asked me about using toilet paper at the project end since I use it at the beginning. And what I’ve discovered is that I’ll need to remove it before I transfer it to my seamstress anyways. So, at the end of the project, I don’t bother. You certainly could use some sort of spacer between the fabric and the knots. But for this type of project, it’s not critical. (In my humble opinion, of course!)

Pulling away from the loom!

Once all the yarn has been cut and knotted, the fabric flops itself down towards the floor and with the help of gravity, begins unwinding itself! It’s so fun to see the colorful fabric mixed in with a mess of sticks!

It’s free!!!

Once everything is completely off the loom, I just remove the TP from the beginning of the project (remember when everything was blue?). Then, it’s ready to travel on to the magic seamstress! I don’t have photos handy of the entire bolt of fabric, but I’ll include a few next time so you can see the progression from start to finish! And then, something new! What is better than that? Starting and finishing – they are the best! Talk to you soon…

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The woven landscape…

Last we chatted, I was weaving in yarns and pieces of recycled neckties to create a lovely bolt of fabric that will be turned into handbags! And guess what? This week, more of the same – just pinkier! (This is immensely funny because of all the colors in the whole, wide world, pink is my least favorite! Turns out, I can stomach the dark pink colors better. But still, the coincidence is not lost on me!)

Yes, please!

Making progress!

With this loom, I can typically weave about 6″ before I have to forward the project – and that’s a nice amount of space! If any of you plan to do a bit of loom shopping in the near future, my suggestion is to specifically ask about that dimension since every loom is built differently. And if you don’t have “loom shopping” on your list of things to do, I highly recommend it!

Adding in more purple!

It’s a bird’s eye view!

As I go along, I am taking out the dark purple yarns and replacing them with bright magentas and pinks. The goal is to gradually morph from one hue to another. I love it when colors seem to ease in and out of each other – especially with yarn, because I know each one is a solid color. So, I find it magical when they look like they’re changing in front of my eyes! (Can you tell I spend a lot of time thinking about this?)

Shuttling along…

Just makes me happy!

And let’s not forget about the neckties! I’m using ties that blend in fairly well. So, at times, you just sense that the texture is different versus actually being able to pick out each tie. But, that’s OK with me. The joy of being an artist is deciding what you want your product to look like – picking which elements are critical and which ones aren’t.

See how the fabric changes?

The end is coming quickly! Next week, I’ll finish up the weaving fun and cut this puppy off! And then, who knows? Don’t you love the delicious, agonizing minutes in between projects? It’s something to look forward to! Talk to you soon…

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Love the cool colors!

Take a peek at the weft yarns…

I have lots of dark colors in the shuttle at the moment, with a touch of blue. I like mirroring some of the colors in the warp. Plus, I’m still feeding in neckties every so many inches! I like the way it is coming together!

Enter, the rag shuttle!

Yum, a close-up!

Part of the fun for me in creating this type of fabric is imagining the end result. I know this will be cut up and sewn into handbags. So, the challenge is guaranteeing that no matter how the fabric is cut, each bag will be unique and interesting! When all is said and done, it is so cool to see the differences and similarities between all the bags made from just one bolt of fabric! It is like magic, I tell ya!

Half are up! Half are down.

One of the ties that will be incorporated!

As you might imagine, the time it takes to prep the ties can be long! So, I vacillate between prepping everything before I start, or doing it on the fly. You know, it’s these difficult decisions that keep us on our toes – one doughnut or two, cake or pie, french onion dip or cheese sauce, milk chocolate or dark, etc. (p.s. my answers are typically (2) doughnuts, cake, french onion dip and dark chocolate. But, I reserve the right to mix it up!)

Subtly changing colors!

Back & forth we go!

I’m heading towards the purples, so all the purple fans can do a happy dance! I’ll keep on keeping on and we’ll chat soon! Have a great week…

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And we’re weaving!

So last week, I kicked off the project with light blues. Now, I am slowing easing into darker colors. Occasionally, I’ve been throwing in a strip of necktie to provide some additional texture, as well as incorporate something fabulously re-purposed!

What would we do without rag shuttles?

The ties blend in better with the darker colors.

I own a small handful of different types of shuttles. There are lots in the entire universe, I am sure! But, the versions that I love to use are the rag shuttle (great for holding either fat yarns, or a handful of different yarns together), and the boat shuttle (which holds a bobbin that you can wind very quickly). Those (2) are my go-to pieces of equipment, great in nearly any project!

A tie is joining the party!

Occasionally, the ends try to escape!

Because this will be used as fabric to make handbags, I don’t worry about the ends of the yarn. I just let them all hang out! They will simply get cut when the bags are being created anyways. This is huge time-saver!

And then there are the ends of the weft!

We’re getting darker!

I love the process of subtly changing the colors in the shuttle. Usually, I’ll swap out one or two yarns in the bunch each time I load it up. That way, I can avoid a drastic change and instead, aim for a smooth transition from color to color. The challenge of figuring out how to best accomplish that makes me so happy!

See the ties hidden in the fabric?

And the weaving goes on! I won’t have too much fun without you – promise! We’ll talk soon…

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Bring in the TP!

First up, we need some sort of filler to even out the yarns. I like to use toilet paper – preferably, the really cheap stuff! For every (5) weavers you meet, they will have (5) different ways of tackling this part of the process! Using old yarn, strips of fabric, just start weaving without beating it until it evens out, etc. So many options! None of them wrong! (See how zen I sound? Everyone is right in their own way. Well… maybe not you over there with the funny smirk on your face…)

Knots & TP as far as the eye can see! (aka, the width of the loom!)

Enter weft stage right…

Since I have blues and purples in the warp (yarns in the loom), it makes sense to start things off with a little blue in the weft (yarns in the shuttle)!

Let’s begin with a little sky blue!

So, funny story. I grew up with an elementary teacher who loved everything to match and I inherited a strong sense of color from her! Fast forward to college and I happened to be taking a studio class in my Interior Design major when I have an instructor tell me that my sample board is too “matchy-matchy”… Huh? I’m sure the look on my face said, “I have no idea what you are saying to me! Speak English, please.” I have no recollection of how I remedied the problem. But, I’m sure I grumbled the entire time thinking the instructor was simply crazy!  I find it fascinating what people prefer! Even when they are wrong… (Boy, the zen thing didn’t last but a minute, right?)

Using the trusty rag shuttle!

Throw in a few neckties for good measure!

I’ve decided to use recycled neckties as a design element in the fabric – partly because I like the look, and partly because to create fabric solely using ties takes a really long time! I’ve done it, and believe me when I say it’s not quick! So, my solution is to create a hybrid. Use a traditionally woven base and sprinkle in some cool, recycled materials to add a little flair! We’ll see how it goes. Keep your fingers crossed for me…

Ah, the woven landscape!

It’s always good to step back!

All my purple fans can rejoice that I’m using purple ties! It’s a bit subtle, but I like it! As I get into the darker colors, it will be interesting to see how the ties stand out!

The fabric is starting to wind on!

Lifting shafts 1 & 3… or 2 & 4 – I can’t tell!

Can I tell you how happy all this weaving makes me? If you could peer through the computer, you would see the ridiculous grin! And even better, there is more weaving to come! What is better than that? Not much, friends… not much. Let’s meet back here next week, shall we? Talk to you soon…

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Step up to the warping board!

Because the last project was all about the warm colors, it only seems fitting that the cool colors get a chance to shine in this round! A variety of purples mixed with a pale blue (the blue looks sort of gray in some of my photos) will be just the right blend to create something interesting… At least, that’s the goal!

How ’bout a few cool colors?

The brilliance of the warping board is found when the weaver can measure out a lengthy project, ensuring that each individual yarn will be the same length as its neighbor.  Like so many weaving tools, it doesn’t look like much. But, it is used for big, ambitious things! Yay, warping boards!!

The starting peg!

When you change colors, you cut and knot the yarn at the beginning or ending peg – at least I do! I suppose there may be a way to have the yarn hang out to the side until you need it again. But, I prefer to keep things simple and hopefully, tangle-free. So, I just chop it, tie it, and move it away from the board until I need it again. But, as I design a project, I don’t usually consider what hassle that might be if I’m changing colors every 4th yarn! Ah, artists…

The ending peg!

Twisting off the first 1/2!

There aren’t really a lot of rules to the warping board! Yet, the point of this step is not only to wind on hundreds of yarns all the same length, but also to wind them on in order! And you need a cross to do that. The cross is the point where all the yarns intersect – one in front of the next one. Because they come from opposite directions, you should be able to “read” the order once it’s off the loom. A little tricky to explain in photographs. For all my non-weaving friends, just know that it’s important. For all my weaving friends, I’m happy to expand if you have questions!

The infamous “cross”!

My own little racetrack of yarn!

When taking the yarn off the warping board, I start at the bottom and do a little twisty thing until I get to the top. My weaving teacher tried to explain how the twisting motion was similar to a crochet stitch. But, since I’m not a crochet-er, I’m sure I looked at her with glazed-over, non-comprehending eyes. So, she just walked me through it about 50 times until I got it! Teachers are so patient, aren’t they?

Second 1/2 of the project!

Only takes a few flicks of the wrist!

All right! The yarn has been measured and is ready to go into the reed! Next up, we’ll be sleying! Makes me so happy!!! Talk to you soon…

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