Loom Controlled Shibori Chenille Scarf with Heat Set Pleats

In the Sept/Oct 2011 issue of Handwoven Magazine there is a draft for a dress woven with chenille with heat set pleats.  I have never woven with chenille (it intimidates me)  but in my stash was a skein that was perfect for making this project.  I used the draft to make a scarf, not the whole dress.  The scarf is woven in plain weave, but the gathering threads follow an eight shaft twill pattern.  Four picks plain weave, one pick gathering thread.  The warp is a rayon chenille, the weft is poly machine embroidery thread.  Pretty slow weaving.

These pictures show the scarf after I took it off the loom, and the pleating and tying.

After all the threads were gathered and tied, the scarf was steamed for 30 minutes.

I let it dry, which took forever, and then started removing the supplemental threads.  One of the threads had broken when I was knotting the threads and although it didn't look like it would cause a problem, there was a definite flat spot in the scarf.  ARGHH

                                                                                                                                                                                 

repair gathers.

 I thought about it for a few weeks, and then decided to try to repleat the flat spot.  Using a needle and thread I regathered the flat area and the space around it, pulled it all tight, then steamed the spot over a tea kettle.



  It worked!  The flat spot is gone, the scarf is soft and lush.  You can't put this scarf in the dryer as you would with a flat chenille scarf or your pleats would relax, so it doesn't have quite the same surface that most chenille scarves have.   I am  also worried that the tails will worm over time.  There was enough warp for two scarves on the loom and the second one is just a plain weave chenille scarf.  I twisted the tails 30 times in one direction with 3 strands in each side and they still wormed.  I have been told to only use 4 strands total and twist 50 times.  Sooooo,  I will untie and retwist, again.  I have already done it twice and it is still wrong.


Collaged Nuno Felt Scarf

I haven't posted in a while, but have been keeping busy.  I did a weaving demo at the Farmers Market in Perry, and did a sale at the Chalk Art Festival.  The weather has been brutally hot and humid for a while now which tends to rob you of your ambition.  I finally went down into the damp, musty, but cool basement and worked on a nuno felt piece.  When you have too many ideas and limited time it can be so difficult to decide where to start.  My usual process is to dump everything out of its bin onto the work table and start putting this with that.  After wasting an hour or two doing some planning, it is usually time to leave the basement and make dinner.  This scarf was laid out for several days before I was able to get back down and felt it.  It took quite a while to get it all to stay together and full.  The fabric started out as a silk chiffon skirt, cut on the bias, with a bias ruffle at the bottom in a coordinating color.  I cut it up, added some other bits and pieces and then started adding the wool.

 I added some silk roving and then put the wool over it.  The side facing down will be the front side of the scarf.

 All laid out and ready to felt.  I left the silk ruffle from the bottom of the skirt intact and used it to put a ruffled edge on the scarf.

 Finished product with an awesome vintage button and felted spiral loop fastener.

My First Handspun Yarn

I bought a spinning wheel, a single treadle Kiwi, at the flea market a few years ago.  It was only $45 and didn't need anything but a new belt.  Well, it sat for a long time until I finally decided to take a beginning spinning class.  It was only one session, but I learned enough to give it a try at home, with the help of a beginners book.  I practiced with a lot of crummy roving and batts that I had picked up here and there to use for felting, and I could spin it, but it made some ugly singles.  Then I worked with some gorgeous Romney batts, from a fleece I bought several years ago, that went much better.  At the Shepards Market in Rush a few weeks ago, I finally bought six ounces of  good spinning wool. Here is my final result.  It isn't perfect, but it stays together and is knit-able.  I am going to make something for myself for a change, it isn't good enough to sell! The spinning process is enjoyable and I have always admired the spinners who make it all look so easy, so I will keep working on it. Some hand dyed roving is my next project, but it handles so much differently than the batt...

Felted Vessel Workshop with Andrea Graham

Last week I had the opportunity to participate in a felting workshop with Andrea Graham.  We learned to make seamless felted vessels and how to make pre-felts and use them to incorporate marbles, fins, spikes, and other items into the surface of our vessel.  I took lots of pictures that show the process, which can translate to hats, bags, or whatever you want to make with felted wool.



The colors of wool I selected to work with, from Harrisville Design.



Laying out the pre-felt
 



The pre-felt cut and wrapped around marbles to
create surface designs.

Laying out the inner layer of wool



Layout of fins with a resist inside.

Layout completed.
 

Layout after wetting and rubbing
and rubbing, and rubbing...



Andrea demonstrating the use of a resist
to make a seamless vessel.

My finished piece, incorporating a long
spike that goes around the vessel and
through a loop, marbles, pom poms,
tufts of silk fibers, locks, fins, and a
strip of silk that holds a leaf bead.



The finished vessels from the class.

I really enjoyed this workshop and could not believe how each person in the class had such a unique vision for their vessel.  After my piece dried, I steamed it, shaved it, and hung a little stone leaf from the strip of silk hanging from the front.  I am anxious to get into my studio and experiment with these techniques some more.  

New Items for Mayday Underground

 Here are a few pics of some of the items I finished this week in time for Mayday.  The necklace is a little sterling silver and mother of pearl guitar that I found at the Bouckeville Antique Sale last summer.  The chain is silver and includes mop beads and blue kyanite. 

The shawl in the center is made with hand dyed yarn by my friend Sarah at Propanicus Moon.  She also designed the pattern called The Nearly Mindless Shawl.  http://propanicusmoon.etsy.com  It must be nearly mindless if I can pull it off.  I am not the worlds most focused knitter, the pattern is available on Ravelry.   http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/nearly-mindless-shawl


The third piece is a nuno felt scarf.  I was doing a little experimentation, trying to add three dimensional forms to the surface.  I ended up with this funky flowered thing.  I added lots of seed beads to the centers of the flowers to give it a little bling.