Woven Scarves: 26 Inspired Designs for the Rigid Heddle Loom PDF
Preview Woven Scarves: 26 Inspired Designs for the Rigid Heddle Loom
woven scarves 26 Inspired Designs for the Rigid Heddle Loom Jane Patrick & Stephanie Flynn Sokolov CONTENTS Introduction Chapter 1: Plain Weave Chunky Check Windowpane Plaid Go to Work Log Cabin Skwoosh Plaid Muffler Bobble Scarf Chapter 2: Designing with Yarn Flower Power Posh Plum Ladies Who Lunch Midnight in Paris Stainless Steel Scarf Stash Buster Scarf Chapter 3: Exploring Pattern Sun Shower Lavender Lace Eyelet Scarf Lattice Scarf Shaggy Scarf Chapter 4: Altered Surfaces Spaced and Felted Scarf Gypsy Dancer Peter Pan Collar Felt Resist Bananagram Scarf Recycled Sweater Scarf Fringy Collar Metamorphosis Steampunk Scarf Appendix Direct Peg Warping Measuring a Warp on a Warping Board Hemstitching Winding a Shuttle How Much Yarn Do I Have? Glossary Bibliography Sources for Yarn Copyright INTRODUCTION One of the best parts of being involved in weaving is the community of weavers. If you are new to weaving, then you may be just starting to meet other weavers. You’ll find them to be generous, smart, creative, and passionate. It is a joy to work collaboratively with other weavers, and this is one of the reasons Stephanie Flynn Sokolov and I wanted to make this book together. Stephanie and I met when she came to Schacht Spindle Company. I thought she was coming for an interview; she thought she was coming for a tour. The result: I hired Stephanie on the spot to be part of our sales team. We had a wonderful couple of years together, but then family and other priorities found Stephanie pursuing other interests. We kept in touch through other projects and, when I decided that a scarf book was what new enthusiastic weavers wanted, I immediately sought out Stephanie. It’s been an energizing partnership. Stephanie brings a keen design aesthetic, helped along no doubt by her training at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. I have years of experience as writer, editor, and weaver. Our shared passion and the thrill of seeing ideas come to fruition have made creating this book together joyous. Our goal for this book is to illustrate the broad range of possibilities weavers can attain with a simple rigid heddle loom. We chose to use the Cricket Loom from Schacht, with either a 10" (25.5 cm) or 15"(38 cm) weaving width (full disclosure: I’m married to Schacht founder Barry Schacht and work alongside him as well … but still, it’s a great little loom). This limited us to projects no wider than 15"(38 cm) and to warp setts of between 5 and 12 ends per inch (epi). Although these parameters have affected our choices, we think you’ll be blown away with the incredible fabrics that such simple tools can create. The scarves in this collection prove that you can make amazing stuff on a simple loom. We assume that you are a beginner or an advanced beginner weaver who has warped your loom several times and has woven a few projects. Although we designed all of these projects for the rigid heddle loom, we know that these projects will appeal to seasoned shaft loom weavers as well, and we have provided drafts where appropriate. As references, we’ve provided warping instructions for direct peg warping and measuring yarn on a warping board, a glossary of terms, and how to figure out how much yarn you have. Because yarns are always changing and may or may not be available when you’re ready to weave one of the projects, we’ve included detailed yarn information with each project, which will go a long way in helping you make substitutions with confidence. We hope that you love these scarf designs and that they inspire your own creative explorations. —Jane Patrick 1 Plain Weave The basic structure of most of the scarves in this book is plain weave. It’s the simplest of weaves and the one most readily woven on a rigid heddle loom. In plain weave, every other warp thread (or end) is lifted—one up, one down, and so on. On the next pass of the weft, everything that was up is down and everything that was down is up. That is, every warp end that is raised on one pass is lowered on the next. These two passes are alternated to form an over, under, over, under interlacement of the warp and weft. However, even though the structure is simple, we like to say that there’s nothing plain about plain weave. The scarves in this chapter are a case in point. Balanced Weaves In a balanced weave, there are the same number of warp ends as there are weft picks in 1" (2.5 cm) of woven cloth. The visual impact of warp and weft is about equal because each appears in the fabric in more or less the same amount. Keep in mind that you want your scarf to have a lot of drape. If you pack in the weft too tightly, you’re likely to create a stiff fabric that won’t provide the supple, drapey hand you want. For almost every scarf in this collection, we used balanced weaves to produce fabrics that wrap and drape beautifully. When you weave a balanced weave with a single color in the warp and a single color in the weft, you’ll want to consider how the colors mix visually. Let’s say you cross a red warp with a blue weft in a balanced weave structure so that you’ll have the same amount of each color. When you view the fabric at a distance, your eye will mix the colors to produce purple. This visual effect will be influenced by the size and color of the yarns, as well as the viewing distance. In weaving, the warp and weft will always influence each other, and you’ll want to consider this influence when designing. You’ll learn a lot if you weave a sample. Stripes Weaving naturally lends itself to stripes. It’s easy to thread stripes in the warp and such lengthwise stripes are quite attractive on the wearer. Warpwise stripes are a simple way to create pattern in weaving. All of the work is done in the warping process, and you need just one shuttle, which makes for speedy weaving. You can also add weftwise stripes to create borders or broad horizontal stripes. Weaving weft stripes has the advantage that the pattern can be changed at any time—an advantage over warp stripes, which can’t be altered once the loom is threaded. When you design striped warps, keep in mind that if you work in patterns with even numbers, you can use the efficient direct peg warping method. When you warp odd numbers, it’s probably best to measure the warp on the warping board, then thread the heddle according to the pattern. Theoretically, you can thread the heddle in pairs and then move ends around in the reed afterwards, but we’ve fumbled through some weaving frustrations when yarns became twisted behind the heddle. It wasn’t fun. Also, if some warp ends are crossed over others for too long a distance, you can run into problems weaving, especially as you approach the end of the warp. Tips for Designing Stripes A single end of a contrasting color forms a dotted line. Two ends threaded together with broad stripes of solid colors on each side act as a pinstripe. If you want single colors to follow the same pattern, you need to thread them all the same way—in either slots or holes. Use yarn wrappings to explore stripe ideas, especially for unbalanced stripe designs. Draw your stripe pattern on paper before you warp the loom. For balanced patterns, make sure that the same color is at each selvedge. Checks and Plaids Crossing a striped warp with weft stripes creates a plaid or check that’s ultimately appealing and well suited to woven designs. Once you start looking, you’ll find plaids and checks all around— in interior fabrics, coats, skirts, and flannel shirts. All are ready inspiration for scarves. Despite many years of weaving, we still find the different patterns created by simple changes in the color interlacement magical. The structure is always the same, over, under, over, under, but the color order creates a pattern that looks like so much more. The Log Cabin Scarf, a color- and-weave pattern, is a case in point. Generally, when you design color-and-weave patterns, you cross no more than one or two (or sometimes three or four) warp ends to create the pattern. If you study the variations for our Chunky Check Scarf, you’ll see that patterns are created just by changing how the colors are woven.
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