Overshot Exposure

The latest issue of Handwoven Magazine is dedicated to weaving with "overshot" structure. It is done using a fat weft for the pattern and another thinner weft for plain weaving to help hold the pattern in place.

This is my first attempt at overshot. Handling two shuttles and keeping track of non-pattern treddles was a challenge. I'm not in love with the technique, but at least I've tried it now (and won't be quite so frightened by it!).




Here is the same threading as the overshot woven as a straight twill. It looks a bit like an ekg trace! More importantly, this weft is something that has been in my stash for YEARS! And now it's gone! Hooray! It worked well here--it was a mercerized cotton (I assume--no ball band & I didn't do a burn test) slightly smaller in diameter than the 4/2 cotton warp. I liked the sheen of the mercerized cotton against the duller untreated cotton.




The threading for the overshot pattern was a 24 thread repeat. That's huge compared to my regular 4 or 5 thread repeats! This is the same threading tromped as a twill (1234321,4321234). I like how this came out. The warp is 4/2 cotton. The weft is "Aunt Lydia's Denim Cotton". The denim cotton is a 75/25 cotton/acrylic blend.

Sampler Success!

Here are my two sample "towels" which were made to test the 5/2 cotton for my curtains. The one on the right is a plain weave that I did just for fun. The one on the left with the diamonds is the real test. The good news is that we like the way it looks, feels, drapes, etc. Now it's off to measure, remeasure and calculate to determine how many tons of fabric I need to make these curtains. Am I crazy? Oh, yea. Probably! :)

Back to work

After what seems like a long break in posting, I'm back with more weaving. This piece is in 3/2 mercerized cotton. It's designed to be both a towel (two of them, actually) and a sample for the curtains I'd like to weave.

I like the way the big diamonds show up in the weave structure, but I'm not thrilled with the way the natural weft hides the blue in the weft. See the edge of plain weave on the edge of the front bar? I like that intensity of blue. ....

My husband just took a look at the project and commented that he likes...the reverse side! I had forgotten that this pattern reverses! The back side is the strong blue stripe with the natural weft making the diamond pattern. And that's exactly what I was hoping to see! Hooray! Hooray for extra eyes on my project as well!

Slow to Post

This is my latest project on the loom. It's a decorative scarf with warp threads at two setts. I have carefully placed the weft threads and am hoping that it will hold together!






On the finished object front, here is my first lace project! It's a ... opps! I forgot. It's getting put away to be given as a gift! It was a good first lace project.
























And this is for the "project yet to be". These two mini cones of 3/2 perle cotton are for a test piece before I order the gobs of yarn required to make curtains for my main room. If the test goes ok, I'll take a big breath and order the yarn!