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Well, that only took six months . . .

Actually, it took a more like three years.

I read about weaving more than I actually weave. There just aren't enough hours in the year. Way back in the spring of 2015, I decided to weave a pillow for my car. I had bought a full-body pillow, but the fabric had torn along the seam. I browsed the weaving books in my library, and went with a snowflake twill from page 25 of Twill Thrills. (Note: XRX now offers their Best of Weaver's series on a stitchip. This is a great way to have a digital library. I consider this seven book series essential, since each book covers a different weave structure.) I used some leftover Aunt Lydia's size 10 crochet cotton to sample.




Yes, I actually sampled! I warped the loom, threaded the pattern, and wove with different tie-ups to see what patterns I got. I wrote notes. I figured out some extra threads to make the pattern repeat flow from side to side. I planned the project. I bought the yarn (8 balls each of black and victory red). And then, I let it sit.

From time to time, I would think about this. The pillow in my car was tattered. When I drove long distances, I thought about how nice it would be to have a better cushion. But I never quite found the time to get back to the weaving.

And then, we got a snowstorm — a big snowstorm. On December 8-9 last year, we got 11 inches of snow. It was very pretty; and I knew I wasn't going anywhere. For some strange reason, I decided that day was the time to finally warp the loom.

I watched Laura Fry's The Efficient Weaver multiple times. If Laura can do something in 15 minutes, I can do it in 2 days. It probably took me a day just to wind the warp of over 600 ends, in spite of the warp being only one color. Then I needed to figure out how to beam it onto the loom with only myself in the house. I ended up using a dowel rod across a door frame (thank you, C-clamps) and setting the table loom with stand on top of towels. The weight of the loom gave me tension on the unwound warp. As I wound on, the loom surfed across the hardwood floor. Not elegant, but it worked.

Then I threaded the heddles. This particular pattern is 77 ends with another 29 spacers for a repeat of 106. This is also an advancing twill, which means the threading has sections such as "2-1-8-7-6-5," then "8-7-6-5-4," then "7-6-5-4-3-2" and so on. You can't just memorize the repeat. And I really must try dyeing heddles different colors. On eight shafts, it is not too hard to tell if a heddle is on shafts 1, 2, 7, or 8. But the middle shafts can be very tricky. I spent probably a week where I would get up in the morning, think I was ready to weave, check the shed, find a mistake, use up my mental focus for the day fixing said mistake, and then decide I would weave tomorrow. I had mis-threaded heddles. I had crossed warp threads. I had sleying errors in the reed. But, I eventually got it all set correctly.

Brûlée explores the loom because crafting is not possible without a cat.
The green sample is draped over the loom for reference.
I spent most of January weaving. Cuddly Hubby was moving home at the end of January, so I knew I needed to finish the weaving and get the loom out of the living room. The deadline kept me focused. Then the cloth probably sat a few weeks before I found time to watch Laura Fry's Wet-Finishing for Weavers. Since I used cotton, there wasn't that much special to do. I washed the fabric in the downstairs tub, then hung it up to dry. I think I probably ironed it at some point.

And then, it sat some more.

Finally, when I drove up to Maryland Sheep and Wool last month, I took the fabric with me. I figured a few quiet days by myself in the man cave would give me a mini retreat; a chance to do some things that just don't get done at home. I spent a couple days carefully sewing the pillow together. I interwove the threads by following the weave structure. The work was slow and careful, but worth the tedium. I had it mostly done in time for the drive back.

Using a tapestry needle to help insert a pin in just the right thread.
Notice the warp threads have been carefully hemstitched.

Using a blue running thread to set up a seam line.
Sewing the hem. The numbers are telling me how many threads to catch, so that the sewing thread follows the pattern in the weaving. I wove 30 picks of plain weave in a thinner thread to set up the hem allowance. The thin blue running thread is a guide.
The side seam runs down the middle of this motif, but careful stitching makes it hard to discern.
Close-up of hook & eye. An extra thread was woven across to catch the hooks. The eyes were twisted open, hooked onto the woven warp threads, and twisted close. A horizontal weft thread was pulled over the top of the hook to tie it down the the fabric. Both pieces of hardware are essentially woven into the fabric.
A couple weeks ago I finally found time to finish it up. I decided to use the woven fabric as a pillow cover, and to simply mend the original low-quality pillow. I added hooks and eyes to close the back of the pillow cover. The eyes were particularly fun, as I simply used jewelry-making tools to attach the eyes as if they had been woven into the fabric. I mended the body pillow by adding a zipper, mending and reinforcing the failed seam, and adding an extra 2 pounds of stuffing after fluffing up the original stuffing. And I woven in the ends. But, at last, it is done.

The pillow in my car. It is very fluffy right now, but will flatten over time.
Specifications:
Equipment: 8-shaft 80cm/32-inch Ashford table loom with stand & stick shuttle.
Weave structure: Advancing snowflake twill, 77 ends from Bonnie Inouye "Happy Families: A Video Game for Weavers" in Twill Thrills (Sioux Falls SD: XRX Books 2004) page 25; plus another 29 ends in order 8, 3-2-1-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-8-7-6-7-8-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-1-2-3, 8.
Yarn: Aunt Lydia's size 10 crochet cotton in black and victory red
Warp length: 4 yards
Sett: 24 ends per inch
Tie-up: 1-3-3-1; if 1 is up, 2-3-4 are down, 5-6-7 are up, 8 is down.
Treadling: trom as writ
"Right" side of the fabric. This turned out to be the side facing the floor as I wove.
"Wrong" side of the fabric. This was the side facing me as I wove.
A note about the yarn: Spinning books typically talk about using 2-ply yarns for weaving. Aunt Lydia's is a 3-ply. I used it because it is inexpensive and readily available — nearly all the big-box craft stores carry it. What is not evident in the photographs is the subtle sheen. The black is more matte and the red is more shiny. This is a good tight sett. The fabric is stiff. For a garment, you'd want a looser sett to get more drape. But for upholstery fabric, this is perfect. The final pillowcase weighs 755g, or more than 1½ pounds.

(Apologies for the way the red changes in the photographs. These were taken in different lighting conditions.)

Comments

Molly Elkind said…
Wow, Jolie, this is amazing! Your perseverance and attention to detail and craftsmanship really paid off. Well done!