Double cloth texture – centre stitching
In last weeks' blog, I showed you how to interchange the two layers, something double cloth weavers of more than 4 shafts are probably quite familiar with. This week, I'll show you how you can use the weft stitching to create the textural impact you want.... Imagine...
Unexpected inspiration
I was in London earlier this week to review the London Guild of Weavers, Spinners & Dyers 'Diamond' exhibition, celebrating their 60th year. The exhibition is only on for 1 week, so by the time you read this, you'll be unlikely to be able to visit, which is a...
Stitched double cloth continued….
I wrote last week about the most familiar version of stitched double cloth - where a single warp end from one of the two layers is woven in with one pick of the other layer, so tieing the two cloths together at that point. There are other ways to achieve a similar...
Seeing familiar things through another’s eyes…
Last weekend a group of us joined together in Devon to attend Alice Schlein's Woven Pixel workshop for 3 days. We were blessed with wonderful weather, great company, and a tremendous learning experience. Alice is a very patient and skilled tutor with Photoshop and...
Double cloth texture – stitched double cloth
This is one of my favourite structures as it is so easy to create. You start off with a simple double cloth, on 8 or more shafts, with one cloth being in non-shrinking yarns in shrinking yarns on 2 shafts (plain weave), and the other cloth being on 6 or more shafts...
Cobwebs and dew
This time of year is just wonderful when you have lovely sunny mornings after clear nights, and the dew is not too thick. My walks with Charlie are a great excuse to get out and as the mornings are drawing in, I am getting later and later.... If I'm not too late,...
Double cloth texture – matelasse
Last week, we talked about pique and how it is a tie-down weave. Matelasse is very similar, but without the tie-downs, so that means you have 2 more shafts available for the pattern warp. Historically, matelasse was a quilted cloth with wadding picks in a double...
New meetings and re-unions
Last week I talked about the wonderful exhibitions that Laura Thomas has curated as part of the Warp & Weft series of exhibitions and symposium that she has put on in Camarthenshire - at the Oriel Myrrdin Gallery in Camarthen, and also at the National Wool Museum...
Pique for texture
Last week I gave a very brief overview of texture through double weave, and today I'm focussing on pique which is a tied structure. If you look back through technical books, pique and the technique called matelasse are frequently called each other and crossed over,...
Warp + Weft Symposium
This past weekend, I have been in deepest Camarthenshire at the National Wool Museum with around 45 other weavers and curators. Laura Thomas organised a symposium specifically on weave - a rarity in the UK - and surrounded it with exhibitions, two specifically of...
Double cloth for texture
This is a wonderful field of discovery for different textures. The areas I have focussed on so far are different setts, different yarn properties, different weave structures, different ratios. Today's blog is a quick overview of how texture can be created through the...
Exotica – an exhibition
Exotica. When the Midlands Textile Forum decided on this title for an exhibition to be staged at the Botanical Gardens in Birmingham, (on from now until 30th September), I had to smile! I could just imagine certain men of my acquaintance brightening up with the...