10 days before our trip to the United States on 31 May 2023, I got a new addition to my fleet of looms.
An Ashford 16-shaft table loom on a stand! It came in 2 flat pack boxes that DH and I assembled in my sewing room (which has now morphed into a sewing/weaving room)!! This assemblage took about 3 days, the most challenging part being hanging the 16 shafts so that they draw the warp up evenly and on the same level! It was eventually finished and so – what’s a girl gotta do but put on a warp in the time left before going travelling across the sea!
I chose 50/2 Standerton cotton (South African) for the 16″ wide warp, sett at 24 epi. I made an 8m warp in natural colour. I also decided on a Point Twill threading (with a straight draw twill pattern at either end for borders), 384 ends.
I decided to weave napkins as my first play session as napkins are items that can be used to experiment with colours and designs, just like kitchen towels!
I used handweaving.net to find 16-shaft Point Twill patterns of which there seems to be an endless amount! I used coloured 50/3 cotton (most of it hand-dyed by me)
I started weaving the first napkin before we left for the States so I was very excited to get back and finish them!
Once we got home I started weaving again, in between all the other things, including more weaving, that I was doing. I eventually cut off the warp on 15 August and separated all the napkins by sewing machine stay-stitching between the napkins and cutting on my designated cutting line. I hemmed them all by hand. Although hand-hemming is very time-consuming, I prefer the end result over a machine-sewn hem.
All in all I got 13 napkins and a small extra piece (woven with white bamboo to give a white on white effect) on the last bit of weavable warp! This piece gives a very pleasing effect!
The photos of the napkins with their numbers (from handweaving.net) follow.
