As the Threadbare exhibition approaches, I was given some invitations by the gallery. They look great and promise a little opening ‘party’ too. I’ve entered eight textiles and one of my photos was even included on the invitation. I’m in with some pretty heavy names of textile artists, so I’ll get to explore and see some interesting work. Hopefully I’ll get some decent photos to post up, too.

My previous post on clasped weft has heated up a couple of weavers to try it out. Kimberley has been busy weaving clasped weft scarves which are really beautiful. She also has another beautiful muted version.

Cally, has taken the idea and applied it to a waffle weave. It’s a weft challenge for her and the results are great.

Then if that’s not enough for you, get over to Lynne at the twisted warp to see what she has in mind for the clasped weft. She is going to use it on her vibrant warp.

I love how everyone has a vision when they see a technique that just might……It’s a shame that clasped weft is so hard to say because it’s easy to do. Any other ideas?

I confess, I’ve always been an apron wearer. I just ruined too many clothes with big drips of cooking oil to submit to the perceived shame of apron wearing. I think aprons somehow symbolised a womans’ home role. I still had the role but minus the protective clothing! I’ve never really thought of making one or delighting in such things. Inspired by Lucy and her aprons, I promptly went out and got enough material for aprons to suit my two daughters. I so enjoyed making them. The fresh motif based fabrics available today make choosing a theme for a person even more fun.

The pattern was easy to make up and I used 70cms of two different fabrics for each one. This makes the apron reversible. I used just about all the fabric which included enough for a ruffle and ties. Each apron took about two hours to make.

Now I’ve plans to make a few more for gifts…including, one for my husband. He has been known to get splattered by oil too!

For a very simple direct weave structure this pattern sure has lots of potential. It weaves flat on the loom but ‘magically’ pleats up after washing. It’s not so dependent on type of yarn as the size of the pleat repeat – so experimentation is needed.

The pink pleats photo is of a very wonderful and drapey scarf. Getting the RIGHT type of pleats is important and I wanted to create a shoulder clingy textile. By this I mean a scarf that doesn’t slip off all the time, one that is in tune with the body.

I used a 20/2 cotton warp and a 60/2 silk weft. For my first experiement I used a 16 thread repeat. This produced very tight, highly organised, stiff pleats – not what I was after.

In the next sample I used a fine Galway linen as the weft. This weft didn’t enact the pleat at all but produced a lovely textile nevertheless.

Finally the magic textiles consisted of a 12 thread repeat in the cotton warp/silk weft. This made the pleats a little unexpected and clingy.

These experiments gradually let to a series of ’skinny’ scarves inspired by the tides on Old Bar beach, Australia. One collection is infused with the colours of the rocks and another with the ocean. I am currently offering these for sale through my new etsystore.

You can see a photo here of the pleats stretched out. The weft is emphasised on the inner part of the pleat and the warp is emphasised on the top of it. Here’s an opportunity for real dye playing and manipulation. It’s my next project – I hope.

I’m sure, some of my best projects are in my head – and I haven’t got the hi-tech equipment to take photos in there. Getting those ideas out into the open is the tricky bit. Thanks to this blog and the generosity of its readers I can articulate some of my ideas and processes more clearly, propelled by the discipline of writing in this format.

A screenshot of the 8 shaft pattern. A wif pattern
is provided here.

I’ve started using Adobe Illustrator, hand drawings and paintings to develop patterns for printing. Pattern is back just look at Print Pattern. This site is full of glorious, exciting pattern.

Every woven textile needs a print pattern to highlight it and I designed one to offset the overshot. It is based on a wrought iron table top which I drew into illustrator. Now my journals are filling up with print and weave patterns.

Here is what you can achieve with Clasped Weft. It’s an easy technique for making angled patterns and only requires two shafts. These visual instructions use two colours (green and blue).The green weft is wound onto a bobbin on a shuttle and the blue weft is drawn up from the floor underneath the loom.. I think this will look great as a table runner and helps me to weave a little every day. You can plan the design beforehand but it’s such an intuitive technique that feeling the colours and design as you go feels really good.

Well it’s 2008 and I can feel that we’re off to a good year weaving wise. Over Christmas my niece came to stay and was an enthusiastic ‘learning to weave’ student which was delightful. She is only four years old but took to it all so easily.

I started her on a very simple multicoloured inkle then showed her how to weave a length of fabric on the pre-warped Saori loom. She couldn’t reach the pedals on the Saori loom but between us we managed very well and she was able to swap roles intuitively. Four year olds are like learning sponges.

In an effort to feel refreshed and resolute for the new year I’m trying to clear some space in my studio. I know I’m over-stashed with yarn and some equipment and I want some of my head ideas to find a reality on the loom this year. A new year seems to bring the promise of new starts and fresh ideas. As my current form of employment is in jeopardy this year I may be trying all sorts of fresh ideas in more ways than I anticipated!

I’d like to wish all of my blog readers a very happy, healthy, hope filled and friend saturated 2008. Thank you to all who have commented and emailed me throughout the year. I really enjoy sharing my craft with others and the Internet allows me to feel so connected.