The stylish opportunities that Saori woven cloth offer really are intriguing and fun. This top was woven on the purple pre-wound cotton warp and offered lots of opportunities of relaxing and playing with the warp threads. A little bit of stitch directly on the loom, a bit of leno and unbalanced leno to provide a lacy look, a bit of focus on the selvedge ‘void’ and some upside down styling.

The pattern for the back of the top is the inventive one from Design 11 in the Saori Beginner Clothing design book. It is very simple to do and surprisingly comfortable. It also provides an ‘action’ back for movement. I draped the fronts to the same pattern which is on the grain, but I went with a bias style which sat better in this lighter fabric. Not a scrap of waste with the whole garment and only took about an hour to create.

The bottom two photos show how it looks when turned upside down! It is vital to try these garments with the upside down look because sometimes they look better or just provide an alternative look. The upside down back shown has a gap which I personally like but you could join another piece or strips for an interesting integrated back or start on a new design based on this idea.

The idea with all of these garments and creations is to KEEP WEAVING. Yes, I’m shouting I know. But this is the only way that the cloth will speak to you and lessen any awkward formal thinking and ideas about machine produced beauty when you are working on the loom. Weave with crunched up elasticised areas, add lace where you think it doesn’t belong and refrain from judgement of your weaving until it’s needed…I’m really being stern for myself here but invite you to join me because I’ve seen what innovations weavers get up to.