Category: complementary-weft

Backstrap Weaving – Belt Up

It’s just a short one this week as I’ve had other projects going on lately that have limited my time at the loom. I’m giving myself a bit of time off to write this post and then I’ll be back at them.

My stash of weaving materials has been reduced pretty much to one drawer now, most of it lovely silk in various sizes. I really didn’t have an idea of what I wanted to weave next. As you’ve probably figured out, my projects are born from a desire to just be at my backstrap loom weaving rather than a need for any kind of product.

I opened the drawer to see what would leap out at me and this is where I ended up…

This is the naturally-dyed cotton from Mayan Hands in Guatemala that Kate had given me many years ago. It was what she had left over from a towel weaving kit that she had purchased. The beautiful light blue thread was dyed with indigo. I love the washed-out look it has like a very faded old pair of jeans. The other colors were dyed by me using synthetic dyes….a variety of blues that I had used in other projects.

The light indigo-blue features in this bag for my cotton spinning tools and supplies along with the other shades of blue that I’d dyed myself.

Because my supply of this light blue thread was now so low, I’d need to come up with a smaller project than the tool bag. I decided on a belt using the same structures that I’d used for the bag fabric above.

That fabric was woven using both complementary-warp and complementary-weft structures, a combination that I’ve only quite recently been sampling and using. The darkest blue and light blue sections use the warp threads for making the patterns. In the other horizontal bands of pattern in other shades of blue the weft threads create the figures.

I used the structure that I call Andean Pebble Weave for both. I turn the Andean Pebble Weave structure sideways in order to be able to weave it as a weft-faced rather than a warp-faced structure.

I started experimenting and sampling with this a bit over a year ago, first by alternating bands of weft-faced pattern with warp-faced plain weave….

I really enjoyed the way it allowed me to change colors at will. Then I decided to combine complementary-warp and complementary-weft in the one piece, rather than just doing plain weave between the weft-faced sections.

The orange and white sections are complementary-warp and the burgundy and yellow are complementary-weft.

The first challenge was to adjust the way I wove the warp-faced sections so that their width matched those of the wider weft-faced ones.

Then I was able to go on to weave the fabric for the tool bag….

Because both structures are complementary ones, both faces of the cloth show the same figures except that their colors are reversed.

The strap for the bag uses the same two techniques except that I didn’t weave any figures into the warp-faced sections. Using only one color instead of two in the warp-faced sections made the strap less “noisy” against the busy bag fabric.

Using a complementary-warp-float structure, even though it’s just in one solid color, between the weft-faced sections gives a thicker, sturdier band than I would otherwise get with just plain weave.

Now after all that introduction, we finally get to the latest belt project. I wove it in much the same way as the strap above….solid light blue warp-faced sections with no pattern alternating with patterned weft-faced sections. I had to alter the way I did the weft-faced sections so that my little hummingbird figures would be well proportioned. That meant passing my weft over and under groups of fewer warp threads so that the figures wouldn’t turn out stretched and “flattened”.

The little hummingbird figures that I designed in the structure that I call Andean Pebble Weave normally sit on my bands aligned like this, looking like they’re about to fly off the edge…

Weaving them sideways in the weft-faced structure meant that they would be flying along the length of the belt and be seen the right way up when the belt is worn. (BTW, I did actually try to design a different hummingbird aligned sideways on my charting paper but couldn’t come up with anything that I liked).

And there it is off the loom.

The first little fella’s beak was too short. I don’t think he’ll be able to get at much nectar with that. The split in the band at one end will allow me to accommodate the belt buckle’s “tongue”. This is the first time I’ve woven a belt and thought far enough ahead to weave that split. It certainly makes things easier when adding the buckle later. The other end is a nice selvedge, something that my backstrap loom allows me to easily create, so I don’t need to worry about hemming or otherwise stabilizing it.

I took a walk down to a local store called Hebilandia, which translates to Buckle Land. It’s in the narrow chaotic streets near my home which are packed with fabric and upholstery stores. I’m always glad that that the gentlemen there tolerate my requests for just one of this and one of that. They really are geared up to selling in bulk to professional belt makers.

There I got a buckle, a thingamajig to hold down the excess bit of strap, a metal tab to go on the end (although, it isn’t quite wide enough….not a problem because that end is a selvedge anyway) and some webbing that I used as backing. I always back my belts, even the heavier double weave ones, because I like them good and stiff. After having tried different things with belts over the years, I just go with gluing on the backing. Oh, and while there, I also got the holes punched. It’s such a great little store to have just a few blocks from my home.

Buckle, thingamajig, end tab and holes.

Now I’m pondering this….

Both of these are gifts from Australian fiber friends. Susan gave me that skein of silk many years ago and it caught my eye as a nice thing to dye to combine with the variegated silk that Will gave me on my last visit. I think they might both be 20/2. Now, I’ve never used variegated thread as warp before and I am not quite sure about the best way to use it. Many years ago I was given some stunning Just Our Yarn variegated tencel that I was using as supplementary weft. Most of it got used by my students in workshops and it was absolutely gorgeous as supplementary weft.

I love the mother-of-pearl colors in the thread that Will has given me and am thinking that perhaps I could combine it with a matching solid color in rep weave. But, I don’t know….does anyone use silk for rep weave? It seems like that chunky structure doesn’t suit the delicate nature of silk.

I’ve only ever done two rep weave pieces before in cotton.

But then there’s ikat. I think that dyeing a solid color over an ikat pattern in variegated thread could be interesting. You can see that the last thing I’m thinking about right now is the product! I really don’t need anything. Maybe it could be fabric for a pillow cover? I might have enough thread for the front, or at least part thereof, of a pillow cover which can be backed with something else.

Going through old photos the other day, I saw this one which reminded me that this silk ikat piece is sitting at the bottom of a drawer. The finer patterning is in supplementary weft.

Pillow cover came to mind for this piece too, something for when I am living in Australia, although I’m determined not to get into home decorating when I’m there. I’ll be starting from zero as far as furnishings go and want to keep things as minimal as possible. After clearing out so much stuff from my place here, it’s nice to see how little I need in the way of furnishings….as long as I have something to which I can anchor my backstrap loom!

I’ll keep pondering that variegated silk and let’s see where it takes me. Until next time….

Backstrap Weaving – The Odd-shaped Bag

I once created what I called the “yurt-shaped” bag from woven cloth. The hand-dyed and painted reeled silk warp had been given to me by Sara whose weaving and dyeing studio is a yurt. It seemed appropriate to weave cloth from her warp and shape into a yurt!

Sara’s yurt-shaped studio in the woods.
Sara gave me the warp ready to go and I adorned it with a pattern in the structure that I call Andean Pebble Weave. I am sure that many of you will recognize Sara Lamb’s color palette.

It wasn’t a terribly long piece of fabric but it turned out to be just long enough to form the walls of a cylinder with circular base. Adding a drawstring at the top completed the yurt-ish look.

The circular base with tubular edging challenged my limited sewing skills. Cutting into the fabric was stressful!
I added tassels and a braided strap. I’ve never been happy with that strap and one of these days I’ll weave another.

The reason I am looking back at this old project is that my current project….a bag for my cotton-spinning tools was meant to be the same shape. I chose that shape because the mortar that I use to support my takli spindle is round-based and so a round-bottom bag seemed like a good idea.

However, once the fabric was off the loom with circular base sewn in place, I decided that I would lose too much height with a draw-string top. I added a band of fine cotton to the mouth of the bag. I figured I could sew a channel along its center to hold the drawstring but even so, I felt that I was sacrificing too much height. I wanted to be able to fit a good amount of cotton sliver in the bag along with my tall mortar and spindle. And so, the “odd-shaped” bag was born! I have been trying to find something to which I can liken this shape so that the bag can have a better name. I haven’t come up with anything. If you do, let me know, please. I am thinking that once it has its strap and is being carried cross-body wise, it may look less odd.

My bag for cotton spinning tools awaits its strap.

You’ll see that I went with a zipper in the end. The cotton band that I added at the top is woven from 30/2 indigo-dyed Guatemalan cotton that I got from Mayan Hands at a conference many years ago. It’s lovely stuff and I have used it in the past to weave covers for books. It was the perfect color for this project.

Weaving cloth from Guatemalan cotton to cover a small journal. My friend Claudia’s initials, CS, were placed to sit on the spine of the book.

That indigo-dyed cake of thread has sat on a shelf far away from windows for years. It’s amazing how much the color has faded. I had to pull thread from the center to find the original rich blue. However, I do love the unevenly faded stuff too and will definitely use it in a project one day.

In my last blog post, I showed you my progress with the spinning-bag cloth on the loom. Here’s a slightly different view of it resting on the floor.

This was just before I added the final band of patterning which would be made up of woven words. The darkest blue sections that you see in this piece are warp-faced….a complementary-warp structure that I call Andean Pebble Weave. The other horizontal bands in various shades of blue are weft-faced. I have basically turned the Andean Pebble Weave structure on its side and woven it as complementary-weft instead. This means that I can weave it in any color I like. I chose to use various shades of blue and teal in this piece.

The woven words that I chose to use are “Spinning Cotton” and ” Hilando Algodon”. This is the first time that I have woven letters using the structure that I call Andean Pebble Weave. I showed you many others structures that I have used for lettering in my last post and I wonder if any of you were inspired to try them. I used the letters that Alison Irwin designed and published in the latest issue of Little Looms magazine. Letters in Andean Pebble Weave are naturally quirky. The nature of the structure doesn’t allow them all to sit along the one line. That makes them seem to dance jauntily along the warp. Because I wove them as complementary-weft rather than as complementary-warp, the words I wove run width-wise across the warp rather than along the length as Alison has woven them in her article. I think they perfectly suited my jaunty little bag. Okay….I’m liking that…The item formerly known as The Odd-shaped Bag will now be called The Jaunty Bag.

I altered a couple of Alison’s letters to better suit my layout.

I always love the moment when the cloth is off the loom and I get to see the detail on the other face. In this case I don’t have to try to decide which of the two faces I prefer because of course the words are backwards on the reverse. Still it’s nice to enjoy looking at it before I sew and it gets hidden forever inside the bag.

I was able to continue weaving once the lettering was done and the bag cloth finished because I had enough warp left to enable me to weave a piece that could be cut into the circular base of the bag. I stabilized it with heavy interfacing before cutting and that gave me a nice sturdy base for the bag.

I hadn’t planned on adding a strap to the original draw-string bag idea. It was just going to be a storage bag for my spinning tools that would go into another bag when I was out and about. However, I felt that the jaunty bag was asking for a strap. No problem. I was happy to have a reason to continue practicing combining warp and weft-faced structures in the one piece.

I wound a warp for the warp-faced strap using only one color instead of the two that I would normally use for Andean Pebble Weave projects. The warp-faced sections would be one solid color and I could play with weft colors for the small weft-faced sections. That way, the strap would not be too loud next to the rather busy bag.

I’ve been conservative in my color choices in this project. Perhaps in the next I’ll weave a solid black band with a variety of lively weft colors for the weft-faced patterns.

Take a look at this colorful warp-faced hair sash below from Jacaltenango in Guatemala. The weaver has made good use of the fact that she is free to change the color of her supplementary weft at will. Complementary-weft doesn’t allow that much freedom but I could still create some quite lively spots of weft-faced color along the length of a warp-faced band in which the weft is normally completed hidden.

Speaking of hair sashes of Jacaltenango, Carol Ventura will be giving a free Zoom lecture on them on Friday the 11th. Follow this link to register.

And now the thought has crossed my mind that perhaps I can line the Jaunty Bag…but not with my handwoven cloth. I’ve been thinking that I would like to try stitched shibori. For those who don’t know what that is, it is a resist dye technique for patterning cloth in which stitches are used to pull and shape cloth before it is dyed. The stitching creates areas that resist the dye and remain the original color. I’ve never done it before but was lucky enough some years ago to be in the area when Kris Nardello (and another dear lady whose name, forgive me, I have forgotten) were giving a workshop on it at the Textile and Fiber Arts Guild of Santa Cruz in California.. I wasn’t able to attend the whole thing but did bring home the kit which was made up of three sheets of scoured cotton cloth, needles, beads, thread and other bits thinking that one day I will take it up. The day has arrived.

The only things I have found from the kit so far are the sheets of cloth. I can decorate and line my bag with them and try something new…and if I make a mess of it, well, it will be hidden inside the bag, or I can just over-dye the whole thing. By the way, Kris kindly left a very helpful comment on my blog for me when I puzzling over my cochineal dyeing experiments a while ago. She is an expert in natural dyeing techniques.

This book cover will give you an idea of what stitched shibori can look like in expert hands….don’t expect to see anything like this in my next post!

The initial knee-jerk plan of action was to go looking on Youtube for instruction. But then it occurred to me that there will be highly experienced people who have devoted time and effort to writing books on the subject and that it would be nice to support them. As I have written a number of how-to books myself I know what it’s like to be in their shoes. Trust me…no one is getting rich from writing these kinds of books. The Kindle version of the one I have looked at is $35 and so I will need to give that some thought. If you own a book on the topic and can recommend one, please let me know. I have only just started to look. It will have to be a Kindle edition, though.

I hope in my next post to show you the finished jaunty bag with its accompanying sedate strap…and maybe my beginner attempts at stitched shibori. It will be one of those “mess or success” projects and no doubt, much will have been learned.

Backstrap Weaving – A Way with Words

With most of the messiness of the strikes and the disruptions of festive season holidays behind us, I finally managed to get an appointment with my Brazilian dentist which means that I can now offer you a toothy smile to welcome the New Year!

One of my favorite things about being at the dentist is reclining in front of her very large picture window watching the hummingbirds feed on the flowers in her garden. Hummingbirds have made their way back into my weaving as I decided on a garden theme for this fabric. I am hoping to be able to sew this into a cylindrical bag for my cotton spinning tools…hence the plant-like subject matter.

The warp is seventeen inches wide and quite short….just enough to make a draw-string cylindrical bag. I had a choice of making it long and narrow or wide and short. Long and narrow would have been much faster to weave….the horizontal strips of complementary-weft patterning that you see (the light blue and teal strips) are painfully slow to weave across seventeen inches! The complementary-warp sections (the darkest blue parts) zoom by in comparison.

Warp of 1192 ends of cotton with two sets of heddles for the structure that I call Andean Pebble Weave. I later added a third set of heddles to hold groups of warp threads for the weft-faced sections.

I was at first cursing my decision to go wide, but now that the project is underway, I am pleased with the way it looks, and have found that the small sample I had woven actually has given me enough information (I’d had my doubts), I have forgotten about the slowness and am thoroughly enjoying the process.

The warp is much longer than needed but it’s more comfortable to weave with this extra length and besides, I am hoping that I can squeeze in enough to perhaps produce an additional piece of fabric large enough to be the base of the bag.

I fiddled about for quite some time before getting this on the loom because I had to dye various shades of blue for the complementary-weft sections. I haven’t been very adventurous with that. I could use any color I want but am playing it safe in this project with shades of blue. Maybe I will get a little crazier in the next one.

My recent house and cat-sitting experience may have influenced my color choices. The band on the right is one that I was using as a sample during that time. I liked the colors in the bedding and then there’s kitty’s blue eyes. The gold would have been a nice “pop” color but I decided against it in the end. I can see something in that green, gold, and blue some day, though.

So, this is pretty much where it stands right now. I am weaving the figures upside down because the selvedge that I created at the start is going to be at the mouth of the bag.

This is my view while seated at the loom…

The colors are not showing up very well here. The last strip of complementary weft (mountains and forest!) actually has bands of three different shades of blue. You can see the third set of heddles that I installed for the weft-faced sections.

And now I have decided to weave some words into the last strip of complementary-weft….”spinning cotton” and “hilando algodon”. Lettering is not something that I have been interested in doing in the structure that I call Andean Pebble Weave. Warp-faced double weave gives me much more freedom to design interesting letters. The supplementary-warp structure that my Montagnard weaving teachers showed me (tutorial here) allows very bold lettering (with the disadvantage of sometimes resulting in quite long floats on the back of the piece). That style has its place but sometimes can be a little bit too “loud” for my liking. The intermesh structure allows me to use most of the tablet-weaving charts that Linda Hendrickson created.

Lettering in intermesh. Feathering on the edges of some of the diagonals can be distracting when heavier thread is used.

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Lettering in weft twining (using two of Linda Hendrickson’s charts). The fact that there aren’t any floats gave me a lot of freedom when I moved on to designing my own letters in this structure.
The style of lettering using supplementary warp threads that my Montagnard weaving teachers use. Some of the white floats on the back can be long, for example, between the longer vertical of the G and the first vertical of the following N.
Warp-faced double weave gives me a lot of freedom for both simple and complex letter design….no floats!
I designed cursive lettering in supplementary weft. There are some very minor limitations because you have to consider the length of the weft floats.

But lettering can also be done in the structure that I call Andean Pebble Weave in what I consider a fun and quite quirky style. Many years ago, my friend Ruth in Melbourne showed me lettering that she had been designing in this structure. She had woven a really cool name tag for herself. Alison Irwin in Canada has also done so and published a project with Andean Pebble Weave lettering in one of the recent issues of Little Looms (Winter 2022). I will be using those letters to weave the words along the bottom of my bag. These letters have personality! They aren’t large and blocky and overpowering. They sort of dance their way along the warp. I had liked them but hadn’t been drawn to using them when Ruth had first showed me her creations. After all, I had so many other ways at my disposal for designing letters. But now they seem just right for this project. I like that weaving them in complementary weft rather than complementary warp means that the words run across the width of the warp rather than along the length.

You’ll have to wait for my next post to see these fun letters, that is, if I stay with this idea about adding words. The fact that this is not a repetitive or symmetric pattern will make progress very slow. I am, however, very curious to see how the letters look in complementary-weft and will most likely stick it out. (If you’d like a sneak preview of this style of lettering, go take a look at the Winter 2022 issue of Little Looms. You’ll see Alison’s project on the cover).

See you next time (maybe from Australia!…first time back in four years).