Monday 13 June 2011

First sample

Not a success. This was 3/2 silk warp with a 10/1 silk noil weft. The plan had been to use a fine weft to see whether the fabric would pleat, but I think that the warp wasn't set tightly enough and the weft is too passive and fine. Never mind, the alternate motive was to use up a few more cone ends in my stash, and that was achieved. I hadn't intended weaving a full piece but I was having too much fun with the colour progression.

This was a structural test for the P2P2 challenge, using the draft in my previous post. I've decided that trying to use an advancing broken twill only really works with a network drafted liftplan if you have more than 8 shafts. A simple 3/1-1/3 twill results in floats that are impractically large. I knew this from the draft but needed to weave it so I could see how the cloth would work.

I'm not sure what I'll do with this piece. The colours are pretty but I'm not in love with the hand of the fabric. It may make and interesting throw or hanging once it's been properly pressed. I still haven't replaced my ironing board after the move, so it will have to wait until I've done so.

Somewhat alarmingly, when I washed the piece, the water immediately turned purple.

In the meantime, sampling continues.

3 comments:

  1. When you have fugitive dye it's a good idea to rinse, rinse, rinse until it comes clear. If you can find Color Catchers, they will help soak up the loose dye molecules to prevent them from settling elsewhere on the cloth.

    cheers,
    Laura

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  2. It looks pretty AWESOME in the picture, I thought...

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  3. Thanks Laura, I did something similar. I soaked the fabric in warm water and vinegar for half an hour, then rinsed until the fugutive dye was exhausted. This is not a yarn I died myself, and I'm surprised that so much of the dye was fugutive. The person I inherited the yarn from was normally more careful thatn that.

    Meg; I'm loving the colours, but the lightness of the weft has shown up some unevenness in the beating and it's not as soft as I'm accustomed to my fabrics being. I'm going to work with the finishing to see what I can do.

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