Checking My Math

It's time for me to get started on the cloth for the vest which means sharpening my virtual pencil by getting out the spreadsheet and weaving software to make sure I put on a big enough warp, have enough heddles and that I'll have a shot at getting sufficient cloth to make the garment.

Rather than using the pattern I drafted, I decided to go with a store-bought version because it has full instructions for doing a fully-lined, turned vest.  I'm pretty confident in my ability to make small changes (shoulder slope, waist location/length, etc.) and, since there aren't any sleeves, the armholes should be able to stay as drafted.  However, since it's a commercial pattern, there's this pesky problem with fabric size and cutting layouts.  That means doing some math.

Step 1:  Open up the pattern and pull out the instructions/cutting diagram.  Here's page 1 of the pattern.

It's number 6075 from New Look/Simplicity - and their "Project Runway" series.  Before you start giggling, it's pretty much the only one I could lay hands on that didn't look like I'd just washed up on the shores of a Caribbean island.  And, it's pretty nice.  The instructions are clear and I've liked their patterns in the past.  Plus, at $4, the price was right.  :-)

Next up, a close-in of the cutting diagram.  Please take particular note of the two grey pieces on the far left of the upper drawing.

This is where it gets interesting.  The simplest (and safest) estimate is to look at the 44"/45" wide fabric estimate for my size and double it since I'd be aiming for cloth of ~22" wide.  The pattern calls for 1 1/2 yards of 45" wide fabric, without nap - so I should be aiming for three (3) yards of 22" wide fabric.  Simple, right?  Sure.  Except for those grey pieces.

In the view I want to make (View A, with the collar - because I think the collar looks better), I need to cut two looooooong collar pieces.  Instructions call for them to be cut on the fold, cross-grain, so that they're effectively a single piece wrapping around.  From the get-go, I can't do this.  I'm not interested in weaving 45" wide (finished) fabric as that'd mean double-weave at a minimum plus the loom waste would be silly.  So, that leaves me to cutting and seaming.  In principle, it should be ok, but I don't know enough about how these things work to know what it'll do to the way the collar behaves.  The seam would be at the center line of the back neck and that also implies a build-up of layers.  I'm also a tiny bit concerned about making sure that I have a wide enough piece of cloth so that I can cut the four collar pieces, now with seam-allowance at the fold, and join them to make the two large pieces.  I went ahead and measured the pieces for my size and they clock-in at just over 20", so in theory, they should be fine.  Emphasis on "should".

Next is the cloth itself.  From my sampling, I get about 15% shrinkage in length and 17% in width.  If I get out the calculator, I need to weave the full-width of the BW, 26", to get a 22" (almost!) overall piece.  And, I need 3.5 yards woven to get three yards finished.  The medallion is a 32-end pattern, so I get 29 medallions plus eight ends left over, and I'd thread those for plain weave selvedge - four on each side.  I'm pretty sure I can turn the draft so that I'm weaving with a single shuttle, which will make it go much faster, but that means warp rather than weft floats - and I'm a little concerned about tension issues over more than three yards of weaving.  Intuition says that it should be fine, since they're evenly distributed.  Regardless, turning the draft makes all kinds of things go more quickly so I should just do it.  Then again, given the turn, I may get a reverse in the shrinkage - more in the length (floats) than in the width, which would help me with the collar pieces but hurt me in fabric length.  If I end up being short, I can always delete the collar.

If you managed to get through all that, congratulations!  In a nutshell, here's what I'm wondering:

1. Other than possible difference in shrinkage rate, can you think of a good reason why I shouldn't turn the draft?  I'm highly motivated to do this.
2. What, if any, are the ramifications of having a seam in the middle of the collar?  Remember, this is a fully-lined/turned piece, so it's the build-up of seams that I'm most concerned about.  But what else?
3. Also, if I turn the draft, my grain goes in the opposite direction.  It also means vertical rather than horizontal squares.  Should I go with that?  Can I ignore grain and turn my fabric?

What else should I be thinking about?  (or should I just get my ass in gear?)

Out like a lamb

While Lynn is off rebelling in her new Loom Room, I'm only making half-hearted attempts to throw off my chains.  Since part of my work involves an actual contract and a deadline, I can't just cast that project aside.  I can, however, continue to rethink whether or not I'm making good decisions.

See, I've been busy.  And, I now have this to show for it:

That's just under 4oz of 2-ply BFL, spun to be 18/2 yarn.  According to my skein winder (and thank heavens for that thing!), it's just over 1200 yards, which works out to ~5000ypp.  Now I just need to hustle my butt and get it turned into a thing.  But, I think I need to spin up just a bit more "safety yarn" because, well, stuff happens.

And while I'm hustling up that safety yarn, I can get my vest fabric on and off the loom.  I think winding that warp is tomorrow morning's job.  I really, REALLY need to get it done.  I'm just a bit worried about being able to do so.  Then again, if I turn the draft, I can weave with a single shuttle.  And that's way faster.

Argh.  Too many things.  Then again, it could be worse, yanno?  Because this weekend is Spring in The Sierra.  And there were these:

And more of this:

And the occasional one of these:

All of those, are here:

I think the procrastinating was worth it.

Rebellion

I am not doing what I've supposed to do.

I am supposed to be weaving off this sample warp in warp rep....

but I am bored to tears with it and irritated with the awkward two-shuttle aspect, even though I've coped fine with two-shuttle weaves in the past.  Plus, I hate the colors - the greens (there are two wound together) are nice, but the pink and pinky-purple are yucky with the greens, so I don't like looking at this.  I may (or may not) finish off a very short sample and then take the scissors to this.

In the meantime, I'm pulling out skeins and colors for possible new projects and piling them up all over the room.

In truth, having to weave the wedding present is blocking me.  I think I'll go to Etsy and just freaking buy some handwoven household textiles and be done with it, even though the bride is one of my bestest friends and I'll feel guilty about not making her something.

However, screw guilt, and the bride would be the first to tell me that.

So, what have I been doing?  I've been spinning mindlessly.

These are little skeins, spun from nests and batts I made when I visited JimBob in NYC over a year ago.  These aren't perfect yarns, but they are really very nice and I'm enjoying spinning them.  I'm in the middle of the last batt and I have some washed Cormo locks left from that visit, which I'll comb and spin up - and then I'll have an empty bin, woo!  A small bin, but still, I'll take all the small victories I can these days.

I'm a little slow at picking up on my own cues, but I can tell I don't want to do what I "should" do right now.  Therefore, I'm declaring April to be A Month Off.  My goal here, if you want to call it a goal, is to do whatever I want to in April in terms of weaving, and report back on what I find out about myself.  I suspect it will involve lots of color and some very, very simple weaves (plain weave, anyone?), but who knows?  At the end of April, I'll reassess and decide what's next.

Thinking Ahead

So, here I sit on March 25th (how'd THAT happen?) and it's time to be vocal about stuff for the next three months.  My lackadaisical progress so far isn't something I want to continue.  That said, now that there's a bit more routine in my life, I'm hopeful for better progress on all fronts.

Top on the list is my article/project work for Jacey.  I've already spun up 2oz of BFL for warp, even though my original thought was to use millspun for warp, and it's possible that the singles will be done by the middle of next week.  That means plying by the end of next week and I can, possibly be weaving by the end of the month.  That puts me on track to be done in time for the submission, which is due June 1.  By no means a cake walk, but I do have sufficient millspun as a fallback in case the BFL doesn't work as planned.  Cautious optimism!

Assuming I'm able to get my vest done in relatively short order, I'm going to start thinking about the next round of fabric.  Recently, I'd been thinking about linen.  I've not woven with it before and I like the notion of trying to come up with something that will take advantage of it's more wonderful qualities.  Phreadde (I think) shared some pictures of an unstructured shirt that was appealing - and the muslin would be quick and easy to make.  Regardless, something with linen, perhaps with that linen/silk along for the ride.  I'm going to give myself permission to do something other than a vest, but linen will be the theme.

I'd also like to get another whack of fabric done so that I can make another shirt.  20/2 cotton (I've got loads), something with stripes, and maybe a hint of color.  I do like the shirt I made, but I'd like it to have a more traditional collar/neckline.  Jeane and I did a pattern workup for this back in December and I need to follow through on it.

Separately, dishtowels.  Lots and lots of dishtowels.  It's not too early to be thinking about getting the booth stocked for September.  I put a 16 yard warp on the Gilmore on Saturday and the first four towels are already done.  By the way, Sara, the anti-spin kit is BRILLIANT.  All that remains to be updated is swapping out the perished foam under the jacks.  They stick just a wee bit so that's likely on the list once this warp is done.

Hello, handsome!

Color is often the answer to life's problems.  And, it can make something otherwise dull and boring into a rich and compelling gem.  Enter the M's and O's fabric with my boring mill ends.

I went ahead and used the end of the warp to make one final set of samples.  Sett at 36epi, beaten square and a full range of color combinations.  The two pieces on the left are for overdyeing, the one on the right will be the control sample.

I decided to make two colors - one a deep but rich red that I developed over the summer and the other a magenta/wine color.  In either case, I wanted something that would be rich and appealing in the colder months.  I've been thinking of this as a "Spring" vest, but since the last day of winter was only yesterday, I've reverted to winter colors.  And now, the result:

Yeah.  Wow.  Really, really wow.  There's now a lovely texture to the fabric that didn't exist before and the size of the medallion is, in my opinion, no longer an issue.  Both colors are absolutely amazing, but that red keeps calling to me.

And here you can see the different yarns/weaves interacting.  The color looks quite true on my monitor (even the magenta in the corner) and I really love the texture.  I'm happy enough with this that I'll go ahead and measure/wind off a warp and weave off enough fabric to make the vest.  That really puts the hammer down on making the sample as I'm not sure that I'm happy with how high it rides in the back.  It stops at my actual waist, but I think I'm going to nudge it down just a bit so that it extends slightly below my waist.  Easy enough to do and that won't hold up the weaving.

And yes, I've written down the dye formula.  I just hope that I can get as good coverage when I'm dyeing yardage rather than a small swatch.  It'll mean getting out the big pot but I certainly think it'll be worth it.

So Sara - how do you like that red?  :-)

Responses

 So, Lynn, you were good enough to put up a post last week with some updates and also some questions.  The whole post got me to thinking - which is what you wanted, I hope - and now I feel like I can give some thoughtful responses.  I'm still noodling over much of this, but I wanted to at least make a dent.

Firstly, some points from your Thing 1:

But.  Butbutbut.  Everything went wrong with weaving this off, except none of the selvedge threads broke.  Lots and lots of warp ends broke (and I didn't mend a single one).  They broke for a couple of reasons, I think: There are three warp yarns - the shiny, bright red, thick cotton yarn, which gave me no trouble at all; a 12/2 70% cotton/30% flax mill end; and a NM 14/1 (skinny!) 70% silk/30% polyester mill end.  I held the latter two ends together throughout, but both of those yarns broke, I think because they twisted around each other and/or one of a pair changed places with one of a neighboring pair, so I had trouble winding on when threads twisted and caught on the heddles.  Also: tension.  In the last yard, first one side and then the other developed a smile; I don't really know why.  I finally resorted to a temple by the end.  Also: an angle in the beater, of about half an inch from one side of the warp to the other.  Again, I don't know why; I'll get out my measuring tapes and tools and see what I can do.  Finally, when I washed and dried the fabric, it developed a good bit of seersuckering, which mostly went away when I pressed it, but I fear it will come back when I go to construct a garment.  I didn't get seersuckering with the sample, but this warp had more of the bright shiny yarn in it.  I think I'll have to fuse some lightweight interfacing to the fabric, under a lining.

I'm nearly certain that your tension/smile/beater angle problems are all related.  If you recall, Sarah and I both gave our looms an Almighty Tightening and that addressed tension issues all 'round.  Looms are like living things - they shift and the fasteners move.  I've added "check all fasteners and make sure they are tight" to my warping process since it affects the finished piece so very much.  Key offenders are the bolts under the castle and at the base of the feet.  As for the broken warp threads - did you hold them together when winding and then separate in the warp or simply wind/weave them as a pair?  And yes - I suspect that you 'will get some amount of searsuckering in the finished garment, but that could well be what really makes the jacket.  Regardless, I'm sorry that it was such a bear - but I hope that your jacket will at least offset the suffering.

Ok.  On to Thing 2:

• The first line of thought is easy:  I weave because I want to and I can, and I'm mostly adult enough to grit my teeth through the difficult or boring parts.

• The second question, what do I want to weave:  Now, that's harder, because really, I don't need much. 

• The third question, how are we doing with this blog? 

• Why am I not more creative?

You also make mention of your Puritanical upbringing (sometimes I think the Puritans were German ...) and how you feel that this hampers your creativity - both in terms of production as well as in permission to just "do things".  Also, given that you're trying to shed possessions, there's another barrier to getting to FOs.

This got me to wondering - how many of your clothes are handmade/handwoven?  If the answer is "many/lots", then that's harder to solve.  If the answer is "few/none", well, how about you work on trading out the non-handmade/handwoven items, piece for piece, with clothing you make?  Arguably, same for household items - blankets, towels, rugs, pillows, etc.  I've heard many say (not me, at least not out loud) how they admire Rita Buchanan and her House of Textiles.  I'm willing to bet she didn't start that way, but ended up there over a lifetime.  As for not piling up stuff - when the blanket is done, the store-bought goes to Goodwill or gifted elsewhere.  Same for dishtowels, clothes, etc.  One off the loom/sewing machine, one out of the house.  It's how I'm working, FWIW, and that gives me a pretty healthy to-do list in both quantity and variety.

I started nudging you on your "not creative" comment yesterday, and my basic observation is that for your handwovens, I've not seen a bunch beyond yardage.  I recall the bag you did (lunch tote?) and I know you crank out a bunch of scarves for the sale each year, but how about moving beyond loom-shaped stuff?  Put "Make the Jacket" on your list for next quarter - and add "embelish" to it.  Maybe add "handbag to coordinate with the jacket, embellished" so that you end the next round with an ensemble.  But - don't let yourself stop until the yardage becomes something.  Making the kimono, subsequent jacket and shirt taught me so much - and really helped me to be more deliberate in my weaving.  Perhaps that'd work for you, as well.  Do something with that interesting honeycomb you were working with last month - it looked cool, so why not explore it a bit further and really see how the fabric will perform?  For me, *that* is the truly creative part.  And, at risk of putting words in Sara's mouth, it's the difference between inspiration and perspiration.  Take the inspiration of what hits you on the loom, but don't stop until it is something.  Maybe that's why I'm so stuck on these M's and O's.  It really *is* interesting, but I don't want to let it go until I've tried the thing that I want to try.

And as for the question of how we're doing with the blog, well, it *is* a bit challenging.  I know that I wanted/still want a lot more back-and-forth on things, and that the blog would help us to be more productive.  I think this is a challenge faced by weavers everywhere - looms (mostly) aren't portable and that makes real-time feedback and discussion harder.  And, without a sample in your hand, it's hard for you to give pointed criticism.  We're also both somewhat off doing our own thing - as is Sarah - and while that's totally good, it doesn't necessarily make it easy to work together on things.  Mentally, I think I'm in a better position to be more true to the original guidelines (post more frequently, with pictures, work against the list) so I don't want to give up at all!  I'm also happy to have more contributors.  But, I'm also not ready to throw in the towel and go back to Rav.  I've been there less, and reduced my time online in general, and it's helped me to be more focused and productive out in the Real World.

So, that's my first bit of rambling on all this.  And my Q2 projects are still in limbo.  But I think it's time to dig out the linen.  :-)

Tightening Things Up

I owe Lynn a reply on her post (please don't think I'm ignoring you!  Quite the opposite, frankly) but since this week is much less busy, I've also been able to make some more progress on sampling for the vest fabric.  This structure continues to intrigue me and, in finishing this last piece, I tried to think of ways that I could still use the full medallion that we all seem to like so much.  However, step one remains getting a fabric that is both pleasing visually and also, in my mind, will stand up to being both sewn and worn.

After cutting off the last round of samples, I made the easiest of changes - resleying from 32 epi (4 ends per dent in an 8 dent reed) to 36 epi (3 ends per dent in a 12 dent reed) because the first round was far too open.  That went quite quickly, but I didn't have a chance to sit down and weave it off until these past two mornings.  I also stuck with all wool this time rather than adding in the silk as I learned enough last time that this was purely about structure.  Hemstitched at both ends and washed:

This version of the fabric, while not wholly opaque, is much crisper.  A small amount of light remains when switching from the plain weave to float sections, but otherwise, it's nearly solid.  I was easily able to beat to square so that made me hopeful that if I was happy with this fabric, I could make yardage without too much difficulty.

First pass of colors was back to the dark blue and light brown.  Here it is against the light brown weft:

While that looks good, I liked the higher-contrast blue/light pink combination from the previous fabric, so I wove off a section like that as well.  Here it is against the darker brown warp.

And this is where I stopped.  I've more warp on the loom, so there's one more round of sampling to come, but I also noticed that I made a sleying error near the left edge.  I put six ends in one dent, rather than the planned three.  Since this was a sample, I didn't worry about it at all (there was enough trouble-free fabric elsewhere) but decided that I would cut off and finish this piece so that I could not only fix the error, but also make any more decisions about how I wanted to handle the end of the warp.

That said, here's my thinking for what's left:

1. Weave off a chunk with a combination of wool and silk.  Try different color wools to see if there are any that are truly appealing.
2. Weave off a chunk in monotone wool and overdye.  I remembered how much the dark Merino roving loves to be overdyed so I'm going to cut some sections and do them in red, teal and blue.  My hope is that a monochromatic, rich color scheme might make those big medallions bearable.
3. If any warp remains after doing those two, I'm going to pull out the linen/silk blend and weave off some with that.  I've both a light blue and a natural, and if I have enough, I'll try and overdye a patch.

I should have enough to do 8" of each of the first two experiments and then see what's left for the linen/silk.  Regardless, the weaving part can get done tomorrow with no issues - and perhaps I'll even have time to do the dyeing.  Then I can have the full set of samples in place so that I can calculate/thread some fabric.  I'm going to see this structure through to a finished vest for certain; until it's cut up and sewn, I simply won't know the answer.  And if it doesn't work, that's just another answer, right?

Answer for Lynn in a separate post.  Now it's time for lunch and then off to the shop.