The apron and blanket in action !

I completed the striped apron and wore it to the Battle of Wyoming in Mt. Cobb PA.  I managed to get in completely filthy while cooking and defending the camp from the redcoats.   Huzzah !

The linsey woolsey blanket was taken to battle in Paul's knapsack!  

I now need to make a knapsack so I can carry the blanket myself

Saying Goodbye

I am sad to be leaving the weaving school.  I have learned a tremendous amount and have completely fallen in love with the VT landscape and culture.

I'm SURE I'll be back!!

I hope to continue this blog to document the things I make out of my hand woven fabrics.  I am also thinking about organizing a small gallery/ display of my work here so that I can share it with those who are interested.  Pictures don't do these textiles justice !

After a long afternoon of wide width weaving I finished the blanket! I had enough warp to do some stripe linen.  I'll be stitching the panels together with a baseball stitch .. very similar to what I was doing my apron.

The panels lined up!!

Now I am embarking on a 6 hour drive to the Battle of Wyoming reenactment in PA.

I'll be wearing my new apron !

nearing the end

The linsey woolsey blanket is moving right along!  I have gotten the hang of passing the shuttle all the way though the long shed smoothly allowing me to weave faster.  Tomorrow is my last day of work at the weaving school.  I'd like to get blanket off the loom , darned, and washed in time to learn how to sew up the selvages with a baseball stitch.. which I have yet to learn.  

This past weekend I attended the Battle of Hubbardton with the 5th NY Regiment.  It was a great event in a beautiful location. While in camp I had time to work on my apron.  In the pictures below I am joining the selvages of two widths of fabric together so they lie flat and look like one piece.  You have to weave the fabrics together catching each stitch.  

My hand woven fabrics were a hit and I struck up some great conversations with people about reenacting and my weaving experiences in Marshfield.  I met a sutler named Carol who was a weaver and owns Oswego Tea Company with her husband.  They sell 18th century goods, powder horns, woven fabrics and other fine goods.  She had some great advice for me and when we parted she gave me one of her handwoven towels!  

Linen Weaving

I left enough room in my linen blanket warp for a yard of plain linen.  I wove about 27 inches today.  I love the simplicity of the natural linen plain weave.

The most difficult part about this project is the width.  It is 45 inches.  I have been weaving much smaller widths up until now.  You really have to aim as you shoot the shuttle thought the shed.  

Linen threads break really easily.. I have already had to repair a bunch of them and I haven't even hit the blanket yet.  

I sketched up my blanket design.  It will be mostly natural brown wool with some deep red stripes.  

This week the family came up to VT and joined the weavers for Monday pot luck lunch.  There was lots of good food and animal noise impression..  twas a good time !

Me, Kate, & Justin 

Onto the last weaving project...

I can't believe I am nearing the end of my apprenticeship!  Today I planned and warped my last project. I am moving away form clothing fabric and making a blanket.  The blanket will have a linen warp with a wool weft.  This fabric is historically know as linsey woosley.  It will be great for summer and winter use and perfect to take to reenactments involving camping.  I am still choosing colors but, for now, the warp is natural linen.  My plan is to make it a solid color with two contrasting bands of color on each end.

Linen likes humidity..which was plentiful today.  

...earlier in the week I climbed a ladder to let out the heat and meet all the spiders.  

The finished warp!

The warp weighed 1 lbs 15 onces.  

...other happening here in VT have included beautiful sunsets and Justin's delicious strawberry rhubarb pie with ingredients straight from the garden topped with cream from the farm down the road.  It's going to be hard adjusting back to life in suburban NY...

2 textiles 1 warp

I finished weaving my historical fabric this evening.

It measures out to be roughly 4 yards.  

I am really pleased with my re-creation of the 1737 swatch.  The the right side second row swatch was my goal with the check.  My only change was the reversing of the blue and brown

With one warp I was able to weave two different patterns !

I'll need to go back and mend the broken threads then 

wash, press, and make an apron.  

Over the past couple of days I beamed on, threaded, and began weaving another towel warp.  These towels have a twill weave with a houndstooth pattern.  The towels are great beat practice.

...

On my own project I finished the 2 1/2 yards of stripes and began the check this afternoon!  I am weaving the checks with three shuttles : white, brown, and blue.  As I change colors the threads that are not in use "travel" next to the selvage.

The 16/2 cotton I am using breaks and tangles easily.  Breaking threads is a common and easily fixable mistake while weaving.  First you tie on a new thread and re-trace its threading though the heddles and the reed.  Then you wind the end around a pin in your fabric and weave it in.  When the fabric comes off the loom you can go back and hand weave it back in.  Hopefully it will smooth out with washing.  

Below is what the "traveling" threads look like.  This is also the selvage of the fabric.  The holes in the selvage are a result of the tenner hook which stretches across the fabric and controls the width.  

Time is flying by!  I have a little under 2 weeks left with LOTS to weave and sew now that I have woven fabrics.