For today’s #WeavingWednesday Lo Meets Loom episode, we’re going to talk about the thing I have just cut off the loom… my Halvdräll Towel weaving project!
I’ve just completed a series of dish towels, or tea towels, that are based off of the design by Arianna Funk. She’s a Swedish designer who designed this project for Gist Yarns a couple of years ago, where there was also a weave-along that took place around it. (Which, there are tons of inspiring photos you can find on Instagram for this project!)
Join me at today’s vlog where I talk more about the process of this handwoven project.
I’d love for you to leave me a comment and let me know if you’ve tried this Halvdräll technique before – or if you have made this same pattern, what was your experience like? Did you enjoy it? What colours did you use? I would love to hear! And also if you have any tips about how you finish cotton towels, I’d love for you to share what process you use!
IN THIS EPISODE
- what I mention in today’s vlog: Here are the links for what was talked about in today’s video…
- The project I show in the video is the Halvdräll Towels weaving pattern, designed by Arianna Funk for Gist Yarns.
- The warp for the project is Venne Organic 8/2 Cotton in Brass, Burnt Orange, Raspberry and White. Weft yarn is Gist Duet in Currant and Cerise plus Maurice Brassard 8/2 in Bleu Pâle and Mauve Foncé.
- The other tea towels shown are the Four Looks Towel, designed by Liz Gipson
I WILL try your Swedish Weave towels. They are truly beautiful and I love the feeling of being free to experiment. I have only one question. Your selvages are perfect. Do you typically use a temple? I find it extremely difficult to prevent draw-in without one (except for repp weave, which produces a heavy fabric) or rug weaving. I use a 12-harness Jack loom from LeClerc. I’m curious if I just need far more practice at getting neat edges that don’t draw in, or if you typically use a temple but didn’t include that in your video for clearer viewing. Thank you!
Virginia
Oh thank you so much Virginia! I don’t typically use a temple, but perhaps I should… I did use a floating selvedge for these. In terms of draw in and nice selvedges, I’ve been using the classic Leclerc boat shuttles and working on maintaining a nice 45 degree angle to the weft. I beat on an open shed as well and try to keep my warp tension good — not too loose and not to tight, so that the sides don’t draw in too much. The towels were fun to weave for sure and I use my towels everyday in my kitchen too. I hope you enjoy them.
Thank you Felicia! I will definitely practice. And I will!
Not ever having woven with linen before, I am curious how your towels came out after wet finishing, since you used some cotton/linen blend as well as pure cotton. Would you be willing to put up a comment or picture after the wet-finishing is done? Thank you!
May I ask one more question? In drafting your towel with the narrow stripes (or one fairly similar), I am not seeing the V-formation that is clearly shown in your towels in the video. Am I doing something wrong, or does this only show up in the woven cloth, not the draft? If you have an email you wish to provide me, I could send you an image.
Virginia
I think I managed to answer my own question. Because of the vertical floats going across and between pairs of 4 horizontal floats, they would tend to gather the horizontal ones together in the middle and flare them at the edges, giving a V-shape. I would not have thought of using floats to distort the fabric in this way. It’s quite beautiful, and no, would not show up in a draft.
Planning out my own version of these towels – I’ve watched your video several times. Wouldn’t have realized that the Gist pattern could be so beautiful if you hadn’t made it in your own colours. I’m going to use the colours of my dishes as inspiration.
I have completed my first towel. It’s beautiful. My only issue is that Ariana Funck says this requires 18 PPI for the tabby, which I have achieved. But she says the tabby + pattern areas should be 15 tabby + 15 pattern. That’s 30 PPI. I’m getting 39.5 PPI. I’m barely placing the beater to the fell line. Can you tell us how many PPI you had in your pattern areas? I have to decide whether to re-draft my other 4 towel patterns to reflect a more denser weft, or whether to try to figure out a way to pack my weft more lightly.