I have been itching to weave a turned twill project for some time. So I dug around in my stash of 10/2 cotton (of which I have a lot 😳 ) and pulled together some colours. Now the drafts below show the basic arrangement of the two blocks and the colour transitions, but the actual colours are much more muted than the ones I grabbed off the colour bar. I don't get that persnickety with the colours as I keep the original cones out and close to hand to view as I work.
These are Web's Valley yarns and the entire range of colours have a muted or saddened quality to the shades. I must confess that I double and triple checked my selection and wondered if I had chosen right. I decided to go with it and time would tell.... plus the weave part!
Another part of that 'going with it' mind set was trying a small 8 thread colour gradation between colour changes. It worked fine between the closer value shades but the deeper, darker ones? Not so well. Next time I would leave this part out and just go with solid blocks instead. It was worth a try....
Winding the warp took time due to the colour gradation but soon we had the 8 yards warp on, threaded and sleyed for 28 epi. This is the only picture of the work on the loom, where I'm trying out bands of colours and decided to go with them and simply repeat.
Actually, I got 6 towels and one small side table cloth and each time I simply went with what felt okay at the time. No set plan for treadling the blocks or colour. I did learn that the dark Victorian Blue was a touch too dark and a small amount of the Autumn Blonde yellow went a long way. So I focused on the others instead: Dark Teal, Willow green, Cameo Rose and Camel.
So once off the loom the cloth roll make a nice chunky ball of fabric and it weighed in at 2 pounds, 2 1/2 ounces before cutting apart and trimming off loom waste etc.
That is 980 grams in metric for my Canadian and European readers. 🌎 I got busy with the serger and they had a bath and dried. Steam pressed and hems turned. Some enjoyable sewing by the TV at night and soon they were ready. From the designing process right through to the final sewing..... it's a steady step by step process and a lot of work. Good thing I like it huh?
6 towels that I'm calling the "Everything, Everywhere" towels due to the colours and blocks being, well everywhere!
This towel above is the one that was shown under way on the lot earlier. Interestingly, its my favourite of the bunch.
One with blocks of the darker blue and small narrow bands of pinks and greens.
Two towels woven the same way using lighter wefts, one of which sold right away.
Then another featuring the dark teal, and small bands of colour.
Some are similar in block design and colours but with some differences.
Hubby had just bought a little side table for his den and it turned out that I had just enough to make a small cloth for it. Adds protection but doesn't hide some of its features.
Turned twill seems to be a great way to get some bold patterning and colour play. If you have a weaving program, you can create a basic draft of the threads and then play with colour arrangements, based on your stash. It's early September and if you chose a Christmas colour theme, you have time to weave up a batch for gifts. 🎅🏻🎄🎁
Back soon.... with more towels!
