Flowers and Lace: the Finale

I realized just the other day that I had yet to show you the final finished runners! I had hand sewed the hems while away and wet finished them once we got home, but life has been quite hectic since then (when isn't it?) This pattern seemed to get some favourable remarks when I had originally posted so I thought I would do a review. I received this pattern some years ago from a friend, though since then I understand something similar appeared in a Handwoven. I have searched what issues I have and no luck! I'm big on giving credit when due.

I had used what I thought was 2/8 mercerized cotton for warp and found the sett too sleazy. It became apparent that the cone was either mislabeled or the grist of the Earth Guild cotton was finer than was we use here in Canada, or actually a 2/10 cotton. I resleyed using a 12 dent reed with 2 per dent where you see the 'plain weave' and flower float and 3 per dent *with an empty dent between the central groups* where you see the mock leno. The mock leno is in fact, 3 thread huck lace groupings. This multi sett grouping of ends makes it difficult to calculate the width ahead of time, especially if you are making adjustments on the fly like I was! The empty dents added approx 2.5 inches to my calculations and I used that figure to recalculate when I tightened up the sett. I was much happier with the second sett. The weft is a skinny 2/8 blend yarn with silk, flax, cotton and a small amount of an acrylic, in a soft green shade that I had bought from a company here in Canada called South Landing. It has small flecks of colours through out and gives the cloth life that I can't seem to capture with my camera for you! Unfortunately South Landing is gone now which is a shame. They made wonderful yarns! But back to the cloth: it's a fine line between light and lacy and an unstable cloth. This is where the dreaded sampling word comes in! Here's the second sett on the loom:

Here is the cloth off loom and relaxed. Quite a difference isn't it?

From there the 2 runners and 2 tray cloths went to the serger to secure the edges. I am very pleased with how well serging secures the raw edges of hand wovens and use this for all hemmed items. The serger is just an inexpensive model and I don't use it for anything else...but it's confidence builder for when you are selling your goods and you want them to last long after they leave your hands.

I turned the hems and pressed, then hand sewed them. The hem is right against the hemstitching and you could reverse the runners if you like. From here they were hand washed in warm sudsy water, rolled in a towel to semi dry and pressed while damp. After fully drying, I pressed again. Here is a close up picture of the cloth after wet finishing and you can see how the sett tightened up:

It's a stable cloth that's light and airy too.... here's a final picture over our (new to us) old 1930's waterfall style blanket box we found antiquing:

I am going to try and set the draft up in my Fiberworks program for you and edit it back into here when I do. I'm new to importing a 'capture' so bear with me.

One last thing before I go.... I would like to announce a new weaving blog has made it's debut! I invite you to visit and book mark my friend Lynnette's blog " Dust Bunnies under my Loom" She will be sharing her experiences with her new Louet Spring loom " Lily Louet". I would add here that Lynnette is a lovely weaver and does beautiful work. But I am a little biased of course. :)