Flower Petals and Lace

Its a busy time of year, with gardens, annual house and yard chores,  and I'm not "nose to the grindstone  or loom" quite so much anymore.    Besides, Hubby hurt his lower back and so there's been that to deal with.  Its had work convincing a hurt man to stay still and let his back heal!

Spring chores sort of ground to a halt but we're planning on resuming what we can soon.

the rhodie on the verge of blooming (taken last week)

So enough of all that.... lets talk some weaving shall we?   This draft below is a blend of weft floats that produce flowers and areas of 3 thread huck lace (or mock leno).  I've had this draft for years and not entirely where it came from originally.  It uses special denting and sleying to open the lace areas more.

• using a 12 dent reed, sled two ends per dent in the plain weave and flower sections.
• in the lace sections, sled three ends to a dent, *plus* leave an empty dent on either side of the three end grouping.

I'll tell you that it does make predicting how wide your warp will be a tad bit difficult but from this project and past ones, it adds  1 1/2 inches to every 15 inches planned, so 17.5 inches in width for my current project.  There's a bit of 'fudge factor' with this one. 

Then there's the plain weave treadles.... both far right treadles are for plain weave. This would be your hem allowance or small border before starting the main portion of the draft.    You see, treadle 3 is also a tabby treadle too. Yup, confusing as heck.    Its meant to used as part of the treadling sequence for the lace squares. You treadle lace squares and go directly into weft floats.   You can make the flower larger, or the lace squares bigger, but go directly from one part to the other and do not hit the far right treadles along the way!   Clear as mud? 

8 shaft draft- basic

Draft showing empty dents  between lace groups

I've woven this before....  here it is in  20/2 silks. 

Here is 10/2 cream mercerized cotton and a light moss green silk/ flax/ acrylic weft, with little flecks of colour.

... and here is the same weft used with a 10/2 ink blue mercerized cotton warp in my recent project. It changes the whole look huh? This is on the loom and so under tension ....

Also, same warp but this time I used a dark navy blue 8/2 tencel. You can clearly see the effect the empty dents have on the look.

I also used a silver blue version of the silk flax acrylic yarn I have in my stash  and it gave a more denim loom. It was also a bit slubby  and I went ahead with it, but its not my favourite.

The cloth roll had some distortion where the lace areas collected on each other and so I cut off after 3 runners were woven.    They were secured, washed and pressed, then made ready for hand hemming.

They are all nice but lacking something.... so I decided to try a different colour for the fourth runner.

Our back patio is summer ready now....

A lovely place to sit with a cool drink and spin, or twist fringe on runner number four! The mat on the table is from Nepal and is needle woven by using chain stitch into intricate patterns on a cotton backing cloth.  My brother bought it from a woman along a Kathmandu road side for me some years ago.

This runner is my favourite and has some pizzaz!  I used 8/2 tencel in dark teal and the cloth comes to life with this blending of colours. In the plain weave sections, there is an iridescence effect.  The weft float flowers are a burst of teal green. The over all effect is light and lacy.  It's 17.5 inches by 54 inches. Fringe is 2 inches.

I also used Italian hemstitching on a whim instead of the usual basic hemstitching. The little row of boxes along the edges are quite sweet and compliment the lace boxes.

Yes, more flowers and garden shots. This is my garden's prime time of year, so I'm showing it off!  The chestnut tree is simply loaded. The hummingbirds and bees are giddy with excitement and there is a cascade of flower petals under the tree so it looks like pink snow.

chestnut tree flowers

Not sure that this is but they are happy to be out!

 ...and finally, this is a rock garden plant (again nameless) and there is a literal cloud of tiny flowers on long stems above the little tight leaves. Edit: the little pink and white rock plant is Saxifraga x urbium, commonly known as London Pride.  Thank you Amanda! 

The loom is being reloaded as I write.... and some threading is under way.  All the doors and windows are open and there is a delightful breeze.   We waited all winter long for days like this....