Ceinture Fléchée

Please see additional post on Ceinture Fléchée here

Ceinture fléchée were sashes wore by French Canadian's to prevent the cold from penetrating beyond their coats and cloaks. Click on the links here to read the entire history. It is now part of the Québécois costume and also the Métis. Traditionally these sashes are hand manipulated weft twining, but later were woven on looms and known as arrow sashes. The traditional weft twined sashes are still being produced and a google search will locate them. With the 400 year Anniversary celebrations in Quebec this year (2009), I'm sure they are a hot item!

The pictures are of a woven arrow sash that is approx 30 years old. It's a blend of fine wools and some acrylics. The long fringe is approx 10-12 inches and a bit frayed and slightly felted as they cling to each other. Despite my carefully hand washing it and then a gentle iron, the edges still curl near the fells from use as a costume sash. I would say the yarns used are commercial as the spinning is too even and the weaving is a 2/2 twill. All the pattern is in the colour arrangements.



I found this sash at a local antique store when we were out discovering my town with our friend's Lynnette and Michael recently. I have since talked with the store owner and it seem that the consignee who brings these in, has a cottage in Quebec and brings back items to sell. They will give him my phone number when he comes back and I'll have an opportunity to talk with the gent and see if he can find me a traditional weft twined sash in his travels. He may well bring one back from this summer's holiday! Now, wouldn't that be nice?

Its Like Winning the Lottery!

This will get your attention.... a loom! ( not painted walls and decorating....)




See this Louet Spring Loom? Well, one is coming to my house and my friend Lynnette's as well. It gets better though...



This is a prototype of the new Louet table loom called the 'Jane'. It's based on ideas submitted by Jane Stafford to Louet and they built her one. We're getting one of each of this loom too when they come out later this year.

How the heck did this happen? Pour a cup of tea and sit back....

My best friend Lynnette and her hubby Michael came to stay for a visit and we had an enjoyable week together touring around the area and seeing the sights. They landed at Victoria airport and drove the Malahat highway. During their time here we did Cowichan Bay, Cobble Hill, Duncan, and Shawnigan Lake. Lynnette had an itch to go to Salt Spring Island ( and who could blame her?) and visit fibre places there. We hopped on the ferry which is very nearby where I live and took the short trip across to Vesuvius Bay on the island. Jane's Studio is on the north part of the island and so we went there first. The lovely studio space is nestled in the trees and ferns and there isn't a weaver around who wouldn't give their right arm for a place like that. Totally dedicated to weaving and away from the usual family stuff and chores.

I once owned an older Louet Kombo table loom but I'm not overly familiar with their big floor looms. A friend has the 32 shaft Megado and runs it with a palm pilot and another friend has the same loom but with a compu-dobby. But I have no real experience weaving on them. Jane took us through all the looms there and explained all the differences and why the looms have a small footprint but give you huge sheds with easy weaving. We sat and tried them out and loved it.
This, and a space filled with books and brightly coloured yarns was like inhaling an intoxicant! Yep, we're definitely hooked on our 'habit' :) Here Jane is explaining the Megado's dobby system to us.



In this one Lynnette and Michael are being shown the Louet Spring parallel countermarche. It's amazingly small but has all the potential of my big framed, high castle loom. Jane explained the circular texsolv system that means every shaft, every lamm is perfectly positioned. There was *nothing* out of place and all lamms were straight and even. Both Lynnette and I like this sort of precision being neat freaks!


Here Jane is showing us a multi shaft huck lace in silk with amazing patterning! Done on the Megado I believe.

Jane demonstrated the simplicity of the new Jane table loom and both our husband's placed an order for one right away and we were *thrilled*. I added a stand for mine so it's at the right height for my back. We started to browse in the books and yarns and left the men asking more questions about the mechanical workings of the looms. When we walked back in they were tucking their credit cards back into wallets and holding receipts. They had just bought us each a 36" 12 shaft Louet Spring countermarche. Lynnette and I stepped into the next room and did a wild 'n crazy 'happy dance'.... then walked back in all dignified but with permanent grins on our faces. Here's Lynnette's!


And with the sale of 4 looms and one stand, here's Jane's!



I'm sure she did a happy dance too as drove away.... (there is a link to Jane's web page on the links section. She is an amazing teacher, good sense of humour and loves to travel.) That's ten bucks Jane ...

We had to do a group shot and my grateful thanks go to my hubby, Bruce for manning the camera that day. I was too jangled to man one myself! Yup, that's me in the green.... and I don't step in front of a camera all that much so don't hold your breath waiting for the next one anytime soon. :)



We had every intention of going to Treenway down on the southern part of the island but we were hungry and dined Mexican in Ganges. We had gelato from Harlan's after and sat in the park near the harbour. Lynnette snapped this one of my hubby dearest, Bruce and I.


We were strangely quiet afterwards as if we couldn't fathom what had just happened. Gobsmacked?? But then our brains started to tick over and we mentally started the sales ads to reduce our loom inventory !

{*If you want a list of what is for sale for both of us, email me!! my email address is on the right hand side bar*}

Anyhoo, we decided that we couldn't risk spending any more as were now 'broke' and so decided to visit Treenway another day. It's a good excuse to go back to what must be the most beautiful of the Canadian Gulf Islands.

The time went quickly while they were here. We laughed, chatted and had a super time. The last night before they went home, we dined at a local restaurant called 'The Grapevine on the Bay' and sat overlooking Maple Bay and ate wonderful food like: halibut with champagne sauce, Artic char, seafood pie and Cowichan chicken vol au vent... all washed down with an amazing Australian Stickleback red wine.

Earlier during the week we had visited Cowichan Bay which has a row of shops, restaurants and marine traffic at the harbour:


It's an active port for lumber shipments and deep draft ships come in as well as this ocean going tug heading out.

An active anchorage for boating and float homes. This one is a real cutie patootie:

This shot is really neat. We caught a glimpse of people relaxing on their boat while their Jack Russell terrier caught a few winks. A tough life! ( Actually my husband and I lived aboard a boat for 5 years so we know this lifestyle well. No room for looms though... )

There is a maritime museum there with all sorts of boats and motors and all things nautical. Even boats being actively restored and under cover. Inside was a display of ship models and we have a great interest of the vessels of the Royal Navy during the battles with Napoleon. Here's a frigate of the 'first rate' My memory is faulty here, but this may be the HMS Victory


Everyone has a passion for something art like in their life... for us, it's weaving!

Speaking of which, I must get to work as there is a project on every loom, all at the beginning of warps too and I must wind on one more and complete a weaving exchange before the looms go out the door!

At least my posts will now be weaving related now... lucky you!

Flowers and Lace

So let's resume with our newly beamed warp. I laced onto the front beam and slid my lease sticks to the back beam. They are there just in case something needs 'fixing'. If all is well, I pull them out.

I had threaded, and sleyed the 2/8 cotton to 20 epi. This sett is the one normally recommended for this grist of cotton and plain weave/ lace. Using a ten dent reed, I sleyed where the flowers are to be at 2 per dent (or 20 epi) but there is special denting required for the mock leno. Sley the three ends together, leave an empty dent and continue.

After weaving a header of scrap yarn, this is the end result when I wove some test inches:

It was far too open and stringy looking. I checked the cone I took the warp from and it's Earth Guild 8/2 cotton, 3200 yd/ lb. There's the problem right there! Canadian 2/8 cotton ( we switch the numbers around but it means the same) is visibly thicker. So I had to resley the entire warp again but this time I used a 12 dent reed. Two ends per dent for the flowers and the required 3 and empty dent for the mock leno. It tightened everything up a bit. But not too much as this is meant to be a light and lacey piece.

Now I always try to brighten up pictures I post here so they are very clear, but this means the 'flower' floats are not really visible. Here's a darker image so you can make them out. (sure hope this works!)

The back of the cloth is a perfect reverse of the front. The flowers are actually more obvious on the back, but you' won't see that side of them when until the warp comes off the loom.

The plan for this warp is two runners at roughly 48 inches long including hems, plus one smaller side table cloth at 27 inches including hems. There is also some allowance for samples for sharing. I have woven 2.5 inches in plain weave for the first hem, then hemstitched. Placed a thick spacer and then hemstitched the opposite side and now weaving alternate bands of leno and then flowers. I'm using a temple to minimize draw in and it's coming along nicely.


But in the mean time I have to go ride my other vehicle. There's a overgrown lawn here somewhere with my name on it. Notice: the tractor gets the carport and the mini van doesn't.

Benefits of Keeping Samples

I an participating in a weaving exchange where we must produce some small guest towels or 'finger tip' towels. I have promised to send in 6, so I will produce 7. I must have one of my own for me! I have been playing around with my weaving program, then flipping through past projects and eventually I went to my swatch books and found this sample:

Blogger for some reason has turned it and I can't get it right. But since it is a balanced geometric pattern, it's the same either way. (The far right is actually the bottom of the picture.)

Here is the draft:

The plan is (for now) to use 2/16's mercerized cotton in white as warp. The sett will be 36 epi. Weft will be either 2/30 linen weft in either white or natural, or 2/16's in unmercerized cotton in natural. There should be a subtle play on light to see the pattern.

The deadline is woven goods to the Sample Hostess by Oct 31st. Even if I change my mind, I'll be using the 2/16's so will start winding the warp soon. If you have never participated in a weaving exhange, give it try when one is available. They are like 'Christmas' when they are over. You get back some totally different ones back and they in turn become like useable samples as they have the weaving drafts accompany them as well. Some of the weavers guilds I have belonged to over the years have ocassionally done this, or it can be a small private group of weaving friends who coordinate an exchange. I still have kitchen towels in use from my last one and it's like having your friends with you every day.

Reaping the Rewards

At long last my kitchen towel warp finally came off the loom! (There was a lengthy delay weaving this off while my back injury healed) To repeat the details again: it is an eight shaft false damask, with two blocks. I chose to weave them alternatively throughout for a more balanced look. I used 2/8 cotton sett at 20 epi, which is normally a plain weave sett. Twills are best at 24 epi but with these towels, that meant a thicker hand to the cloth and that's not what I was looking for with a towel. The warp was ten yards long and I got nine large towels. No samples this time as I have woven this pattern before. I used three muted colours of a burnt peach, soft plum, and light khaki green with the dividing threads are black. The use of black seem to accentuate the colours and intensify them. (White tends to wash colours out) I have a black ceramic stove top in almond with black accents so thought to try black this time. I used some of the colours in the warp as weft ( plums, peach and khaki) and wove coloured borders on some and for the most part, just used one colour and no border at all. One towel is a plaid as an experiment and it a bit too busy for my tastes. That will go into my sale box.

I normally weave some scrap yarn in between my towels and this gets trimmed off when I serge the edges of my towels. I find this minimizes the cloth from unraveling that is common with handwoven textiles.

I take the towel to the ironing board and turn the serged edge over and press flat. Then turn and press again for small hem, pinning it as I go along. The pattern has the benefit of 'lines' to assist you. I have turned the picture so you can see my choice in irons.

It's a Rowenta and has the right amount of weight and steam to make finishing projects much easier. A friend calls me the 'Queen of the Ironing Board' and I have tried a few makes and models and this one works for me. (I also have the Rowenta ironing board which is much wider than normal ones and adjustable up or down for a variety of heights.) Then I sew the hem by machine. Some like to hand sew hems but I prefer to machine sew towels and items that will be machine washed and dried for durability. Runner and 'dainties' I hand sew as they are normally hand washed.

I found that my machine needle kept punching a warp thread through and making a large pull. I would have to dismantle my machine, pull it out and then ease the thread back into place and start all over again. I changed needles, longer stitch, shorter stitch, go faster, go snail slow....it kept on doing this! If anyone has a suggestion, please leave a comment :)

On three towels I used 2/16's mercerized black cotton as weft. It produced a lighter weight towel and it accentuates the warp colours. I also tried out using a green cottolin as weft. It's has a scratchier feel but should soften up in time.

They make an impressive 'stack' and it feels good to be productive again. I have already have the next warp on and so we'll chat about that next post.