cottolin

This was class three - we double sleyed a 10 dent reed with cottolin with enough for a sample and the finished project. The class focused on finishing techniques and lace weaves. The sample consisted of plainweave, simple hemstitch, trellis hemstitch, ladder hemstitch, leno, Mexican leno, Danish medallion, Brooks boquet and Spanish lace. Then we chose what we wanted to do for our runner. I did simple hemstitch and a border of trellis hemstitch, Mexican leno, danish medallion, Mexican leno and trellis hemstitch. In the body I alternated plain weave with a row of Danish Medallions every six inches. It turned out quite nice and I fell in love with cottolin. What is really exciting to me about this project was learning to do on the loom what I have been doing for years in drawn and pulled thread embroidery.

I had 17% take up and shrinkage in both length and width. I washed this fabric in the machine, regular cycle, using clear Ivory dish detergent, and dried in the dryer for 30 minutes, then pressed damp with steam.

Of the 7 yards, 4 yards went toward making 4 towels, 2 yards were for Cross Country Weavers samples, and the last bit was for sampling and loom waste. The theme for the CCW exchange this year was Bronson. I had a lot of fun reading Dorothy Burton's book Versatile Bronson when thinking about this challenge. It has a lot of great ideas! The book can still be purchased via the Boston Guild.

The towels were made to match a new set of dusty-blue and chocolate-brown dishware we recently purchased. At least that's the cover story. The real story is my husband is The Cook, and it drives me crazy when there is an emergency in the kitchen and he grabs one of my "good" towels. So I decided to weave him a batch of "good" towels in a dark colorway that won't look horrible the first time he wipes up spilled gravy or tea! 

You can find the draft under the draft tab, Bronson Dishtowels

Warp was provided by Vavstuga Swedish Weaving in Shelburne Falls, MA.  The copyright draft is not available.

These wonderful table squares are a breeze to weave.  A temple is recommended.

This warp was on a loom at Vavstuga Swedish Weaving.  The draft is not available because it is copyrighted.  I ended up weaving 15 of these lovely little table squares.  It took me a little under an hour to weave each square.