I just wet finished some linen napkins that I wove with 2/30 irish linen warp at 36 epi, and 12/1 linen weft in a twill pattern.  The dimensions on the loom were 21" wide and 22" long.  The finished domensions are 19.5 wide and 17.5" long.  Is it possible that the warp shrunk that much, or did I mismeasure every single napkin?

Comments

Fri, 04/20/2018 - 22:00

sally orgren

You have take up, and then shrinkage, two different things. Less interlacement (i.e. more floats, like with twill = more take up.)

Shrinkage depends on how it is wet-finished. Also, linen needs a firm pressing, not "ironing." (Linen weavers love their mangles!)

Your total take up + shrinkage, width wise is = 7.14%.

When weaving, did you weave your item 5-10% larger than you wanted the finished item, to account for take up and shrinkage?

Did you sample first?

Tue, 04/24/2018 - 14:49

norgard

As a new weaver I guess I didn't understand the value of sampling - I think I do now.  I also didn't know about take up varying according to the pattern.

What's the difference between ironing and pressing?

Tue, 04/24/2018 - 20:00

morgan clifford

I think it's a lesson most of us have learned the hard way.  Be aware, however, that sometimes a small sample will behave differently than your final, large piece.  For example: I can sample for a weft-faced wool rug and have a sett at 6 epi and an 8" wide warp/sample.  If I try to have this same sett for my rug, which might be 30" wide, I'd have to use a sett of 5 epi. 

I hope this makes sense.  One can of course consider the first item of a series on their "real" warp as a sample by cutting it off and finishing it to see how it behaves.  I have a table loom and a Baby Mac that I use to weave small samples.

Sally can better address pressing but it's the process of pushing down hard with a steam iron.  Scandinavians use mangles for their linens which are pairs of hot rollers that one sends cloth through in order to iron it and flatten it.

 

Tue, 04/24/2018 - 20:01

Sue in VT

Ironing is the back and forth motion we all know, but pressing does not move back and forth. Instead, the iron is placed on the fabric and pressed down and then it is moved and pressed again. Steam is involved as well as a cloth (usually) to protect the fabric, but when pressing hand woven linen, I don’t use a cloth, as linen can withstand heat. I also have played with using a marble rolling pin as a mangle and rolling it back and forth over newly wet finished towels with impressive results. I make sure to use the marble rolling pin as though it doesn’t have handles. There are some decent YouTube clips showing this. 

Wed, 04/25/2018 - 18:25

norgard

So, do you have to use the mangle after every time you wash your linens?

Wed, 04/25/2018 - 20:44

morgan clifford

I lived in Finland for 4 months and the young woman I housed with finished washing and air-drying all the bed linens by folding them and sending them through the mangle several times.  Then she very carefully folded them and stacked them on the shelves of her linen closet.  I cringed to think about how I wad up my newly washed bedding and jam it into a drawer.

On a more immediate note: ironing and pressing the linen (or anything really) makes it slightly bigger. 

Thu, 04/26/2018 - 05:58

Sara von Tresckow

Scandinavians and Germans use COLD mangles on linen - pressure of a few hundred pounds on linen that is wound in layers on rollers. Far better than all the marble rolling pins is the good old fashioned hand mangle which consists of a wooden roller (could be pvc pipe) and a flat board. The fabric is rolled up on the roller (can be covered with an old towel to protect it) and the board is rolled across the roller. This roller is positioned lower than table height and the mangler leans over and uses body weight to press the linen. This process flattens the intersects and threads making the linen better able to reflect light well - important when mangling damask pieces. This process is NOT the hot mangle made by Miele or Ironrite.

More info here