Hi fellow weavers!

I'm hoping someone can help me out. I would very much like to try gauze weave on my backstrap loom, and want to spin some cotton to do so, but I have no idea how to spin it. I want the cotton to be really fine. Should I use singles or should I ply? Does anyone have any suggestions or a photo maybe of some cotton they've spun for backstrap weaving?  I don't plan to make anything big and fancy; I just want to do something about 6 inches wide so I can practice some techniques. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Comments

Wed, 11/17/2010 - 23:50

bolivian warmi

Can't really help you, pancha. Hope someone else can. It is my dream to weave with my own handspun cotton but my cotton is not consistent enough yet to do the job. I need to devote some more hours to it. I haven't actually met a backstrap weaver yet who used handspun cotton. The weavers in Ecuador with whom I studied used handspun cotton which they plied. They wove on vertical looms and they made warp faced pieces. The thread generally needs to be tighter and tougher for warp faced work but gauze weave is something else altogether.

All I can suggest is warping up some tiny pieces and sampling.

 

 

Thu, 11/18/2010 - 02:26

graciela (not verified)

  Hi Pancha, I have not time, now,  to traduce to you an articl about gauze from a book, " gasas prehispanicas",by Ruth Corcuera,  but i will do in the week end. There are works about Gauze in:  Emery, O´ Neale and Clark, and Raoul d´ Harcourt .(Textile Museum of Washington ) .You need good torsion,

You can see a video:

http://www.edym.com/tv/vid/a00086.htm


http://www.edym.com/CD-tex/2p/matprim/cap06/cap06-sdamer.htm

In my blogs there are some gauze.

http://gracielaforadoritecnicastextiles.blogspot.com/

http://www.gracielaforadori.blogspot.com/

Soon , I am going to weave gauze in a backstrap loom,but I use industrial cotton.Have a nice day, Graciela

Thu, 11/18/2010 - 15:05

Aunt Janet (not verified)

Cotton naturally likes to be spun fine.  It is a fine, short fiber.  You should look for the longest staple cotton you can find.  Egyptian cotton is recommended, but some of the other cottons are long also.  The natural colored cottons tend to be shorter, so I would avoid them for this project.  Eileen Hallman is the queen of weaving with handspun in the US.  She has woven some amazing collapse pieces, making crepe for garments.  She also has a video out on how to spin cotton.  I recommend her video for learning how to spin cotton.  There are sublties in spinning cotton, that Eileen explains nicely.

  You can spin cotton on a very simple spindle.  I use a US #2 double pointed knitting needle with a good sized bead for a whorl.  If the hole in the bead is a little too big, you can shim it up with some wool wrapped around the shaft. 

   I have woven with my handspun cotton, but not on a backstrap.  You will need good sturdy yarn.  I've never woven gauze weave, so can't help there. 

Good luck with your project.

Aunt Janet

Thu, 11/18/2010 - 17:54

Karren K. Brito

I'm currently exploring gauze weaves, too.  I understand that the sheer gauze waves of Central America are made with a cotton singles warp, tightly spun but not a crepe yarn.Even commercially spun yarn like this is hard to find but I bought some from Camilla Valley Weaver's Supply

At 8,400 yards/lb our new #10 cotton single ply can be used as weft or warp in a variety of projects.

that I will try after I get the current gauze huipil project off the loom.  My little experiments with this yarn have been very satisfactory but I would consider sizing it to weave too.

Thu, 11/18/2010 - 19:00

pancha (not verified)

Thanks everyone! I have spun quite a bit of cotton, but I usually try to get it thicker for knitting, which is difficult, because, as Aunt Janet says, it likes to be spun fine. I've been too chicken to use my finely spun cotton, but I figured I'd give it a shot because there's no point in spinning it and then just putting it away. I do have some mercerized 10/2 cotton I might try first ...

Graciela, I would be soooo grateful if you would translate! Puedo leer español un poco, pero no se las palabras de tejer. Thank you for including the links, too. I'd love to hear more about your experiences with gauze weave, since I'm just starting out and haven't done any at all yet.

Karren, I would love to see what you've done in gauze and hear about your experiences too.

Thank goodness for Weavolution!

Fri, 11/19/2010 - 04:39

graciela (not verified)

 "The yarn, twister by hand, without the aid of a spindle rotated or governed by a flywheel, was usually even and tightly twisted, often excessively so. Yarns were used in sigle form or in several joined strands, in conformity with the purpose for wich they were required. Double or two-ply yarns predominated, of equal thickness, they were smoother an stronger than single yarns. According to Crawford, the fineness of the single Peruvian cotton yarns did not exceed Nº 250, that is either 210,000 yards to the English pound or 211,600 meters to 500 grams. These yarns are coarser than those of the delicate muslins woven in ancient times in India. On the other hand, according to the same author, the fineness of the two-ply wool yarns could reach Nº 300, that is, 168,000 yards to the English pound or 169,250 meters to 500 grams, which is quite remarkable ( Crawford, 1915, p 81)The intrinsic qualities of wool and cotton were recognized an used judiciously by the weavers of ancient Peru, and no errors can be pointed out in their use of fiber materials in the warp an weft of woven cloths. Such woven cloths might be made entirely of cotton or entirely of wool, but when the two fiber materials were used in the same fabric the warp was never of wool. There is no exception to this rule." ( D´Harcourt, 1962, Textiles of Ancient Peru and their Techniques).

Very interesting all the comments! I haven´t experience to spin.

I weave gauze in frame, in loom,  and the miniatures over a telgopor, You can see more :

http://picasaweb.google.com/graciela.foradori/DeLaTierraElOrigenDeLaLuzElColor?authkey=8lzh4Qrg9-c#

Good luck with gauze! Graciela



Sun, 11/21/2010 - 14:20

weave2 (not verified)

Graciela, this little piece is exquisite. So delicate, with interesting, multiple weave patterns within it, making it a absolute beautiful piece. 

Mon, 11/22/2010 - 23:21

pancha (not verified)

Graciela, thank you so much for that excerpt, and your work is beautiful!

Tue, 11/23/2010 - 04:44

graciela (not verified)

 Thank you. Now, I am begining to weave a table runner, ( with gauze)  in a backstrap loom. I will put pictures of it next week.