I wove three dish towels on my loom using 8/4 cotton rug warp and was not pleased.  They were too stiff and not that absorbent.  What is the best yarn to use?  I am confused by all of the sizes available - 8/2 cotton, 5/2 cotton, cottonlin ?  (I've made 50 rag rugs but haven't ventured into other areas)!  I would appreciate any advice for these towels.  Thanks.

lewran

(Admin note: moved this from Weavolution Help to Weaving, since that's where it belongs.)

Comments

Mon, 06/29/2009 - 00:36

tambear (not verified)

 

  Hello I use 8/2 and 10/2 for towels I also have heard but have not tried 6/2 works well too.  i hope this helps.  I have not had a chance to make a rag rug yet.

Mon, 06/29/2009 - 01:06

Michael White

Hi, My wife has made hundreds of dish towels (www.handweaver.us) using 8/2 unmer cotton set at 20 epi. wet finish in hot water and dry in a dryer or on the line. DO NOT USE ANY FABRIC SOFTENER,  IT WILL KEEP THE TOWELS FROM DRYING YOUR DISHS.

Mon, 06/29/2009 - 03:01

laurafry

My fav combination for tea towels is 16/2 unmerc. cotton warp at 30-32 epi and cottolin for weft.   Samples in Magic in the Water; wet finishing handwovens if you have access to a copy to check it out.

Cheers,

Laura

Mon, 06/29/2009 - 03:19

Sara von Tresckow

Between 8/2 and 16/2 makes the best towels. Anything coarser than 8/2 will be stiff and not have a nice feel at all. If it is necessary to weave less than 20 epi, double something fine and the towel will be much nicer. Finer than 16/2 will have an elegant feel as guest hand towel but will be a bit too fine for kitchen use.

Mon, 06/29/2009 - 16:46

berylmoody

I like 8/2 and 10/2 unmercerized cotton and I usually sett my threads at 20 to 24epi.  Our local study group did a drying test with a bunch of handwoven towels.  We found that the ones that were too tightly woven didn't dry nearly as well as those with a more open weave.  I would think, however, that a towel woven with fine threads would be nice to dry glassware because it would slip inside the glass easier than thicker materials.  I also like cottolin wefts - they seem to dry dishes better than 100% cotton.

And who wants to open the controversy about mercerized vs. unmercerized:-)

 

Mon, 06/29/2009 - 17:28

laurafry

The problem with discussing yarns is not just whether they are mercerized or not, but how tightly they are twisted.  As you noted in your guild study, more densely woven towels were not as absorbent.  Likewise more densely spun yarns will not be as absorbent as loftier ones.

Mercerization actually *increases* absorbency, but if the yarn being used is a Perle (Pearl) yarn, that has been engineered to be dragged through another textile (embroidery).  It is very strong and dense and will not absorb the way a yarn engineered for weaving will do.  Physically, it simply can't.

Using UKI or similar 20/2 mercerized cotton doesn't work well for towels because the cloth gets saturated too quickly. 

In an effort to explore absorbency further, I recently bought some 20/2 merc. cotton and some 22/2 cottolin.  I'll use the merc. cotton for warp and the cottolin for weft to see how that works.  :)

When I have the time and the loom is free to experiment with it.  Right now the AVL is tied up with a rather large project that is slow weaving (uses two shuttles).

Cheers,

Laura

Mon, 06/29/2009 - 18:52

francorios (not verified)

I've weaving dishtowels with cotton worsted yarn like Peaches & Creme

It's thicker than most "dishtowels" but it weaves up fast at 8 epi

If you don't beat the warp down it make a nice cloth with decent drape after wet finishing. My mother insists they are "placemats" but my SIL says they are great for drying her daughters hair after shampooing.

There is one of the towels on my blog

http://francosfiberadventure.blogspot.com/2009/05/gumdrop-towels.html

Other people have seen my dishtowels on other forums, I need to copy the pictures over here.

I started dishtowels as a sort of an apprentice project to practice on my little Erica Rigid Heddle loom.

Have a good day!

Franco Rios

Fri, 07/03/2009 - 07:20

tomrsey (not verified)

I found this discussion interesting.  Thanks to those who contributed.   I am currently trying to make kitchen towels using cotton slub.  I was advised that this would be nice because it is very absorbant and would add texture.  I am dressing the loom and am finding that many threads are breaking.  Is it just me, or have others found that slub is difficult to work with?

Fri, 07/03/2009 - 14:16

claudia (not verified)

 Hi Tom,

Did you do the warp test on it?  Did you take about a 12-18" length between your hands and pull really hard, mimicking the tension of your loom?  That's one way to tell if it's strong enough for warp.

I have used cotton slub and rayon slub for weft only.  

Hope that helps,

Claudia

Fri, 07/03/2009 - 15:54

naturalfibres (not verified)

I usually weave my tea towels with 2/8 cotton sett at 18 epi.

Fri, 07/03/2009 - 18:22

tomrsey (not verified)

Claudia, I did not do the warp test.  I don't think I will use cotton slub for warp in the future.  I have gotten this far with it and will keep going, but there will be a lot of threads tied on.  I will see what the final results will be.   Maybe small pictures is a good thing!!  :-)

Sat, 07/04/2009 - 12:45

joknitter (not verified)

Most of the towels I have done have been 8/2 and work quite well but I wanted to try houndstooth on the rigid heddle and I'm using Peaches 'n Cream which seems to be going fine.  It looks OK. It's orange and white which were the only solid colors I could find at the local Walmart.

I'm trusting Franco that it won't be to awfully stiff.

The sett is 7.5 as the loom is an Ashford which has odd setts.

Sat, 07/04/2009 - 14:11

francorios (not verified)

On the P&C yarn, don't beat the weft tightly. Think of "placing" the weft.

Have a good day!

Franco Rios

Sat, 07/04/2009 - 14:19

Sara von Tresckow

7.5 dpi isn't "odd" is is 3 ends per centimeter in metric measurements. Remember, the rest of the world runs on metric!

Sat, 07/04/2009 - 14:46

francorios (not verified)

Actually the USA will be completely converted to the metric system by 1976.

(smile)

 

Have a good day!

 

Sun, 07/05/2009 - 00:52

Evelyn (not verified)

I have used 6/2 naturally coloured cotton sett at 16epi.  I use them for kitchen hand-towels and think a nice large one would work well as a sauna towel.   I used a bronson lace to make nice little floats for absorbtion.  

I also have kitchen towels from various exchanges using all sorts of weights, but do think an 8/4 would be too heavy, though with use it might soften up enough for a handtowel.  Try using dryer balls on a low or no-heat setting to soften them.

 

Evelyn 

Sat, 12/25/2010 - 23:18

FiberFever (not verified)

i just took some beautiful red dishtowels off my loom. The warp was 3/2 perle cotton and the weft was very "thin" bamboo. This was my first venture into perle cotton and bamboo. I did several wefts...a double perle cotton in 3/2, a single perle cotton in 3/2, and the bamboo. I washed them in the washer and pressed them with the iron. Since they shrunk about 2 inches side to side, I decided to hem them for napkins. My husband says they are too "course" for napkins. Naturally, he just bought me 8 cones of 3/2 perle cotton for Christmas! I would rather have dish towels and napkins. Does anyone have experience with yarn sizes for napkins? The doubled weft makes it too thick for towels or napkins. Ugh. All that work!also, how should I hem them? Zigzag stitch and let the edges fray a bit? I like that better than a folded over hem for napkins. Help please.
Fri, 04/20/2012 - 15:55

Sherry Bishop

I know this is an old post but do you like the Erica loom I just got one. Also how did the dish towels turn out with the peaches and cream, I am new at this so what size heddle and where did you find your pattern or did you make up your own? Want to make this my first project so needs to be easy. I do have a 2nd heddle and block I bought at the Woolery. Sherry in Ky 

Sat, 04/21/2012 - 01:42

sally orgren

I have used 8/2 to 10/2 for years, but recently completed two 8 yard warps of 16/2 unmercerized cotton.

I *very much* prefer the hand of these towels over my previous towel projects. In fact, I just ordered more colors of 16/2 and finished winding another 8 yard warp this week. 

Thu, 07/26/2012 - 12:23

r1mein54 (not verified)

The Administrators will handle your post in the appropriate manner and will deal with you signup as well. We thank you to not return.

Fri, 10/28/2016 - 18:46

CharleneQuinilty

I use 8/2 unmercerise with  cotton slub for my kitchen towels sett at 18 epi...I love them 

Mon, 01/08/2018 - 05:57

Jenni Gormley

I am just about to embark on a project using 6/2 cotton for some towels (we call them "tea towels" in Australia, but they are for drying the dishes). I've use 8/2 in the past and been very happy. I think the 6/2 will be pretty much the same. It's so hard trying to pick a pattern and colourway though (I have a 4 shaft loom). So much choice.

 

Mon, 01/08/2018 - 15:07

sandra.eberhar…

I like to make my towels in twill, and vary the pattern by changing the tie up or treadling.  I recently completed a series of braided twill that was very succesful.