Comments

Artistry

Sally, how beautiful! I just love the patterning you've designed! The two destinctive areas , the body and the the border/collar, just belong together. Very exciting. The scale of the pattern is perfect for the garment. You've got a winner! And yes the button is awesome too:)

prairiegirl (not verified)

Sally, this is beautiful! You've decided me: the next project I do for myself will be to create fabric for a piece of clothing- although someone else will have to make it for me!

SallyE (not verified)

Thank you all!   I LOVE border prints, so I wante to try a "border woven."   Of course, I wove the border pattern selvage to selvage instead of along one selvage as a border print would be.  I'd like to do a different version of this in a wider fabric, but as I expained, I had "sett surprize" with this weave.

Prairiegirl - I've been sewing for awhile, but I recently took one of the Wevo classes from Darryl Lancaster on sewing with handwovens.  I highly recommend her class! 

And something I read from her on line recommended that if you want to sew, you get a dress form.  I found one on Ebay that I use.   It's a foam "body,"  and you get a canvas dress with a zipper up the back.   With the help of a friend you make that dress fit like a glove to your exact body shape, and then when that's done, you put it on the foam body.  It makes the dress form a copy of your body.  From there you can drape your cloth over the foam and see how it will look on you.  

I don't really use patterns, I just drape the cloth until I like it and sew it from there.  Darrly's class helps you deal with a lot of the issues that are exagerated by sewing with handwovens.

 

prairiegirl (not verified)

Wow, thanks for the tips! I'm fairly certain I will be getting a sewing machine for Christmas from my mom (she's terrible for dropping hints) So I will have time to experiment- just not with my handwovens! We'll have to wait and see for the dress form- we are in a one bedroom apt and my husband has been so patient with how my hobbies dictate our furniture layout, but one never knows what addition will be the final straw.... :-)

SallyE (not verified)

Tell him how much money you will be able to save by sewing your own clothes!   It's just a little fib. . .

Cheryl'B

and thank you so much for your tips.  I just ordered a singer adjustable form on Amazon per your recommendation.  Next will be one of Darryl's classes.  I have been debating on that for some time now.

Your work is always so beautiful.

SallyE (not verified)

You will love Darryl's class.  She has lots of good information and it's well worth the price.   She also has a great tip for making sure the tension is equal across your warp - that alone was worth the price to me!  I love to weave, but there are only so many scarves a person needs, and I didn't really want to make scarves to sell.

I wish I'd purchased a dress form years ago.   It's so much easier to step back and see how the garment fits rather than continually trying it on and standing in front of a mirror! 

And thank you for the kind words!

lkautio (not verified)

Consider entering it at NEWS next summer.

Laurie Autio

ReedGuy

Great piece and thanks for sharing your experiences and tips. You do good work Sally. :)

SallyE (not verified)

Thank you all for the comments!   I wore it for the first time on Thanksgiving and it was very comfortable.    I have some more of this yarn in different colors, as I mentioned, so I'll probably make another border print vest with a different weave.   So much yarn, so little time. . .

 

Finished Length Unit
yards
Finished Width Unit
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Length Off Loom Unit
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Length on Loom Unit
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Notes

The yarn was a wool Sanli knitting yarn.  I'd add more information, but the label is in Japanese.  I was amazed at the sett - I originally thought it would be something like 13 epi, but I started weaving and didn't like the way it was turning out at all.  I resleyed it twice before I got it to look the way I wanted.  That wasted some yarn, and I actually pulled some of the warp out to give me enough to finish the piece.  But all this meant I learned a lot, so that's a good thing.   I have some more of this yarn in other colors, so the information will be useful later.  I like weaving with cotton / silk / linen better than weaving with wool, but I like sewing better with wool.

I don't know if you can see the button in the picture, but it's a glass button I got on Ebay.  It's perftect for this vest because it's a pink and turquoise button.

 

Number of Shafts
8
Number of Treadles
10
Project Status
Finishing
Sett Unit
epi
Width off Loom Unit
inches
Width on Loom Unit
inches