This project is my latest 3D weaving effort. It was by far the most difficult drafting I've ever done - I didn't get it right until the 9th version. The ruffle was woven first, using 3 different huck lace patterns. I put pattern 1 on the far right using 8 shafts and made it one pattern "unit" wide. The next section used 2 shafts and was just tabby. To the left of the tabby, I put the second huck pattern on top with a third huck pattern underneath. The second huck pattern was two pattern "units" wide and the 3d huck pattern, under the 2nd, was 3 pattern "units" wide. Pattern 2 used 6 shafts, and pattern 3 used 8, for a total of 24. Patterns 2 and 3 were woven as two layer double weave.
So, I opened the shed and wove all with all of the even numbered tabby threads up for about 50 picks, changed the tabby shed, packed it in to create the ruffle, and wove another 50 picks with the odd numbered tabby threads up, etc., etc. In this way I wove the ruffle with one pattern on the right, the gathered section (the tabby) and then the two layers on the left. Because of all this, the tabby threads and the part where patterns 2 and 3 were on top of each other, had a sett of 48, while the rest of the weaving had a sett of 24.
Of course all this caused some tension problems, to say nothing of the tension problems caused by the gathering that made the ruffles. But I persisted and got the ruffle made. At that point, I re-threaded and re-sleyed the center part, where the sett was 48, to spread the patterns out. Finally, I wove the body of the vest - the flat cloth from which the vest was made. When I sewed the vest, I didn't have enough flat cloth for the back, so used a commercial fabric for that. I think this actually turned out to be a good thing, because it would have been too "busy" otherwise. I also lined the vest with a silk fabric.
For the button, I found something that looks woven itself, so I think it works well on this piece. Because the ruffle is a bit difficult to iron, I decided to attach it with a series of snaps rather than sewing it on. That way I can wash the vest and the ruffle separately and iron them separately. By looking at the picture of the flat cloth, you can see the 3 designs that were used in the ruffle.
The fiber used was 16/2 linen, for both the warp and weft. This was woven on a Louet Magic dobby with 24 shafts.
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