Comments

Vicki Allen (not verified)

These towels look good enough to eat! They would be so warm to wrap up in! The weaving is beautiful!

Vicki Allen

lkautio (not verified)

I love linen, too, and agree that the commercial color choices available are not half so delicious as this!  Beautiful.

Laurie Autio

Sunny View (not verified)

Love your use of color in your hand painted warp, beautiful!

Mary Rios (not verified)

I've stayed away from dyeing linen, because i have heard it doesn't take the dye - but you sure get it! What type of dye process do you do with your linen?

Nice job - love the color!

KathieP (not verified)

I use MX dyes, very easy to use.  I also scour the warp before I dye it by boiling it with an unexact mixture of borax (I still love the idea of 20 mules working hard for me) baking soda and a drop of Orvus.  I don't rinse, just let it dry.  I mix the dye paint beforehand and then when I'm ready to dye I activate it with a mixture of soda ash and baking soda (an exact mixture this time) and paint away.  Then everything is wrapped up and batched for 24-48 hours then rinsed. I only dye in the summer when I can work outside and it works out really well for me.  Do try dyeing linen, it's just wonderful.

Alison (not verified)

These are some of the prettiest towels I've seen!  What is the weight of the yarn?

KathieP (not verified)

Thank you Alison.  I think it's 30/2.  I had a small amount of that size that was in a lot of linen that I bought from a weaver's estate and I remember wishing that I could get more because it's just about perfect.  I also remember thinking that I was born too late to be able to buy really good linen yarn and still have a good choice of size.

 

thelmaweaves

Wonderful interaction of colors!

Alison (not verified)

Really fine linen is a real problem.  I am also a lacemaker and learned at a conference that no seeds were saved from the finest linen when it fell out of fashion.  I haven't heard whether anyone is trying to re-select seed for extra fine fibers.

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

I call this colorway Glow: as in Rosey Peachy Lilac Glow.... sunset colors.  I've really enjoyed weaving the linen warps that I've painted.  There's nothing like linen and to have it in vibrant color is even better.  Don't get me wrong, I adore the color of natural linen, especially handspun from the very blonde fiber, but sometimes you just need some color and no one seems to do this commercially in linen.  I make the warp floats the right side of the towel to keep the color in the foreground.

Number of Shafts
4
Number of Treadles
4
Project Status
Finished
Sett Unit
epi
Width off Loom Unit
inches
Width on Loom Unit
inches