Johann Schleelein's 123 Overshot Scarf

I'm beginning my Overshot Scarf pattern from the Johann Schleelein's 123 draft in Marguerite Porter Davison's book.  In my previous post, I re-drafted the pattern to add borders and to complete the petals of the design on the top, bottom, and sides of the scarf.                                              

                                            The Beginning of the Overshot Scarf

 I'm using Brown Sheep Nature Spun fingering weight yarn in natural for the warp and weft.  For the pattern, I'm using Brown Sheep sport weight in blue.  My sett is 12 epi using my 12 dent reed.  I'm using my Kessenich table loom.  I'm having to use pretty tight tension on the warp to beat more firmly for the overshot.

I'm a novice at overshot, so I'm thrilled to see the pattern emerge.  This is a lot of fun, but takes concentration!  

                                                               A Bit Further Along

Johann Schleelein's 123, Re-working the Draft

I'd like to make an overshot scarf using the draft, Johann Schleelein's 123, in "A Handweaver's Pattern Book," by Marguerite Porter Davison.   I'm re-drafting this pattern to have a complete design at the top, bottom, and sides of my scarf using Fiberworks Software for weavers.  I'll also add some borders.  It's really fun to work on drafts with the software and so much easier than by hand. 

Marguerite Porter Davison's draft shows a repeat of this draft for weaving.  This portion of the draft won't have a complete "pattern" at the edges, though, if you weave it as is.  So, if I weave this draft, the "petals" on each side will be half petals instead of complete petals.  The top and bottom petals will also be half petals, which won't be very pretty.  So, you can see from my pictures how it will be changed.

Here's the original draft in "A Handweaver's Pattern Book" by Marguerite Porter Davison.  Do you see how the "petals" on the sides aren't complete?  That half petal would be at the edge of the scarf (or table runner, dish towel, etc.)  Click on picture to enlarge it.

 Now, here's the draft showing 2 repeats of the pattern, and I have added in my threading to complete the "petals" on each side of the design.  This will be so much prettier to weave.  Do you see the difference here?

Now, let's work on the top and bottom petals and add a repeat to show how it will look when woven.  I'll add my treadling pattern to complete the "petals" on the top and bottom of the scarf.  That way we won't be starting with a half petal at each end of the scarf.  See how the petals are complete at the top and bottom now?

Now, if we want to, we can add some top and bottom borders and side borders.  You can play around with different threadings and treadlings to see what you like.  Here's the borders that I've decided to add.  I can't get the entire draft in the picture, but the borders show on most of it.

Using weaving software can really enhance your weaving projects and it's fun to experiment to see what you can weave.

Valentine's Day Shirts

I embroidered some Valentine's shirts for the sweetie pies.  The designs are from JuJu's Designs.

Latvian Flower Band

I love Latvian Flower Bands.  There's an out-of-print book called "Latviešu Jostas" (in English "Latvian Sashes, Belts and Bands") by Aleksandra Dzērvītis and Lilija Treimanis in Latvian and English where these band patterns are found.  I learned how to weave a Latvian Flower Band from a wonderful "Winter Belt WAL" (weave along) in the Knit Like a Latvian Ravelry group, which was so interesting, educational, inspirational, and so much fun.  They are really fun to weave. 

Here's the Latvian flower band I'm working on now.  It's #10 from the Latviesu Jostas book.  The yarn is size 3/2 weaving cotton from Webs.  The pattern threads are doubled.

The "flowers" are the red flowers in the center of the band and the yellow flowers with the red center alongside the center.  The center of the flower will have the same color as the weft thread that you use, which is usually the same color as the selvage threads.  So, my flowers all have red centers.  The traditional colors of Latvian bands are red, yellow, blue, and green.  Above and below the flowers are doubled threads, or heavier threads, which help decorate the band.  Here's a close-up of the flowers:

To weave a Latvian band, you pick up the doubled pattern threads, weave 2 shots of tabby, and then push down the doubled threads, and again weave 2 shots of tabby, and repeat these 6 rows.  With this band, the flowers aren't side by side--they alternate across the band.  So, for a pattern row, you pick up one set of doubled threads and also push down the other set of pattern threads, and vice versa for the other pattern thread.  

Here's a picture of the band on my Schacht inkle loom.

The shuttle on the right is from Stoorstalka.  It's very handy for picking up threads.  Next time I'll wrap my weft threads around it and use it for weaving.  The small shuttle has a really nice edge.  It's from Buckmaster Family Farms.  I got it from them at the Middle Tennessee Fiber Festival.

My notes: Red flower center: red, red, double yellow, red, double yellow, red, red. (red flower, red center)
Yellow flower: yellow, yellow, double blue, yellow, double blue, yellow, yellow.  (yellow flower, red center)
Another Yellow flower: yellow, yellow, double green, yellow, double green, yellow, yellow. (yellow flower, red center)