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)

My 18th Century Reproduction Tape Loom

This is a Jonathan K. Seidel handmade cherry tape loom that I received for Christmas.  Jonathan lives in Pennsylvania, and he made this tape loom similar to tape looms commonly used in Colonial American between about 1760-1830.  They are also called box looms.  Tapes are narrow bands, ribbons, or trims that were commonly used in Colonial America.

During the Revolutionary War and in early Colonial America, colonists were no longer importing goods from England, so they were making tapes, or bands, at home.  Tapes were used in so many areas of their lives.  They could use the tapes for bonnet ties, hat bands, apron ties, and to tie other clothing.  They used the tapes for tying grain sacks or seed bags.  They could use bands to hang powder horns or hunting pouches on their bodies.  They also used the tapes for loops to hang up towels. 

The origin of tape looms in early America was from the immigrants who came to America.  The Germans who settled in Philadelphia brought their knowledge of tape looms with them, which spread to other areas of the Colonies.  The Scandinavians also used a rigid heddle to make tape, but they used a backstrap method instead of the box method.  The decorative piece with slots and holes is called the rigid heddle in my box loom below.

The tape is made on this side of the loom (above) by passing the weft thread through the shed of the yarns or threads.  This makes a very strong warp-faced band.  Jonathan warped the loom for me so I will know how to warp it next time.  It takes some practice to weave the band because you hold the band in one hand while weaving with the other hand. 

The threads are warped onto the reel and the brake holds the threads in place. 

Jonathan told me that no two tape looms are usually exactly alike.  This is because a man would make a tape loom for his children or grandchildren, or a husband would make a tape loom for his wife.  So, usually the man of the family would make only 1 or 2 looms during his lifetime.  The children learned to make tapes to help with the work of the family.

I'd love to go Pennsylvania or Massachusetts to see some of the tape loom collections in museums there, such as The Landis Valley Village and Farm Museum in Pennsylvania and the Hershey Museum of American Life.

On My Loom

I have kitchen towels on my loom.  I'm working on the 4th towel now.  My granddaughter put the teddy bear on the loom when she was over.  It's funny because the bear is the Harrisville Designs bear, Harris, from the Harrisville Designs knitting kit, and he's sitting on the Harrisville loom. 

 The yarn for the towels is 3/2 cotton, and the sett is 15 EPI in a 10-dent reed threaded (1,2) repeat.  I warped 6 yards of white, which should be enough for 6 towels.  The pattern is Finnish Bird's Eye from the book, "A Handweaver's Pattern Book," by Marguerite Porter Davison.  The first towel is blue with a white warp. This is pattern II of Finnish Bird's Eye.

The second towel is yellow.  This is pattern V of Finnish Bird's Eye.

The 3rd towel is red, and the pattern is IV of Finnish Bird's Eye.

The 4th towel is burgundy, and the pattern is III of Finnish Bird's Eye.

Once they're all finished, I'll zigzag stitch between the towels, cut them apart, hem, and wash them. It's fun weaving different patterns and different colors for the towels.  I use size 5/2 cotton for the hems, which will be turned twice and sewn. Using a finer yarn helps keep the hems from flaring out.  Sometimes I use plain weave for the hems, and sometimes I just use a part of the pattern or a basic twill pattern. 

Notes for woven towels: 1350 yards per cone. 270 ends x 6 = 1620 yards, 1 cone + 270 yards. 270 ends + 2 floats, 18" wide. 1" hems. Each towel: 26" plus 1" hems on each side. 2 floating selvages added and weighted on back. Heddle count: 1-54, 2-54, 3-81, 4-81. 30" per towel plus loom waste. 30 x 6 = 180 + 36" loom waste = 216"= 6 yards for warp.  Tie up blank squares, but I convert it to regular twill tie up treadling: 1,2; 2,3; 3,4; 4,1. Threading: 4,3,2,1,4,3,4,1,2,3 repeat across and add floating selvages.. 
Treadling Converted:
I: 1,4,3,2
II: 1,4,3,2, 1,4,1, 2,3,4,1,2
III: 1,4,3,2, 3,4,3  2,3,4,1,  2,3,4,1, 4,3,4,  1,4,3,2
IV: 1,4,3,2, 1,4,3,2, 1,2,3,4, 1,2,3,4
V: 1,4,3,2, 1,4,3,2, 3,4,1, 2,3,4
VI: 1,4,1, 2,3,2

Matching a Print for Seaming Panels

I'm making valances for my daughter's kitchen, and the window above the sink required a wide valance that is wider than my fabric, so the fabric and contrasting lining band had to be pieced.

Some fabric panels do not have patterns that match at the selvage sides, so they require a bit of work to match the pattern well.  You will cut your panels several inches longer than you will need for the valance.  This is because the pattern sometimes "drops down" several inches here and there across the fabric panel, so you lose inches at the top or bottom of the panel when piecing them.  Always buy extra fabric when you have to piece fabric panels--at least one full repeat extra.  Some drapery fabrics do match well at the sides, but this one was one that didn't.

Always have a full panel in the center of your curtain or valance.  The side pieces can each be a full panel or a half panel.  I used a half panel, so I cut my second panel in half in the exact center vertically.

Always match selvage to selvage.  Place the two selvages right sides together.  Fold back the top selvage so you can see the pattern.  Move the top folded selvage until you can match a pattern on the lower fabric.  You may have to move the top folded selvage several inches into the other fabric to find a match.  Here's the match of my fabric across the length of the fabric.  The top selvage is folded back.  You can see I lost about 5 inches or so of the lower fabric to find the match.  Click to enlarge pictures.

 Now carefully pin through all layers at this point.  This is just to match it up all the way across the fabric.  Crease the fold of the top fabric well with your fingernail or an iron.  This will be your stitching line.

Carefully take out a few pins at a time, and without moving your fabrics at all, place the pins into the creased mark of the fabric.  With a fabric pencil, lightly mark the folded line on the wrong side, too, so you can easily see it when stitching.  I place these pins right down the center line of the crease.

 Now fold it back once more to be sure you have pinned in the right spots.

Now sew right down the creased and marked line.  You can baste first if you'd like.  Here's the finished seam with the pattern matched.

Here's the lining fabric also matched and seamed.  With a stripe fabric, it is very easy to match the stripes so the seam hardly shows at all.  The seam is at the bottom of the red stripe.  It looks like one continuous piece of fabric.