Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Fabric that goes Bump


I started playing around with creating textiles with texture in the mid-1980's.  This coat was the result of a technique sometimes called cloque'.  It's a stitched double weave with one layer that fulls, one layer that doesn't.  In this case the top layer is 2/8 cotton, the inside layer is a wool/cotton blend.  The top or face layer is plain weave, the inside/lining layer is a 4:4 twill (as I recall).  The stitchers are hidden.

The cloth was designed with an early version of Fiberworks and was woven sometime in the late '80's, early '90's as part of the monograph for the GCW Master Weaver tests.

Since then I've dabbled with differential shrinkage and highly twisted yarns but always within the framework of my goal as a weaver - to make cloth that will perform it's function as well as I can make it.

This particular cloth has some flexibility but not a lot of drape so a jacket design was chosen to meet this quality of cloth.  I thought you would be able to see the lining if you clicked on the photo but it doesn't really show.  If anyone is interested I can take a photo showing the back side of the cloth.
The jacket is quite cosy with the flannel like feel of the lining and fairly warm due to the pockets of trapped air between the two layers.

I've got the high twist cotton and wool/lycra coned off.  And with the news of my mother suddenly getting an apartment as of November 1, it is becoming imperative that I get rid of some of my yarns.  The three yarns that will help make bumpy fabric are listed on my Art Fire Store

Yes, I have yarns stored in my mother's basement - and they will need to go.....somewhere else.... :}

2 comments:

Andrew Kieran said...

oh my. that's very interesting.

I've been looking for something interesting to do with double weave, as we have to make 1 double weave warp for class this semester, and I did normal interchanging double weave last year and got bored of it.

I was thinking of creating triple layered cloth that wove in and out of it, but this seems more the speed my brain can handle just now.

Are those diagonal lines I can see on the face the result of the stitching points? I assume one could create patterns of texture with the placement of stitching points across the fabric.

Oh my, the possibilities are endless aren't they?

_Joy_

:)

Andrew

Laura Fry said...

Hi Andrew, yes the stitchers can be manipulated to make a 'design' on the surface cloth. I think if you check Grosicki's Watson's Textile and Design book(s) you will find examples of cloque'.

cheers,
Laura