Thursday, March 24, 2011

Next Step



Once the weaving is done on the AVL, the beam is removed from the loom and inserted into the work table. Since I have very little room in the studio, the worktable does multiple duty - in this case it keeps the yardage all nice and tidy while I cut and serge the ends of the tea towels.

Unfortunately the table also becomes a bit of a catch all - the ends tend to get piled high with clutter. Essential clutter, but clutter, nonetheless.

The serger will go on the table to the right of the cloth, the end of the warp will be serged then the towel cut from the rest of the bolt and the other end serged. As the towels are done this step they get folded and piled ready for wet finishing.

At this point the cloth is pretty straight but after wet finishing the waffle stripes will 'collapse' creating a seersucker effect in the twill stripes.

This is a different waffle tie up than I've used before and I'm not sure if it will collapse in stripes, or if it will collapse much at all. Since they are tea towels, however they turn out will be fine. :)

I have no idea how many towels are on the beam. I just kept weaving until the singles linen ran out, then wove off the rest with the singles 6 cotton in waffle/twill. If they don't sell they'll become hostess gifts or premium gifts for the last copies of Magic.

Speaking of which, there are now just 24 copies left.

3 comments:

DebbieB said...

What a great setup! You are an inspiration of efficiency!

Rhonda from Baddeck said...

Wow - that's a LOT of fabric! What a clever set-up you have there - I assume it's a "Doug Custom/Special" table.

Laura Fry said...

When you don't have much space you have to make the most of it. :} And yes, that's a Doug special. It's even more special than it looks - the table lifts off, the second AVL warp beam fits in and beams can be sectionally beamed on it. :) Don't do that anymore, though.

cheers,
Laura