Digging Through the Archive

click to biggify - not sure the resolution is high enough to see any detail though....

Kate asked about the coat fabric, and wondered if it wasn't too distorted from the shrinkage differential to be used.

Well, yes, that is a valid concern.

In terms of designing this cloth it had to be flexible and stable.  I also wanted it to provide insulation.  I do live in an area of the world where cold in the winter is a reality.

This cloth is just pushing the edge of working.  It is thick.  You may be able to see that the seams have been stitched down (see sleeve) as one way to stabilize the seam.

The warp was wound on two beams, the 2/8 cotton at 16 epi for the surface, the fine wool/cotton blend at 32 for the lining.  Since the two warps would take up at different rates, beaming them separately was the safe thing to do.  Since my loom has two beams, it was also easy to do.

The cotton was woven in a plain weave structure, the wool/cotton blend in a 4:4 twill.  The two layers were woven separately except for the occasional tie or stitch which was accomplished by pulling one of the surface threads into a lining shed in a way that the stitcher would be hidden.  I could have just as easily made the stitchers be decorative as in pique', but that wasn't the effect I was aiming for.  The stitching order was a satin progression because I wanted to minimize the twill line.  This was sort of successful.  The stitchers were far enough apart to loosely bind the two layers together and the twill line is not continuous, giving a crackly, pebbly surface to the cloth.

Unfortunately my software file for this design did not survive a computer upgrade, several upgrades ago and I no longer have the original file.  The photocopy of the version I do have is tiny in order to fit into the binder.

If anyone wants it to see if they can reconstruct the draft, I will happily scan and email it.  I tried, but it is going to take more hours than I have to spare to do it myself.