Assumptions

 

chart from The Intentional Weaver

I was reminded this morning that we usually approach weaving with a set of assumptions.

One of the assumptions that many weavers labour under is that of density or epi (ends per inch or cm).  The assumption is that whatever thickness of warp you use, you will also use for the weft.

So people will do a ruler wrap, decide on how many epi (or epcm) without compensating for their weft which may - or may not - be the same thickness as the warp.  Or it may be stiffer.  Or slipperier.  Or textured, not smooth.

All of those variations from the warp (which may be more tightly spun and/or thinner/thicker and/or textured/smooth) will most likely affect the density of the warp.

How much?  The only 'correct' answer is to sample, including the wet finishing.

Once the sample has been wet finished, the weaver must then examine their results and then decide if they need to adjust their density - closer - or potentially - further apart.

Some new weavers want to make 'perfect' cloth right out of the gate.  But weaving is complex, and weavers need to build a solid foundation of knowledge before they can say with some certainty, what their density ought to be.  Because we still haven't looked at weave structure yet.  New weavers are sometimes surprised (and not in a good way) that when they weave plain weave and twill in the same cloth that strange things can happen.  Other weave structures are even more extreme in their draw in and again, combining plain weave and lace in vertical stripes in a cloth (a scarf, for example) there will be shrinkage differential between the two different weave structures.  This can sometimes become obvious during weaving and can lead to tension problems.

OTOH, I like to include some plain weave stripes in order to better gauge my beat because a lace weave looks 'best' when it is woven to the same number of ppi as epi.

In the scarf on the right hand side, you can easily see the difference in the two weave structures as the lace will take up/draw in more than the plain weave.  The colours 'wave' and the stripes are not straight but curve up and down as the yarn travels between plain and lace weaves.

So for these scarves, I only wove the lace 'gamp' at one end of the scarf and the rest was done in plain weave to minimize the take up differential in the cloth.

I did a series of scarves in colour gamps and lace.  The lace scarves were used for the lace class at School of Sweet Georgia.

The series of scarves was used for one of the lectures I do on working with colour.  (I know, my security needs to be upgraded - waiting for my web mistress to have some time to deal with it.)

I am still taking booking for Zoom presentations.  These lectures were designed for 2 hours, but I can edit them to an hour or so.  List of topics on my website.  Or I have been known to tailor a topic because a guild requested a specific topic.

My fees will likely be going up in July.  Any bookings made now will be billed out at the current fee.