Designing Textiles

 

Samples from Magic in the Water, before and after wet finishing

Yesterday I saw someone asking in a group how one goes about designing the 'perfect' textile (I paraphrase.)

I wasn't in a particularly good mood and since sarcasm coated my tongue, I elected to say nothing.  The question, after all, had been asked in good faith and deserved a better answer than I was able to marshall at that time.

I just so happen to be in the process of trying to design a 'good' (I don't set my hopes on 'perfect') textile.

Yesterday I cut the 4 'full sized samples' off the loom, cut them apart and serged them, and tossed them into the washing machine along with the towels from the previous warp and let the machine do the work for me.  Into the dryer until just damp and then they were folded into a bin to let the moisture work through all of the pieces of cloth in the bin equally to make the pressing go more smoothly.

Shortly (as soon as I'm done my morning coffee and gotten dressed) I will go press them.  Once they are completely dry I will pull the samples, measure them, and inspect them, to see how close to my goal they are.

I am being more picky than usual because these 'samples' are for publication (IF the editors decide they fit into their theme.)

Normally when I design a textile, I do it to the best of my ability, and since no one but me knows what, exactly, I was aiming for, they will judge it on it's own merits.  And normally no one will know if I am pleased, or merely satisfied.  If I am *not* satisfied, they may be given away or tossed into the rag bag.

The longer I weave, the more open I leave myself to make changes along the way.  The more I understand about the function of a textile of a particular quality, the more I learn how to tweak the different 'qualities' to change the nature of the cloth I am making, the more I understand how little I truly understand about making textiles generally, and in particular.

A weaver can take exactly the same yarns, and by the choices they make along the design process, they can create cloth of a variety of functions.  Add in the colour and the possibilities are nearly limitless.

Since the beginning of 2020 I have been on a stash reduction goal.  Since, as a production weaver, I had depth of inventory in several 'standard' yarns, I have been making textiles that fit what I know about the yarn's capabilities.

And yet, I have barely scratched the surface of what is possible.  What I know for certain is, that I will never know all of the possibilities that are available to me.

Bottom line?  The endless learning is what keeps me returning to the loom.  Because I want to know.  If that means I 'waste' time and money (yarn) weaving 'samples', I'm actually good with that.  It is not a path for everyone to walk.  But I have been given a fresh lease on life, and if all I do for the 'rest of my life' is explore, experiment, and learn more?  I'm actually good with that.

Learning something new, or even just more, about textiles is not a waste of my time.  If anyone wants to follow along with me, I will let all y'all know when one of my articles becomes available.  And if the magazines aren't interested, there is always my ko-fi shop where I can post them for sale when they are ready.  (Given the lapse of time between submission and final acceptance, this will take a while...)

It all hinges on my being physically able to weave.  And given my current age (and physical tatters) I have no idea how long that will be.  So I will enjoy the rest of the journey, for so long as it lasts.