Rayon Chenille Re-visited

Back around the turn of this century (my, do I feel old saying that!) I wove a bazillion rayon chenille scarves until, frankly, I was pretty sick of them.  

They were a good thing to do at that time.  Each warp was five meters resulting in two scarves.  In order to weave them quickly I concentrated on plain weave and coloured stripes of various combinations.  When I got tired of doing them I had learned an enormous amount about Colour interactions in plain weave and gotten really good at weaving plain weave.  I don't regret doing them, although I was reluctant to return to doing them again.  

But I have all this rayon chenille...probably 50 pounds, maybe more.  And I was out of inventory of scarves. 

Since I really did not want to produce exactly the same thing, knowing I really needed to use up the yarn, I bit the bullet and designed a stripe sequence and started weaving scarves.  

A warp winding elf offered to wind some warps for me and having her in the studio, all new and enthusiastic gave me a much needed energy boost and I have a small but growing stack of scarves.  And already variations are beginning to percolate.  Part of that is necessity.  I'm getting very low on variegated rayon chenille and some colours and I really do not want to buy more.  

I am also running out of time before the sale season begins.  My explorations into this interesting, and at times demanding, yarn is going to continue for a while.  

Racing

With deadlines for shows rapidly approaching, I feel like I'm racing towards a finish line.  I'm so low on rayon chenille scarves that I am trying really hard to get a bunch woven, even at the expense of doing some other stuff that doesn't much appeal to me.   I am being aided and abetted by a friend who has been coming to wind warps for me.  Today she got two more done and will come back tomorrow morning.  

Today I dressed the loom with a warp (each warp yields two scarves) and wove them off.  Just now I beamed this warp and expect to get it weaving before dinner.  

But not if I don't get over there and just do it!

Piling Up

One of the things you must do if you are selling your textiles is to have 'proper' labels.

Since the definition of 'proper' is a legal one it is a good idea to know what the laws are for you.  In Canada, labels for garments are required to be permanent (must withstand 10 cleanings), must have the fibre content in both official languages and care instructions.  Fashion accessories and household textiles don't need to be permanent.  You must also supply contact info.

I don't make garments to sell so I combine the above information on my hang tag and attach using a plastic stem gun.

The price is affixed to the tag on a small sticker that can be peeled off if it is a gift.  

Getting the tags onto the textile is time consuming and fiddly but it must be done.  Therefore I do it. 

Stack of towels awaiting their hang tags.

A Matter of Choice

If I were to choose how I am to be remembered then it would be for this philosophy:

Optimistic

A friendly elf came yesterday and wound some rayon chenille warps for me.  Even better, she says she will come back on Saturday.  So I had to pull some more colour combinations...

Since I'm leaving for a 12 day trip next week, and the show season begins the week after I get back, perhaps I have been a trifle optimistic?

Currently reading Christine Falls by Benjamin Black

Before and After

Before

Colours are not true.  More green than blue.

After wet finishing.  The variegated yarn is acrylic, not rayon so it doesn't feel as nice as all rayon.   Plus the acrylic didn't shrink so it seersuckered, but I expected that and, because it is consistent, it's a design feature. 

Sampling

Not a great photo but the colours of the scarf are pretty accurate.

A friend offered to wind rayon chenille warps for me and before I put a new line into production I figured I'd better get a prototype made to make sure I was going to be happy with it.  

I'm pretty much out of rayon chenille scarves and people do seem to be attracted to them PLUS I have all this yarn...