I've taken a little holiday (!) and spent 10 days or so teaching myself the basics of weaving. I warped up according to the proportions in the course manual but then used the tutorial from Tapestry Weaving by Kirsten Glasbrook (2002). This is an extensive journey into the basics and I really enjoyed doing it. Because I had more warps and my yarns were not her colours my finished item looks slightly different but that's no problem; I feel as though I've got a good appreciation of the basic techniques. I was mindful that every time you see tapestry weaving instructions they always lay it on the line about tension. I found even with taking great care, my work tapered inwards to the tune of a centimetre. My finished work measured 31cm x 21.5cm.
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| Starting off weaving the hem |
I have minimal equipment; just a frame my husband made and yarns. I laid in the hem and then topped it with a row of Soumak. I tried horizontal stripes and spots, pick and pick and hatching. For some reason I found the hatching really difficult. On the section showing diagonal shapes and curves I introduced some stand alone triangles. Because I was following different proportions this section is quite large. I used two ways to join colours; one using hatching and another which leaves a vertical slit. Shading is like hatching but using tones that blend. My favourites were the distorted weft and outlining shapes sections because they are so interesting to look at.
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| From the top Hatching Pick and pick Horizontal stripes and spots all divided with Soumak |
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| Diagonal shapes and curves |
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| From the top Outlined shapes Distorted weft Shading Vertical slits |
My finished work looks like this:
This has taken ages to do but I feel in a good position to experiment with these techniques now and put my own interpretation on what I have learnt.
Now for the bad bit. At the outset I misunderstood some instructions (or wasn't paying enough attention). All of my weaving took in both the top and bottom warps so when it came to taking the work off the loom I had absolutely nowhere to go. It wasn't until then that I realised just what I had done and I can't begin to describe my disappointment. Because of this mistake and it's consequences my work feels bodged but I'll certainly never make the same mistake again.
PS
After contacting my tutor and looking very closely at my text I realised that this work and the next piece were both based on a misunderstanding.
On this piece I took the warps from the top and the bottom of the frame and wove them together. This gave me less warp threads than might have been expected.
Knowing that I had gone wrong but able to see much of an alternative on the next piece I worked on only the warp threads that lay on the top of the frame. This resulted in a very loose piece of fabric and lots of wasted warp that I had to cut from the back.
In Stage 3 I think I've sorted myself out thank goodness. What I've learned from this, apart from the obvious, is that there's probably more ways to weave than just one. My first effort for instance would make a good rug.
PS
After contacting my tutor and looking very closely at my text I realised that this work and the next piece were both based on a misunderstanding.
On this piece I took the warps from the top and the bottom of the frame and wove them together. This gave me less warp threads than might have been expected.
Knowing that I had gone wrong but able to see much of an alternative on the next piece I worked on only the warp threads that lay on the top of the frame. This resulted in a very loose piece of fabric and lots of wasted warp that I had to cut from the back.
In Stage 3 I think I've sorted myself out thank goodness. What I've learned from this, apart from the obvious, is that there's probably more ways to weave than just one. My first effort for instance would make a good rug.
Glasbrook K, 2002, Tapestry Weaving. Search Press, Tunbridge Wells.
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