One Warp, Six Variations

In an effort to use up my yarn stash, I returned to a project I had first woven in 2015, and I ended up weaving six table runners.

Six table runners from the same warp.

This Handwoven magazine cover from 2014 had inspired me to buy lots of silk sari ribbon.  My neighbor Liz and I had each woven a nice table runner, but we didn’t get to keep them — each of us had a daughter claim one. 

Handwoven magazine, Jan/Feb 2014

The pattern, by Beverly Weaver, calls for two shades of green silk for warp, threaded for plain weave.  In 2015, I used black cotton instead, and for this one, I used what I had — I alternated a tan cotton embroidery floss and a red 5/2 cotton in the warp.  I threaded in straight twill on four harnesses, and I wove plain weave, a pick of ribbon, followed by a pick of red cotton. (Most of these pictures are turned 90 degrees from the weaving direction, to make them fit on the screen better.)

Sari silk table runner.

Since the warp was two colors, weaving this way made all the red warps visible on one side, and the tan ones visible on the reverse.

Red warps visible on side one, tan warps visible on side two.

This first runner went okay, but a lot of the sari silk had rotted and was falling apart, so I had to pick through the skeins to find good silk for the weft. ( I don’t know if I would have had the same problem if I had gone ahead and used it 8 years ago.)  With 11 yards of warp on the loom, I decided to try some other yarns and treadlings.

For runner number two, I wove twill with 5/2 maroon cotton, with random bands of the silk sari yarn. 

Red twill table runner with bands of silk sari yarn.

I thought I was pretty clever, but then later, looking through the whole magazine again, I saw this article on another page!  I am sure I saw it years ago and that idea stayed in my mind all these years.

I think this design by Betsy Blumenthal stayed with me all these years.

For the next one, I wove twill again, with a very lovely subtly-shaded gold.  (I bought this yarn at a shop in Wimberley, Texas, that was flooded in 2015.  Volunteers helped the shop owner wash and dry and re-skein all her yarn.  She sold it as no-label rescued yarn, so I don’t know the brand.)

I wove twill and plain-weave bands, using Stanley Berroco Captiva yarn in cream and tan, and a space-dyed red cotton-rayon blend.

Gold twill runner, detail.

For the next one I used those same yarns (minus the gold) for a color-and-weave piece.  I have often looked at the color-and-weave sampler in Ann Sutton’s Structure of Weaving, but I have never woven one before.  I really liked how the space-dyed yarn added another dimension to the effect. I think this runner is my favorite!

 

Color-and-weave runner, detail.

My color-and-weave piece behind the book page that inspired it.

The three non-sari-silk runners.

I still had yards of warp left, so I decided to see how far I could get with the remaining sari ribbon.  But instead of plain weave, I treadled twill on opposites.  So instead of the weft going over one warp, under one, it went over two, under two.  This gave the ribbon a larger area to float over, and so the little boxes of color are larger. I used the Berroco Captiva for the alternating picks. And for the last one, I alternated between bands of plain weave, and bands of twill, to get both large and small boxes of color.

Here on the left we have the first runner, all plain weave (sari ribbon shows in small boxes of color), on the right we have runner number five, twill opposites (larger boxes of color), and in the middle we have runner number six, with sections of plain weave and sections of twill opposites. In the photo of all the runners at the top, it is easy to see how the different treadlings affect the overall look of each runner.

Three runners, treadled differently.

Rolled up runners.

I have not washed them yet or twisted the fringe — that will be a job for a long winter evening of watching old holiday movies.

I really love the glowing colors of the sari silk ribbon.  Even if it doesn’t hold up for years, I am glad I wove it.  I can always use the digital images of it to have some fabric printed. 🙂

 

Category : Weaving
Tags : , , , , , ,