Preliminary samples

I did some “quick and dirty” samples on the remnants of the last warp.  I say “quick and dirty” because the threading I’m using isn’t the same as the threading for the eternity-knot pattern, so the motifs are crowded together and there are floats where there shouldn’t be.  But I really badly wanted to see how it would look, woven up on a 60/2 silk warp, so here it is:

The samples at the bottom are done with a single strand of gold obi-making thread, about the thickness of 120/2 silk, as weft.  The samples at top are made with two strands of the gold obi-making thread.

Here is another photo of the samples, this time set against the double-happiness samples and the  other eternity-knot pattern:

My initial thought is that, while I absolutely LOVE the delicacy of the smaller eternity knots (especially the one with a single strand weft), the bigger eternity knots (done in 30/2 silk) look better placed next to the double-happiness symbols.  (Please click on the photos for the full-size version; it’s impossible to see the details in the scaled-down thumbnail.)  So I think I will weave up some more samples.  One will be the 60/2 silk  with the turned double two tie unit weave, just to see if the metallic does, in fact, shred in the reed.  (Also because I’ve never woven double two tie unit weave before and want to see what it looks like.)  The second will be the eternity knots in 60/2 silk, but spaced correctly and minus the awful skips, just to give them a fair chance.  And the third, if I don’t like the other two, will be a full-width version of the original sample, the 30/2 silk warp.  I may change the weft to 3-4 strands of the gold obi weft, though – haven’t decided yet.  (The “obi weft”, as I call it, was designed for making obis and is said to contain real gold.  I ordered it in from Japan, and it is beautiful – albeit finicky – stuff.)

I expect sampling to consume the next week or two – I am balancing my desire to try multiple designs with the fact that I really can’t afford to waste much more time in the Quest For The Perfect Fabric.  I’m down to four months for this project, during one month of which I will be doing chocolates and another two weeks visiting relatives at Christmas.  So it’s effectively 2.5 months, which is not much time to weave another 14 yards of fabric and sew it all together, especially if I’m using couture methods.