Better sample photos

After letting things percolate for a few days, I had decided to weave up some more samples for the wedding-coat fabric.  Bonnie Inouye, however, rescued me from rethreading by suggesting that I simply print out the different motif spacings and try them.  And, after printing out nearly 30 combinations of spacings, I decided that my favorite was actually one of the fabric samples!

Here are the three finalists (click to see the larger versions):

Of these, the first one is my favorite.  The spacing is actually slightly closer vertically than horizontally, creating a subtle vertical stripe which is flattering to the figure.  In the second one, the stripes are slightly too wide (I think) to go with the size of the figure; if I were bigger, it would work better.  And in the third, the vertical stripe is too pronounced, making it strong enough to clash with the double-happiness characters at center front.  The double-happiness characters are really the central focus of the coat, so they should dominate.

Now that I know that, I can start winding the warp for the Actual Fabric!  I want a minimum of 20 yards finished, and I want to weave a sample 1-2 yards long at the start (so I can check to make sure that the spacing looks attractive), so that means probably a 25-yard warp.  (20 yards of fabric + 2 yards of samples + 1 yard loom waste + 2.2 yards for takeup = about 25 yards.)

Having successfully woven off a 16-yard warp on my AVL Workshop Dobby Loom for the dress fabric, I think I’m going to try to do the full yardage in a single warp.  Wish me luck!  I did pretty well last time, so I think there’s a good chance everything will be OK, even with the longer warp.

And, finally, I’ll leave you with (literally) eye candy:

A friend sent me some exotic-flavored chocolates for me to taste, to see if any of the flavors were worth putting into my own candy boxes, and the chocolates were so beautiful I just had to take a photo!  Tune in tomorrow to see whether the flavors made it into the final flavor list for my 80-lb annual chocolate-making frenzy!