Tien Chiu

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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):

Medium spacing, vertically and horizontally, on the dress form
Medium spacing, vertically and horizontally, on the dress form
Large horizontal and medium vertical spacing, on the dress form
Large horizontal and medium vertical spacing, on the dress form
Medium horizontal and small vertical spacing, on the dress form
Medium horizontal and small vertical spacing, on the dress form

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:

box of chocolates, anyone?
box of chocolates, anyone?

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!