Yesterday I remembered a wonderful site that has reviews of sewing patterns. So I went to check out the patterns I’d been looking at. The first coat pattern looked atrocious (I thought) when actually sewn; the second one has too much flare at the hips, I think. However, I did stumble across this wonderful-looking pattern from The Sewing Workshop:
I don’t know that I’d go for the hood, but the rest of it looks really elegant, and the photos in the pattern reviews look just as good! And the pattern is designed for 45″ fabric, so will be much easier to cut from 22″ handwoven yardage. So I’ve ordered a copy of the pattern.
I dyed the black 1450 ypp cotton chenille yesterday, which was a disastrous exercise in things you shouldn’t do. All of which boils down to, “Never try to dye outdoors when it’s almost too dark to see, you’re tired, and you’ve never attempted this dyeing procedure before.” I managed to spill the soda ash, cut a hole in my glove (I now have one black finger!), get the dye powder almost hopelessly clumped, and get a huge pile of undissolved salt at the bottom of the dyeing pan, but – thank goodness – I was dyeing the yarn black, so I don’t think most of those errors will show. It’s currently rinsing out in cold water, and I’ll try drying it this evening.
I’ve also realized that 24 epi will not work gracefully as a sett. For diversified plain weave, the best way to sett the yarn is three ends to a dent, with the thick yarn and the two thin yarns flanking it sleyed as a single unit. That works great for 24 epi – IF you have an 8-dent reed, which I don’t. I do have a 10-dent reed, so I am going to try setting up at 30 epi, using 1450 ypp cotton chenille and 60/2 silk for the fine threads. (Because I am practically swimming in 60/2 silk, and it’s stronger than 40/2 cotton.) I also have some 2000 ypp cotton chenille on its way, in case the 1450 is too heavy.
So the next few days will be all about sampling…and then dyeing the samples! I think the dyeing part will be loads of fun, I’m going to scrunch-dye it in yellow, orange, and red, to produce a flame-colored pattern on a black background.
Ooh, I love that coat!
The thing I appreciate so much about you and your weaving adventure is that you share your failures as readily as your successes. Like so many others, I have learned tons from you but probably more importantly, I have learned to laugh at my failures, maybe even enjoy some of my failures but especially to not be afraid of my failures. THANKS for being you.