I did not get much weaving done over the weekend – only another 1-2/3 yards. I did, however, finish another muslin – this one is very close to correct, enough that Sharon said I didn’t really have to do another muslin, we could just make the changes in the finished fabric. Being acutely paranoid, however, I’m doing another muslin, this time with stripes ruled on the fabric so we can see what is really happening with the stripes.
I wound up cutting about 11 feet of fabric, almost 4 yards, off the loom last night. While I had carefully painted the warps so the colors would not align, there is of course some “slop” in the painting, and I had reached the point where several stripes were about to start “pooling” into a much wider stripe. This would ruin the striped effect, so I cut off and rearranged the starting-point of each bout to restore the stripes. (This, you may recall, is why I threw the bouts up and over a trapeze in the first place: since each bout is individually weighted, I can arrange them independently when I tie on, just by pulling each bout further or closer through the reed. It does result in significant loss of warp – I lost about ten inches off some bouts! but it allows me to arrange the striping to my satisfaction, and I have plenty of warp.)
Here is a photo of the cut-off (but not yet wet-finished) yardage:
I like it! It will be glossier and drapier once wet-finished, but it’s pretty even in a “raw” state. I am tempted to use this technique again, only in neutral colors, to see if it produces an equally stunning result in white/beige/rust, with a black or dark brown weft. That would be much less dramatic and more wearable on a day to day basis.
Plans for the next few days include weaving a LOT more fabric (I now need to average 2 yards a day – still do-able, but stretching it), and working up another, hopefully final, muslin. I’m hoping to complete the yardage by the end of the day Thursday, which would give me Friday, all day Saturday, and Sunday morning to warp up the loom before I drive it up to AVL on Sunday afternoon.
