Autumn Splendor sample

I cut off the Autumn Splendor sample yesterday –  I still had about a foot left to weave, mostly in purples and purple-browns, but the warp was breaking so badly (a few threads, always at the fell, always at the left selvage, with every couple of picks) that I gave up.  If anyone knows what can convince tencel to break at the fell on one side but not another, I’d love to know.  It’s so bad that I’m seriously thinking of switching to mercerized cotton for the final product.

However, the sample is gorgeous!!  Here it is draped over a dress form, to give you an idea of what it will be like when sewn.  (Note that it hasn’t been wet-finished yet; it will be much drapier when that’s done.)

And here it is with the devore overlay:

I’m not sure that the sheer gold overlay does anything for the piece, actually; the background is so spectacularly beautiful that trying to add something on top just seems distracting.  It might be better to separate this into two pieces: a jacket using only the background fabric, maybe with a little bit of embroidery, and a jacket using the devore overlay, on top of a solid color.  That would show both fabrics to their best advantage.  I will have to mull this over.

Meanwhile, I have put on the sample for my article and am happily weaving it off.  This is much more exacting than my usual method of weaving, because the weaving needs to be perfect.  Normally I weave for garments, and I weave fairly “busy” pieces, so minor flaws are not an issue: I can cut around the worst ones and the others mostly don’t show.  But these are simple, small pieces, so there’s nowhere to hide.  It’s like making vanilla ice cream: with other flavors, you can cover up your mistakes by adding stronger flavorings, etc.  With vanilla, there’s nowhere to hide: the delicate flavor will taste exactly as good as the ingredients you started with, and how well you have assembled the recipe.  That’s why, when I want to know the quality of an ice cream brand, I taste their vanilla.  If they are skimping on quality, it will show.

Goals for the day: bake that cherry pie from last weekend (the pie crust  needs to be rolled out and prebaked, and I’ve only pitted half the cherries), finish weaving the samples for my article, finish writing the article, demo the loom, and go to a friend’s birthday party.  I might try for more, but I’ve come down with a cold, and am attempting to shake it off by sleeping as much as possible.  As it is, I’m not sure I’ll finish even that much!