Double weave cape

I’m moving along on my new project. I’ve decided it will be a cape, Vogue 8959:

The version she’s wearing requires 4.25 yards of 45″ fabric, or 3 yards of 60″ fabric. I could do a longer, floor length version that would require 7 yards of 45″ fabric or 6 yards of 60″ fabric, according to the pattern. Of course, since my warp is only 29″ wide, I’ll have to weave double the yardage.

I haven’t yet decided whether to do the floor length or the knee length version. Since I’m impatient to get started, I decided to weave first and ask questions later, so I wound a 20-yard warp, 29″ wide, which should be more than enough to sample, weave all the yardage for the floor-length version, and have plenty left over. If I do the shorter version, I’m sure I can come up with uses for the extra warp.

Because I wanted interesting color variation in the dyed yarns, I wound the warp with three different fibers: silk, mercerized cotton, and unmercerized cotton. They will take up the dyes differently, producing a slightly variegated effect even using the exact same dyes. I also used slightly different yarn sizes. The silk is 30/2 silk at 7500 yards per pound; the cotton yarns are 20/2 cotton at 8400 yards per pound, slightly thinner. They’re mixed throughout the warp, though, so the difference in thickness shouldn’t become a tension issue. It will just add a tiny bit of physical texture to the warp.

Here’s a pic of the warp being wound on my 3-meter warping mill:

There are actually two warps, since the piece will be double weave. Grace is threaded and sett at 90 epi, which means any warp that goes onto the loom needs to be sett at 90 ends per inch. Practically speaking, that means it either needs to be an incredibly fine-threads warp (half the weight of sewing thread) or double weave. Fine threads can be finicky, so I’m voting for double weave.

Since I’m doing double weave, I need to wind and dye two warp bouts. I’ve decided to dye one in mottled fuchsia and forest green, and the other in mottled indigo blue and navy blue. I’m currently planning to use an orange weft for both, but I want to do a lot of testing before I settle on a final color.

Here are the dye swatches for the colors I’m planning to use for the warp:

I did do a quick simulation of what the colors might look like once woven. These colors are striped rather than splotchy because that’s all the weaving software can do, but it gives an idea of how the colors might blend visually:

The finished cloth will not look anything like this, but at least it gives me a starting-point for thinking about the piece.

I’ve finished winding both warp bouts. Next step is to dye a small test bout in the fuchsia and forest green, both to test my dyeing technique and to see how the colors blend on the different fiber types. If I have time, I’ll do that today.