My friend Nathalie has asked me to weave her some cushion covers. We have decided on patterns etc and I will be using Maurice Brassard 8/4 cotton yarn.

As I haven’t woven with this yarn before, I decided that I should do a trial weave first to see how the fabric turns out. I will be weaving the some of the same patterns but in different colours as 2 of Nathalie’s cushions.

Warp length = 2m
Warp and weft yarn = 8/4 cotton
Structure = 2/2 twill
10dpi reed, 1,2 per dent
epi & ppi = 15
302 ends = 51cm (20″)

Warp threading is modified from Jane Stafford’s Large threadings twill gamp (Season 4, episode 5)
1) Straight border
2) Unit substitution
3) Undulating
4) Diamonds as frame – extended by a point on each side
5) Undulating
6) Unit substitution
7) Straight border

The weft will be either green (Vert emeraude) or blue (Bleu moyen) woven using TAW unit substitution. I will weave a 2cm border of creme 16/2 to use as a hem at each end. This will be followed by 10 picks of red (rouge) in a straight draw. Next I will weave the pattern so that I end up with 50cm from one red border to the other.

Warp thread sequence for the preparation of the warp is:
11 red
45 black (noir) (unit substitution)
8 red
41 black (undulating)
8 red
76 black (diamond as frame)
8 red
41 black
8 red
45 black
11 red
All red was wound with 1 end on my hand, all black with 4 ends.

I wound the warp onto the warping mill, spread it in the raddle, wound it onto the warp roller, threaded the heddles, sleyed the reed (1,2 per dent), tied it onto the front apron rod and wove header rows.