Warp 32 – Two samples woven

As the treadling doesn’t repeat for 384 picks, I used the “Track Treadling” feature of iWeaveit when weaving.


First sample piece

I wove approx. 3cm each of black 16/2 mercerised cotton, grey 10/2 mercerised cotton, white 10/2 mercerised cotton and natural handspun Tussah silk single ply and ended with 2 picks and hemstitching. I attempted to weave at 25ppi, but this appeared very dense, so I adjusted to a lighter beating. I ended up with approx 17ppi.
Once completed, I left a gap, wove about 1cm, inserted a dowel, wove a further 1cm and applied a flour/water paste to the woven strips. I allowed the paste to dry overnight.
The completed fabric was cut from the loom, washed by hand in warm water, hot pressed on
silk” setting and left to dry.
Unfortunately, 17ppi lead to an unstable fabric (see photos below). Because of this instability, I decided to weave a 2nd sample using the same colours but with denser beating.

Pre-wash Post-wash
length x width – 15×27.5cm 15x26cm

Second sample piece

This was woven as for the first sample, the only difference was that the beating was firmer; ~25ppi.
Again, once completed, I left a gap, wove about 1cm, inserted a dowel, wove a further 1cm and applied a flour/water paste to the woven strips. I allowed the paste to dry.
The completed fabric was cut from the loom, washed by hand in warm water, hot pressed on
silk” setting and left to dry.
The fabric is much firmer and entirely satisfactory. I find that the black is the best colour for the weft and am also very pleased with the natural Tussah silk handspun single.

Pre-washPost-wash
length x width – 13.5x26cm 12.75×25.5cm