The first piece to be woven on this warp was a sample to check the sett, beating, colour blending etc.

I started out with hemstitching and 2.5cm plainweave with 60/2 silk, followed by orange and red pattern weft sections, ending with a small band of plainweave and hemstitching.
I wanted to remove this from the loom so that I could finish the cloth (wash and press) and check its feel etc. I decided to use the Saori clipping/tying rod before removing the 1st sample from the loom so that I would lose less of the warp length.

This first sample was hand washed in warm water with a gentle laundry soap, loose ends were trimmed and the piece pressed with an iron on “silk” setting. After drying I worked it in my hands to soften the fabric. I decided that the beating may have been a little too firm, so I wove a second sample at the same sett but with lighter beating.

In order to remove this piece form the loom with minimal warp loss, I decided to use the flour paste method shown by Jane Stafford in Season 6, Episode 3, video 6 (weave 1cm plainweave, insert stick, weave another 1cm and coat weaving with flour/water paste). Once the paste was dry, I cut the fabric from the loom and processed it as for the 1st piece. I decided that I prefer this method of fabric removal as the warp was held more evenly that with the Saori rod and there is less loom loss.

1st piece vs 2nd piece

	1st piece	2nd piece
Pre-wash	Forgot to measure	11×29.5cm
Post-wash	10.25x28cm	10.5x29cm

The coloured section of each piece has the same number of picks. The table below shows the post-wash size of each colour section.

	1st piece	2nd piece
Orange	3.5cm	4.6cm
Red	4cm	4.6cm

The 2 samples feel a little different from each other – the 2nd is slightly softer than the 1st.
However, the pattern in the 1st piece is more pleasing to look at – it is more defined and less elongated than that of the 2nd piece.

I will attempt to weave the scarves as in the 1st sample.