Knotted Pile, Row 1

Weaving began this week on a tiny knotted pile carpet. (Only 106 warp "ends," which will probably yield a rug measuring 14" x18" or so, when done)

Warped and Twined (5/15/12) and Three Projects (3/1/12) showed loom-dressing and selection of yarn for the pile. Now that hooking and knitting projects are done, the weaving can get the attention it deserves.

Yarns for the carpet were all hand-spun from Border Leicester fleeces I purchased and dyed.

Ever wondered what it might be like to weave an oriental rug? Here's the start of a beginner's efforts.

First shed for weaving being held open by string heddles (in yellow, on right)

Second shed being opened using shed stick. Notice yellow heddles have dropped down to make room.

Bottom half of rug will follow the above cartoon. Each square stands for one knot, or two warp strands.

DIY Plans

The old shirts mentioned last week provided an hour's enjoyment at the fabric store -- after trying dozens of bolts of fabric, five emerged as good matches for repurposing the cast-off garments.

That hour of playing with color will lead to 20 or 30 hours at the sewing machine before I can wear the newly constructed shirts.

This is how a house acquires clutter! Dreaming up a project is delightful and takes only a few minutes. Executing it involves hours of effort which may have to be scheduled for a later season. Pretty soon one realizes the "eyes bigger than stomach" bug has re-filled the recently de-cluttered sewing room.

In spite of their tendency to proliferate, textiles are such a fine source of entertainment -- one simply must learn and try out as many of their uses as possible. This decade's DIY movement is a delightful manifestation of textile art.

This month's sewing projects with their newly-purchased fabric complements

Some ideas for shaping shirt collars and yokes.

Textiles can be fascinating...

Shirt and proposed yoke

The fabric on the left is called "ombre," because it is printed in five or six background shades.

This Month's Threads

Projects begun in the Spring are practically complete (see crows and blanket pics, below).

Some sewing projects are in the works, similar to those shown below. A couple of relatively plain shirts will end up with contrasting embellishments.

First, a delicious trip to the fabric store! (For the sake of efficiency, I may skip the Bins this trip. See post of 4/12/12, "Reclaiming Wool.")

Only a couple of hours to go...

Still a dozen hours of work, but decision-making part is done.

All six fabrics for this jacket and blouse were salvaged from cast-off Bins garments.

Bins and ends-of-bolts purchases kept fabric costs low for these shirts.

The four antique fabrics for these blouses are Bins salvage. Batik (lower left) was purchased.