Friday, September 24, 2010

Weaving With Fabric - again

Another project in the other studio is on my rigid heddle loom (mentioned in the previous studio post).  I thought I could use it to weave up the remaining fabric strips and make another tote, but so far, I'm wrong:-(  On this loom I'm not able to beat the fabric and yarn as hard as on the floor loom, and although it's still pretty, the fabric is sheer and not suitable for a bag of any kind.



This picture was taken a bit closer, and hopefully, you can see how open the fabric is (and this is with the warp tension released, so I don't think it will get any better).  Maybe this will be ok for a shawl or sheer curtain, but I've either got to learn how to make friends with this loom, or it may eitherbe  resigned to only weaving knitting yarns or on it's way out of the studio.  (If it was my only loom, and only creative outlet, I'm sure I'd spend more time experimenting, but I love my inkle and floor loom, and have the new tapestry loom to learn, while I've had this one for over a year, and still haven't fallen in love with it - maybe I'm just spoiled with the others???)


2 comments:

Delighted Hands said...

I know what you mean, it is hard to bond with this when you have a floor loom. I just ordered a stand for mine so that I can be more comfortable when I weave on it-no wrestling it into place or standing to use it. That is the plan anyway.

Life Looms Large said...

I wonder if you wash it in hot water and dry it if it will shrink? I've had some good results that way, but I haven't tried it with fabric as weft, so who knows.

I have washed purchased placemats and rugs with rag weft, and those did shrink, even without putting them in the dryer.

Good luck!

Sue