I am so happy to say goodbye to February, which I consider to be a replay of January. I loved Theresa's dishtowels. She said the pattern was rosepath from Marguerite Davison's book. I decided to weave a sampler of rosepath for future reference. I thought it would be smart to build up a sample library.
The reality is that my weaving bears no resem-
blance to the photos in the book. I've tried two samples and they're both no-gos. I've decided to weave a little more on the pattern and then cut it off. My guild meets this Thursday evening. I'm hoping someone can see what I can't. I've checked and doubled checked the treadling and threading. I was hoping for a learning experience. Maybe??
And my finished cotton blouse needs button-holes. I bought my sewing machine about 12 years ago to make covers for the sofa cushions our crazy dog ate. After all these years, I just last year returned to sewing shapes. My machine came with this mash-up of a button hole maker. I'm trying my best to make sense of it. I learned to make zig-zag buttonholes when I was in 4-H. And tonight I read Theresa's report on how cheap fully loaded new sewing machines are. I think there's a boat I am missing.
A llama poop-pile update: If you look in the foreground to the right of center, you will see that our llama girls successfully located their spot. I saw a satellite view of our property last year and that pile is visible from outer space. Think about that.
A spinning wheel crisis update: Here is my new mother-of-all - thank you Allison! She picked it up for me at Carolina Homespun's booth at Stitches. I am back in business. I thought I might need a new wheel but here I am at work, I mean play, for $26.
We have so many birds. Ian keeps the feeders full, which is rough in this kind of weather. I thought you'd get a kick out of the quail tracks at our front door. I never tire of the quail - they are infinitely amusing.
11 comments:
Sharon, I took a class once that used Davison's book for twill samplers. The design shown in the book is visible on the *back* of your weaving--it's something to do with how her drafts represent a counterbalance loom, rather than the now-more-common jack loom results. Let me know if this is true for yours, too.
Sharon, I was going to say the same thing as Kathy. Likely you are weaving your patterns upside down.
She uses a sinking loom, so the blank spaces are the ones you want to tie to lift, not the X's, which are meant to sink in a CB loom. I have to tie up all my shafts, so it's all moot for me, but I do need to remember that Davison's book is written for a CB loom, not a jack loom like most pubs today. The pattern I used was Triple Draught Bird's Eye, page 21, although I've done the Landis Valley Linen and it's a beauty too. As to the sewing machine, the straight machine like mine is even less expensive. For me at least, the threader and the one step button holes are worth almost any price and those are available on the Brothers without the embroidery unit.. If you need some help/advice/place to look for reviews on machines, holler. I'm not the end all be all of sewing, but I did do a fair amount of research so that when the group popped the question about what would I want for my b-day, I was ready.
Of those little quail tracks are just too cute. We have them around but they don't come to the feeders. The Stellar Jays and the little black squirrels are quite entertaining though!
yep, what Kathy and Theresa said.
Good luck with your buttonhole thingy. Sample, sample, sample...
Quail always make me think of that little cartoon quail that used to appear in WB cartoons occassionally. So you aren't the only one to find them amusing.
Must be migratory birds coming through?
I concur...your pattern is on the bottom!!!
What they all said about the pattern being on the bottom, because of the tie ups.
Yay for the new Mother in All and being able to spin again. Isn't it great that it was a fairly simple and inexpensive fix!
Happy days for the llama girls. They're pretty smart creatures though so I didn't have any worries that they wouldn't find it.
yep - the Davison book tie-ups are for a sinking shed. Looks like you have already had the first part of your learning experience! I love sampling and could just do that and not make anything at all.
I think the llamas are pretty smart and very considerate of those that need to clean up after them!!!! LOL
Ditto all the weaving comments. She used a Countermarche loom, which is a sinking shed. Counterbalance (which I have and love) is a balanced shed, but you still have to pick which to tie up, and have a 50/50 chance of having it look like the picture! (ok, IKIA leaving the building...).
You should keep weaving - don't cut it off. Mount a little mirror under the loom, or keep a hand mirror nearby to check your progress.
Ditto, as well, on the sewing machine issue. I have an older (all metal) Necchi. It was free, but has a number of stitches, and I think, a built-in button hole setting. Since I sew rarely, I really haven't used it much.
I love having camelids - their fastidiousness is amazing. It's also annoying - if someone steps on their hay, they won't eat it, and then go mooch from the young horse...
Also glad you're back in the spinning biz, and that you get to keep using your old stand-by. I think once you find a wheel that works, it's a good thing to stick with it!
$26 sure beats $600-$700! Glad you are back in business.
Thanks for the photo of the quail footprints. We enjoy feeding the birds and just watching to see who stops by.
That's a great idea to maybe update your sewing machine. There are some neat ones out there that will do automatic buttonholes for you with little effort and great results.
Your idea of a rosepath sampler is a great one. That will be nice to have for years to come.
Have a great week, Sharon!
Maybe someone else has mentioned this to you - but if not, here goes. When you use Davidson's book, tie up the blank squares. Then your pattern will weave face up and hopefully look like the picture. You can always reverse a tie up; it is sometimes useful when the original draft calls for lifting many shafts and the reverse would be easier on your legs.
Glad you found a good machine that makes buttonholes easily. I have a newer machine that doesn't and a very old machine that has an attachment that does!
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