The Weaver's Dance

On a loom that whispers, with shuttles that fly
And bobbins that chatter as the hours go by
I'll not lay in one thread of mere chance
As I work in the motion of the weaver's dance.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

"Okay...so...somebody has been weaving!"

It's the best way to start this post...with a recent quote from a visitor to my studio at the sight of this roll of fabric on Stanley!
When am I not weaving, more like!

This is about 13 yards of a fabulously simple cloth that was fun and fast and oh so plain a tabby.

The stripes are 20/2 rayon and 20/2 black mercerized cotton on a 16/2 black/charcoal cotton marl. I thought at the time that it might make good fabric for a men's shirt....that was my vision.

A gentleman visiting my booth in Taos recently commented that none of my fabrics were...well.....masculine. I really hadn't thought about that much, so I've decided to change that a bit!

In a previous post, I had told about laundry days and the efforts that go into my fabrics before they ever appear in my booth. This 13ish yards becomes 10ish yards after machine washing/drying, but there's a few steps in between that 13 and that 10....

First I have to "extract" the yardage where it started lashed onto the loom....yes, I remove the lashing and save it for the next project...satisfies the Scottish. It takes a little longer, but, for some reason, I like to do it.






Then I lug this big roll over to the sewing machine and zigzag.... Patience is needed now....and thoughts of new projects dance in my head!




This is the last of a long warp on Stanley and I'm about to make a big change on him, too...ah, but that's for another post!




This is when I begin to think that laundry days are just pretty darn cool....all the zigzagging stitch has been machine sewn at each end of the yardage, so that it won't unravel during it's finishing in the washer and dryer.

The end of this little story is that, after all my planning for a "masculine" fabric, a lovely lady came into my booth and immediately bought enough of it to make a SKIRT!

And, I'll bet she is looking just FABulous right now, too!

This has to be short for now.....so many demands in the studio...do you hear it calling? Keep laughing at life and dancing to your own tune. I'm sending out Miles and Miles of Smiles, Cat B.

2 comments:

  1. I love the fabrics in your pictures. I can see a fall transitional garment in the blue stripe. However, I have pledged to myself to sew from my garment stash before I buy any more. Your fabric is good motivation to get some clothes into my wardrobe closet. Thanks!

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  2. Thanks so much, Sandra, If I can be inspiration, that's enough for me! You'll look gorgeous, too! Smiles, Cat B.

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