In the bag!

I had to drag the sewing machine downstairs in order to sew the binding to the Firebird quilt (yes! I'm done! Pics Friday!), so while I had it set up, I figured I might as well put the handspun/handwoven cotton bag together, even though I really had no idea what kind of bag I wanted to make, or how to make it.

 I knew I was going to have to line the handwoven fabric because though it's pretty, it is also flimsy. It would never hold up to any kind of use without a sturdy underlining. I dug through my stuff (I have lots of stuff, trust me), and came up with a blank, strapless canvas bag- part of a bulk order I got back when I was designing projects for I Heart Felt.

 I didn't want to just sew a shell to put over the canvas bag body, so I mulled on it for a bit.

I decided to take the bag seams out so I could sew the handspun cloth directly to the canvas. I thought that would anchor the cloth to the backing pretty well.

 It was obviously meant to be- the shortest woven section fit the bag length perfectly. This was my very first woven cloth (the strap doesn't qualify- though I suppose it's cloth too), so the color sections aren't straight or even. That will matter later. Or maybe it doesn't matter, but the crookedness does come into play. I sewed the plaid strip to the center of the bag, and then trimmed off the excess warp (the knots).

 Then I cut some stripey woven cloth, pieced the sections (stripe selvedge to plaid selvedge) and zig-zagged them in place, and trimmed the excess. I also zig-zagged along the center brown section, just to keep the fabric from slipping around. After that, I sewed one side seam.

 I pinned and sewed a section of the strap fabric to the upper edge of the bag- both to add strength and stability and because it looks pretty (and I had a lot- 102"- of that strap fabric). The rest of the sewing was a snap- I sewed the other side seam, and then the bottom miters. I forgot to take pictures of the strap assembly, but... well... I sewed straps in place.

 How's this for cool? The stripey sides match perfectly to the creases.

 The plaid front looks good too, even though the crookedness in the weaving is the first (and last) thing that I see. I don't know for sure what I'll put in the bag- it's fairly deep, so it would work as a spindle bag. Or maybe a wine bottle carrier.

Not bad, for a first weaving project, eh?

I have about a yard of the fabric left (some plaid, some striped), and some strap. It's not enough for another bag this size, so I don't know what I'll make with it. Whatever it ends up being, it won't happen this week. I've already put the sewing machine away.

Wordless Weaving

Second Verse, almost the same as the first...

I was thrilled with my first woven bit of plaid cloth- sure the edges weren't perfectly even, and there were obvious crookedy parts in the weft, but for a first time, I was pretty proud. Unfortunately, pride notwithstanding,  I still didn't have enough fabric for the bag I envisioned making. I had plenty of that handspun cotton yarn left, so I decided to warp the loom again, this time with much longer ... warps? Weaving words are complicated...

I still don't have a warping board, so I improvised. 18 times around the chairs for each color section (once apiece for blue, white, and dark brown, twice for the mottled brown).

 I underestimated the tangling capacity of long cotton strands. They were a mess by the time I got the heddle threaded. It took me over an hour to straighten them out and chain the sections. Won't let that happen again... nosiree...

 My friend Helen suggested using drinking straws or strips of paper to help the first rows stay neat and even. I love Helen.

 Look at how nice this is coming out! I'm thrilled with the even edges and fairly straight rows.

Oh no! Disaster! The warp was cut from handspun cotton yarn, which has thick and thin spots. One of the thick spots frayed with the repeated motion of the heddle, and it broke. Now I know that broken warp threads happen to everyone eventually, but I panicked a bit anyway. I tried several solutions to replace the thread and none worked. Since I now had enough plaid fabric for my project, and it wasn't necessary for this piece to be *all of one cloth*, I wove in a few spacer strips and advanced the warp past the break (I advanced enough past the broken spot for the warp tension to be restored,). Then I went to Facebook to whine, which is what I should have done in the first place because Helen and Connie both told me how to fix broken warp threads. I love Helen and Connie.

But, as I said, I already had enough plaid fabric, so I decided to weave some stripes, just for the hell of it. I Used up the last of the mottled brown yarn, and am now weaving up the rest of the blue in stripes.

Stripes are pretty too, no?

I should finish this piece today- I have *plans* for the next project.

Oh, and the correct heddle is on the way. Woohoo!

Warp Speed

Okay, so I wanted to weave some plaid cloth with handspun cotton yarn, and I wanted to weave it using the same size heddle (8 dent- 8 threads per inch) as I used for the strap. I ordered the right size heddle but they sent me the wrong size and I grumbled.

I had woven as far as I could on the strap

and I cut it off the loom- 102" long, about 2" wide, 2.5 ozs of handspun cotton yarn. I packed the weft tightly so that it would be a sturdy strap. It took me awhile to get the rhythm, and to keep the selvedge even.

So with an empty loom, I looked at my 10dent heddle (the one that came with the loom), and I looked at my yarn, and then I looked at the heddle, and then I said the hell with it, I don't feel like waiting for the replacement to arrive.

 I used my niddy-noddy to wind the warp- it makes a skein 60" long, which I thought would be long enough (I learned later just now much warp at the beginning and end is unusable, but it still worked out). 18 strands in each section.

 I used a very small crochet hook to thread the heddle (I'm sure there are weaving words for that action, but I don't know them)

 There's a reason why no one says *Gosh, I love warping a loom*.

 All threaded...

 ...now I have to pull the warp through the heddle and wind it on the warping beam (in this case, a board).

 It's a slow process, prone to tangles... and bad words...

 Lots of leftover warp (I know better how to deal with that now- with less wasted yarn).

 All warped and ready to go...

 oopsie, I missed a slot...

 ... all better now... (I had to unwind the rest of the warp to add it in, but all is well).

 First few rows- I also know now how to make that look neater and more even (I love Facebook- it's full of wonderful teachers). I'm actually glad that I used the smaller heddle- here and there the slubs in the yarn hung up on the holes, but for the most part, I was able to weave the cloth just fine.

 Not bad for a first try, eh?

 It's subtle for a plaid, but still pretty. BTW- the blue yarn was spun from recycled blue jean cotton, the rest of the shades are natural cotton colors. You can see a couple of my mistakes...

 It took almost less time to weave the cloth than it did to warp the loom.

 28" of cloth, 7" wide (after washing- it shrinks a bit). The fringes won't last, I just tied them to keep the ends from raveling during washing.

Cool, right?

And I'm already planning my next loom. Mary- it's all your fault.

Not totally wordless Saturday

Almost done...

 ...handspun cotton yarn for bag body...

... ready to warp...

...they sent the WRONG size heddle...

grumble...