Weaving tartan

My morning ritual is to wake up around 8am and check e-mail, etc. in bed for half an hour. Well...

'Falkirk Tartan' drafted from tiny textile scrap at Nat'l Museum of Scotland. http://oddweavings.blogspot.com

A friend asked me to do a tartan pillow using her choice of four colours of fine wool. My first test was a gamp (trying every colour with every other colour). I knew nothing about tartan except that the same pattern of stripes is used for both both warp and weft and it is often woven as a twill. There are thousands of tartans. I was at a loss to design my own, so I found a four-colour tartan and copied the proportions. I applied my friend's colours to it and made a "tartan ruler" as a way to…

I have spent the past few days finishing the Dress Stewart towels. It was rather exciting when I placed the entire eight yard length into the washing machine to soak for a spell. I wandered by after ten or fifteen minutes and checked.....and the water was this dark murky pink muck! The dyes were coming out and I had to do something fast! My synthrapol is in a box somewhere in the garage.... but as luck would have it, a friend had gifted me a couple of boxes of the Shout Colour Catchers. I…

Read the blog article which outlines the steps involved in designing a tartan fabric. The blog also details the learning involved when weaving a tartan for the first time.

Weaving archive site with thousands of historic weaving drafts, documents, and tools

Weaving archive site with thousands of historic weaving drafts, documents, and tools

Weaving archive site with thousands of historic weaving drafts, documents, and tools

I am clearly still working on fitting a weekly blog post into my schedule! I had all the photos loaded on Thursday morning but then work was a steady blur, so the lunch hour I had planned to spend writing the post did not take place. As with most things in life, I will continue to do the best I can! Tartan Blankets Today, I am revisiting a few more of my fiber adventures from 2014, starting with a Tartan Blanket class at The Mannings Handweaving School and Supply Center in East Berlin, PA…

Variation of the Ross tartan - brick, navy & forest green.