DeeDee’s Daughter’s Wedding Dress Diaries

In the lower left area of this photograph there is a section of the cloth that shows an area of uneven beat.  This section goes slack everytime I advance the warp.. I have tried advance every few inches, put a stick under the section at the back beam.  For the first time ever I have put a bungie on my overhead batten.  To help my arthritic thumb joints.  I wonder if I need a second bungie on the other side to have an even “pull” on the batten?  Going to try that now.  Wish me luck.  Thanks for all of your advice.

A friend gave Sara her own  little loom.  Then we worked side by side.  I got quite abit more work done after that.

Hey Sara ! Remember these play times? 

Believe it or not I was a productive weaver through out the kids childhood.  There are scars on the loom from various activities, I can look at them and smile (now!)

Weaving came to a stop for two days while I finished up my CHT fashion show entry.  Then packed up all my CHT entries to be mailed.  Pressing, tagging and packing it all up ate into my weaving time.  I can’t wait to see what everyone has been working on.

A broken warp thread.  One broken thread now and then is not a big deal.  Easy to mend and it won’t show in the finished fabric.  I have finally started throwing the shuttle with enough power to go all the way across and a thread snapped. Does anyone know who makes the little tool in the photo?  I got it years ago but I don’t remember where.  It is placed in the warp where the broken thread is and allows space to see the heddle.

Eight Yards to go.  I am only able to weave for short amounts of time.  Many know I have been weaving for 37 years and it has taken a toll on my body.  8 years ago I injured my tail bone and inflamation went into my hips. This causes me pain.  Last year I tore an achilles tendon, the  Dr. also discovered that I have completley worn the fat pads off the ball of my feet.   Having an over slung batten Norman Kennedy welcomed me to the flat thumb society.  But I have also developed arthritis in the thumb joints.  Young weavers take heed.  Take precaution in caring for your body while you are young. If you want some advice on avoiding physical issues let’s talk.

This looks like a violation of the child labor law.  Sara willing “helped” me in the weaving studio at a very young age. Here she is 8 months.  I wish she weren’t so far away.  I would love her help on her wedding dress yardage. Sara is a cellist, studying at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.

When you wind a pirn properly and throw the shuttle efficiently  ta da! A wonderful selvage. I don’t even care, not paying attention. It’s yardage that is soon to be cut up.

Not really, however it takes a long time to hand wind a full pirn.  Luckily, friend Tracy gifted me with a used electric winder.  I have to practice making a nicely wound pirn without burning my fingers!

On Saturday night I began  weaving.  Only to discover a few problems.  I had a threading error  ( in the usual place – right smack in the middle of the warp.) Upon further inspection I found a double denting (8 ends in a dent instead of 4). Luckily this was only 7 inches from the right selvage.  The threading error was a simple fix. Tie a temporary heddle and move the thread to the proper harness. I had worked a nine hour day and was exhausted so I called it a night.  I would start fresh on Sunday.

Upon further inspection, I discovered more issues.  A couple more threading errors and several broken threads.  There appears to be some thin spots on the silk.  I was also having a split shed on treadle five.  Not uncommon  – crawled under the loom and discovered that I had crossed cords between lower lamms.   I was a bit grumpy but was happy to see the problem was solved.

Off to weave!