In The Red

and in the grey and the black.

While at JCCFS a few weeks ago I did have a chance to work on

 a draft for my future coverlet. 

Sample I did at JCCFS

That pattern (Mary Ann Ostrander from Davidson’s book) is one that I wove when I was 19 years old while taking a weaving semester at Berea College in Kentucky.

 I was very brave or maybe just naive to weave an overshot pattern on my second ever weaving. 

My second ever weaving!

Notice all the mistakes?

This throw was woven with both wool in the warp and the weft and it has been so long ago that I don’t remember the reasoning why. 

That is not the traditional way for coverlets, which were usually a cotton or linen warp and tabby, with wool as the pattern weft. 

I took my throw to the coverlet class to have an example of all the mistakes 

I made: beating incorrectly, mistakes in treadling and 

sewing the wrong sides together! 

Still it is pretty good for an 19-year-old novice.

 I would not advise any new weaver to start out on overshot patterns but that is why I fell in love with weaving. 

Every throw of the shuttle and the fabric developing was like magic to me. 

I have woven a lot of overshot but not in the traditional way. 

I love to see what color can do to the patterns and have worked with enlarging or decreasing motifs and tables within the drafts. 

This red warp is a table runner using the pattern I wove so long ago

 but with a few adjustments in threading and treadling. 

Black Wool pattern thread and silver pearl cotton tabby.

Red wool pattern thread and black pearl cotton tabby.

The colors are subtle and without a lot of contrast (I’m waiting on a shipment of grey wool which will provide contrast), but will make very pretty table runners. One of them will be a donation for the TRAC auction, which is held in October to raise funds for our arts council. 

I’ll post a pic of them when they are off the loom and hemmed.