There is magic in the water!

-This shawl is made of cotton and wool, in a technique I believe many call "deflected double weave". As it is not (strictly speaking) a double weave, I prefer to call it "false double weave". (I wrote about it for our guild - but only in Swedish: riksvav.se/kronobergsvav/y06/sept06.html). Here are a few ideas for patterning that can be downloaded as .wif files. Text only in Swedish - but drafts are universal, right?)

Weaving it is ok (especially on an AVL with auto-advance - no need to think about "placing of the weft").
The result is ok - maybe even very nice!



But: the stage in-between... to handle that very thready web, inspecting it, maybe making repairs, and making fringes, is what I like the very least. OK, so I want the threads to migrate, the wool to shrink and all that - but at its raw state it snags so easily. If only fringe-twisting could be done after the web has solidified!



By taking deep breaths every time I was to move the web, by concentrating on not handling it too harshly, I got the repairs and the fringes done. And into the washing machine it went!
(Before you ask - I have "ruined" several samples before I had decided which washing machine to use, and which program and temperature to set it on. And yes, different washing machines give different results, even if the programs are called the same. But this is what sampling is about!)



- In my (not very humble) opinion every fabric has to be wet finished before it can be called "finished". Maybe (but just maybe) with the exception of purely decorative items, like wall hangings.
In this case, the wet finishing was done in the washing machine, using a washing program that caused the wool parts to shrink. This example does not need any additional processes.
In other instances, I "just" want the thready web to transform into Real Cloth. Often that means additional processes - like mangling, or pressing with a hot iron, or... For those of you not yet convinced, read more on Laura's web site or blog...