20/08/2012

Same, but opposite?

I guess it started with the shirt. It reminded me of something, if I only could remember exactly what.

Then I saw this, and I knew: what Cyrus (Manual of Swedish handweaving) calls "crêpe on opposites" (in the English version it says "Small-patterned crêpe [...] drawn with the help of the four-part method [...]". (The Cyrus quotes in this post are taken from the English edition printed 1977)

"Crêpe on opposites" with colour-and-weave? Pinwheels, certainly – but other crêpes?


Hmmm.
The old CM in the shop was empty, so...
From the draft I could not understand/visualize how different placement of colours would affect the final result, so I threaded this, on 8 shafts:


(Added a minimal selvage, as I could see it would be a disaster edge without anything, and I hate floating selvages). I also added two doubled colour stripes.

Weaving was not easy. Rather: beating was too easy. As you can see, treadles 1 and 8 form plain weave, but on the other treadles it is very easy to pack down the weft.
Anyway, I tried to concentrate. One heavier beat, seven light, one heavier, seven light... I managed so-so. (Note to self: next time, put it on the AVL – the auto-advance will help A LOT!)

Seeing it on loom did not make it easier: which colour placement would make the "best" pattern?


Having planned for two shawl-sized samples, I decided on two (slightly different) plans B.
The first: after about half, I went on to explore other possible colour arrangements. Here it is, just cut off:


The next: make a laborious V. That was almost a mistake – but one (menaing "me") can never have too many shawls/scarves, right?
I divided the weaving in two, lenghtwise. When I got near the end, I cut off the (right) half, and wove it crosswise into the other.


It was now it really showed: I had been beating too hard...


There are several things to say for my usual V method – one of them is that if the beat is off, it will occur everywhere simultaneously.
Another is that it is easy to find the correct end, as all the others still are in their heddles...
And no, wet finishing did not help:


-When it came off the loom, the cloth developped an interesting structure (see above). As nothing is finished until it is wet finished, I proceeded with the wet finishing.
After wet finishing, I decided it needed at least some pressing – and it became all flat. Tried steaming, but it remained flat.
Some days later, when it has hanged freely in our very humid summer climate, it is still flat.
The only thing I have not tried is wetting it out completely, but maybe I should.

Back to the shirt structure:


It does not follow Cyrus' rules ("[...] the repeat is divided into four parts, a pattern is drawn in the lower right section and then symmetrically opposite in the upper right section, further in the upper left section, and finally in the lower left section of the repeat"), but it can perhaps be called a "variation of a small-patterned crêpe on opposites"?

Oh, I forgot: to get the most interesting colour-and-weave result, the "other" colour should be placed on 1-8 (in my example) in both warp and weft:


The turquoise is on 1-8; the light blue is on 5-4.

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