When in doubt? Weave a runner!
 |
 |
|
The tranquil colors in Sandra Doak's
Cool Waters Table Runner will help
make any room seem more relaxing
|
|
I am embarrassed to tell people when they ask me what I weave: I mostly weave table runners. I think I should say jackets, shawls, scarves, or wall hangings. I should be making pillows, curtains, and rugs for my house. I should choose colors that go in my dining room for a tablecloth there, or weave doublewide blankets and spreads for the bedrooms.
| |
 |
| |
Get a head start on the holidays with
Sr. Joan Marie Lovett's festive runner
|
| |
|
| |
Jane Patrick's runner shows you how
to weave a two-block pattern with
only two shafts |
You might wonder at the number of tables I must have to display all the table runners I make, but the truth is that none of my tables have runners on them. What I like is this: I like to weave fabric that is somewhere between 15 and 18 inches wide. I love block weaves like doubleweave, turned twill, Atwater-Bronson lace, warp rep, and various supplementary warp and weft structures. All the weave structures I like—in fact all weave structures—work well as table runners.
I like the length of a table runner, too. It’s just the right length to keep my interest, but not so long that I get bored. I usually don’t want to weave too many of the same things (I especially don’t like to weave many things that are exactly the same length) so placemats are out. A table runner has more status than a towel, yet it does not take much longer to weave. Since a table runner can really go anywhere in the house (or be a gift for someone else), I can use any colors I like without worrying what they match.
 |
|
|
Learn to do waffle weave on a
rigid-heddle loom using a pick-up
stick with Kati Reeder Meek's pattern
|
|
You don’t have to do much sewing or finishing to a table runner. The only thing you have to worry about is the edges, and for them, I can use one of my three favorite finishing methods: a hemstitched fringe, a hem, or a twisted fringe. You usually don’t have to wet-finish a table runner to transform the fabric you’ve been weaving into something else (no fulling, collapsing, or shrinking is necessary). That means that a table runner usually looks on the loom just the way you want it to do when you’re finished. Since my closest relationship to it is when it IS on the loom, this makes me happy.
I’m writing this newsletter to tell you about the new free Table Runner patterns at Weaving Today, and it’s making me hungry to weave one.