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Plain weave

- a simple weave structure. One weft passes over one warp end and under one warp end. The adjacent warp end and weft pick reverse the actions of the first. The minimum number of threads required for plain weave is two warp threads and two weft threads. Plain weave is also known as tabby.

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  • Handwoven May/June 2012
    The May/June 2012 issue is all about expanding your weaving repertoire with new techniques including diversified plain weave, four-color doubleweave, and bead leno. The issue also has some great projects for weaving on the go including postcard sized travel tapestries. Projects include a diversified
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  • It Was a Very Good Year
    Toddler dresses with overshot yokes by Sandee Jaastad I remember 1999 almost as if it were—hmm. Thirteen years ago? Surely not. It was a transition year for Handwoven, with Jean Scorgie passing the editorial magic wand on to Madelyn van der Hoogt
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  • Problems with Plaid
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn! I tried weaving a plaid throw in plain weave, using a 6/2 worsted-wool yarn. As it was 16 wraps to the inch, I used an 8-dent reed and sleyed 1/dent for plain weave
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  • Olympic Weaving
    As part of London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, organizers have been encouraging individuals and groups across the country to take part in the Inspire Program by organizing exceptional non-commercial projects inspired by the 2012 Games. There are
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  • Weaving Prom
    Every year around prom time there’s a feature or two on the news about crafty prom dresses made by artistic teens from duct tape , Starburst wrappers , and other various unusual materials. These dresses, and in some cases tuxedos, are examples of
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  • The Longer the Warp, the Better
    Hi Madelyn! I watched your video Warping Your Loom and noticed that you didn't talk about how to measure a guide string and take different paths around the warping board to get a warp of a specific length, even to a designated number of inches. Do
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  • When Simple Becomes Extraordinary
    Shipibo fabric with elaborate kené designs. A mahogany dyebath has given the cloth its rich brown color. Most of us weave for the joy of it. Planning a project, choosing the yarns, and sitting down at the loom are all pleasures, in many cases stolen
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  • Weaving Double Wide
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, If I want to weave a structure such as overshot, summer and winter, or a lace weave double wide for a tablecloth, what problems can I expect? I have just given
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  • Queen Sirikit and Thai Silks
    A new textile museum recently opened in Thailand. The Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles , located at the Grand Palace, is filled with examples of beautifully handwoven silks and elegant garments, including some from the queen’s private collection
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  • An Ode to Sampling
    Samples may not be pretty, but they are just as useful as any scarf, dish towel, or runner. I know it probably sounds strange, but I love sampling before I weave. For me, there’s something cathartic about knowing that I can try anything I want to
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  • When Weaver and Loom Are One
    “Through the process of weaving, we also learn the process of living.” —Anne Lane Hedlund, Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University From a review of Navajo Weaving Way: The Path from Fleece to Rug Most of the weavers I know
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  • "Keep It Simple" Towels Explained
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Readers, "Keep it Simple" towel on the loom Several weavers have written to me (and posted this question on the 4-Shaft Weaving Facebook group) that they were
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  • Weaving Runs Through My Veins
    You may have heard someone say that weaving is in their blood, but what about their veins? It’s not a metaphor; scientists are now able to weave human blood vessels in the laboratory. In 2000, Nicolas L’Heureux and Todd McAllister founded
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  • Copyright 101 for Weavers
    Copyright is a frequent topic in the weaving community. If a centuries-old weaving draft appears in a book, is it then owned by the author or publisher? Can you weave from a pattern in Handwoven and give the item as a gift? What about if you sell the
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  • Decoding Manchu Robes
    When the Manchu , a nomadic tribe, took over China from its Ming rulers in 1644 they immediately imposed Manchu-style dress on the new Qing imperial court. Instead of the ostentatious, cumbersome robes favored by the Ming, the formerly nomadic Manchu
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  • Using a Variegated Warp
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn, A friend and I challenged each other to use a variegated silk from Convergence to make a scarf in a weave structure that was new to us. I threaded a straight draw
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  • When Rectangles Aren't Enough
    Karen's handwoven yardage waiting to be sewn into a dress. Even before I started weaving, I was a fabric junkie. On rainy Sunday afternoons with no other pressing business you would frequently find me at the local fabric store contentedly flipping
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  • Warping Ribbon
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn, I would like to incorporate a few 3/8-inch-wide ribbons into a scarf warp. What is the best way to do that? The ribbon was given to me, so I don't have the
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  • One Thread at a Time
    Long before I learned to weave, I used to describe writing as being like weaving. Where that notion came from, I have no idea, but when I did learn to weave, I found it was accurate. When I write, I have an almost physical sense of holding the theme as
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  • The Last of its Kind
    While a few handweavers still produce tartan fabric using traditional methods, most commercially available fabric is woven on high-speed jet or rapier looms. While these fabrics are less expensive and faster to weave, they don't attain the quality
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  • Harris Tweed in Harajuku
    In recent years, Harris tweed has seen a surge in popularity. From the newest incarnation of the Doctor on Doctor Who to the woolen works of designer Vivienne Westwood , this iconic tweed is very much in style. Nowhere is this truer than Japan. Drawn
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  • Warping Woes
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, I am planning to make a scarf from shadow-weave draft in Carol Strickler's A Weaver's Book of Eight Shaft Patterns , p. 75 #296. I am combining white
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  • Spring Cleaning and Loom Maintenance
    Pattie's less-than-tidy studio The other day my neat-freak husband came into my studio and commented on the mess. It’s true, and that is just the way I work. This fact of my life became totally okay with me last October. During the Taos Wool
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  • Don't Judge Your Cloth Too Soon
    Every weaver I know is his or her own worst critic. Well, here's Liz Gipson, former Handwoven managing editor and the star of a new weaving video, to remind us that sometimes it's better when things don't turn out exactly as we planned. We
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  • All About Tabby
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn, I've got a question about tabby. What exactly is it and what is the purpose? I have been weaving for about ten years but not often enough to be called anything
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  • The Sustainable Cotton Project
    The Sustainable Cotton Project (SCP) was founded in 1996 to work towards greater production and promotion of sustainably grown domestic cotton. Since that time they’ve worked with many farmers to reduce the toxic chemicals used on California cotton
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  • Waistcoats are Wonderful
    We’re still accepting entries for the 2012 Handwoven garment challenge until April 12. If you need last-minute inspiration, consider the waistcoat , developed and introduced in 1666 by King Charles II of England. At the time, the English court dressed
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  • Sleying a Floating Selvedge
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn! Most of the instructions for projects in Handwoven show whether or not you should use a floating selvedge. But they don't say how to sley the floating selvedges
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  • Dreams that we Dare to Dream
    Last week, Robyn Spady and I were discussing some projects for the next issue, and the conversation strayed to the movie The Wizard of Oz. (It's not as random as it sounds. We blame typos on the flying monkeys.) We remembered how excited we were, as children, when the movie was on television, how
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  • Satin Dreams
    Handweavers may weave for decades without ever trying one of the major weave-structure classifications. The usual progress is plain weave, then twill, then block weaves and then infinite variations on those. So why does satin get such short shrift? Satin is the backbone of Jacquard weaving because the
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  • Angle of the Weft
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn, I am using a draft from Carol Strickler's A Weaver's Book of 8-shaft Patterns (#59, page 20). In the twill-variation tie-up, some of the treadles raise
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  • Overalls are Outstanding!
    While the deadline for the 2012 Handwoven Garment Challenge is April 12, there's still time to enter. If you’re looking for some last minute ideas, mull over overalls . Overalls are popular with farmers, painters, and small children alike. They
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  • The Praiseworthy Peplos
    If you're still looking for some sleeveless inspiration for the Handwoven 2012 Garment Challenge before the April 12 deadline, perhaps you should ponder the peplos . If you've seen statues, paintings, or mosaics of ancient Greek women (or the
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  • No Shortcuts for Counting Heddles
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn, Would you do something on easier ways to count heddles—like marking every 10th one or inserting a different style heddle every 10. You must know about every
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  • Guatemalan Weaving To Dye For
    This warp-faced jaspé cloth shows local plants, people or dolls, and mountains, all important aspects of the local culture. Photo by Joe Coca. When Deborah Chandler first showed me pieces of fabric with jaspé designs, my mind was more than
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  • WE HAVE A WINNER: It's National Craft Month, so pass on your handweaving passion!
    Congratulations to paulab42 ,the winner of our National Craft Month drawing on Weaving Today . Copies of Color and Texture in Weaving and Slots and Holes will soon be on their way for Paula to share with a lucky friend. Thanks to everyone who entered
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  • Handwoven March/April 2012
    The March/April 2012 issue of Handwoven is dedicated to the many joys of weaving with plants. Learn tips and tricks for weaving with a wide variety of plant fibers including cotton, linen, bamboo, hemp, tencel, soysilk, and more! Projects include rustic hemp towels, a shimmering soysilk top, and summery
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  • Free Rug Weaving Patterns from Weaving Today
    Beautiful Handwoven Rugs: Three Free Rug Patterns Plus Tips and Tricks for Successful Rug Weaving Tom Knisely's krokbragd rug will give you hours of weaving pleasure. One of the first classes I took after learning to weave was a rug workshop with
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  • Freedom in Simplicity
    It’s National Craft Month, a great time to welcome new handweavers into our community. Rigid-heddle looms can provide an affordable and easy-to-learn introduction as we learn to weave, but they can also take us way beyond the basics. In celebration
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  • Fulling vs Felting
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hello, Madelyn, I've knit and crocheted for years, but I am a neophyte when it comes to weaving. I keep finding terms that are used, but not defined. What exactly is fulling
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  • Tabards are Terrific
    There’s still time to enter Handwoven ’s 2012 Garment Challenge (deadline for entries is April 12), and in honor of this year’s sleeveless theme, we bring you the heroic history of another obscure sleeveless garment: the tabard . Tabards
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  • Hooray for Huipils!
    If you’re trying to think of the perfect sleeveless garment to make for the 2012 Handwoven Garment Challenge , consider the huipil , a traditional Mayan garment. (The entry deadline is April 12th, so weave away!) Huipils have been worn by Mayan
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  • Metric Conversion for Setts
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn Thank you for your videos which I have found so helpful and for the advice you are so generous about. I am wondering if it wouldn't be possible to have the Master
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  • The Weavers of Chiapas
    When I went to Chiapas for the first time a year ago, I really didn’t know what to expect. It’s just across the border from Guatemala and the population is largely Maya, but it’s also surrounded by a lot of tourist-friendly Mexico. On the other hand, there’s been a latent civil
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  • The Weaving Teacher Who is Already There
    Some weavers can glance at a draft and see the cloth in their heads, just as a fine musician can see a few notes on a staff and recognize a Bach cantata. Since I took my first weaving class with Madelyn van der Hoogt, I've yearned to be one of those weavers. But it takes time and practice to become
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  • Name Drafts
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn! I'm new to weaving, and so naturally I had to get the 2012 Handwoven Calendar . The March 2012 photo is absolutely stunning and the caption indicates it is
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  • Weaver Rose and Elsie
    Thank you to the Rogue Valley Handweavers Guild whose newsletter pointed us to this week’s BeWeave It topic. The industrial revolution put many handweavers out of business, but some hardy souls refused to give up. Siblings William and Elsie Rose
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  • A Royal Tartan
    Throughout history, all around the world, and for one reason or another, certain fabrics , colors , and patterns have been reserved for royalty. One such pattern is the Balmoral tartan . In 1848 Queen Victoria and Prince Albert purchased the Scottish
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  • Adventures in Doubleweave
    It’s been a year and a half since both my book The Weaver’s Studio: Doubleweave was published, and the accompanying DVDs were released by Interweave Press. Since that time I have been given the opportunity to travel extensively throughout the country teaching workshops on doubleweave.
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  • Floating Selvedges and S-Hooks
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn, I have recently watched your Weaving Well DVD and picked up many ideas that will be helpful in my weaving. I have now begun to use S-hooks to weight my floating
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  • The Sweet Spot
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi, I have a question about the sweet spot: that length of optimum weaving area on the loom. How does one discover where that sweet spot is without, say, ruining an entire
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  • Studio Dreams
    There are many things to love about my current home: the electric blue 1950s-style stars on the kitchen counter, the hardwood floors in the bedroom, and the huge backyard. One thing my home doesn’t have is space. Learning this, it may come as some surprise that I have a studio.
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  • Wild and Wonderful Silks
    Silkworms and bees share the distinction of being the only domesticated insects in the world. Sericulture , or the breeding of silkworms for the production of raw silk, has been going on for over five thousand years. However, there are some —the
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  • Put Some Dairy in Your Fiber
    First off, a big thank you goes to Beverly Adams of the Salem Fiberarts Guild of Salem, Oregon for sending us the lead on this story. Thanks Beverly! When German microbiologist and fashion designer Anke Domaske witnessed firsthand her stepfather’s
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  • Weaving By Firelight
    This past weekend my husband and I made a trip to the family cabin: our favorite place to go when we need a break from the world. It's nestled in the woods near the Spanish Peaks in Southern Colorado, just up the hill from the Spanish Peaks Scout Ranch. Spring, summer, and fall trips are always busy
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  • Sectional Warp Beam Alternative Uses
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Madelyn, I've come into possession of a 36" floor loom with a sectional warp beam. I've not done sectional warping and do not plan to do so at this time. How would
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  • Preferences in Threading Heddles
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Oh, Madelyn, Help! I am warping for the Fiesta Cloth in the March/April 2007 issue of Handwoven . Not that that is relevant. My mental blackout is this: when threading the
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  • The Key to Weaving Happiness
    I recently bought my first loom! For a girl who lives in a very small (640 sq. ft.) two-bedroom house, this type of decision is not one that is entered into lightly. Okay, I did get a portable fold-up floor loom, and it does have only an 18" weaving width, but this baby sits in the corner of my
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  • Tlingit Superman
    Ravenstail weaving is an ancient style of twining and surface braiding used for many years by the native peoples along the Pacific Northwest Coast. Ravenstail had nearly died out in the United States by 1980, when a small group of weavers brought it back
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  • Spider Silk Science
    Spider silk is strong as high grade steel, can withstand extreme temperatures, and is incredibly light—a single strand of spider silk long enough to circle the globe would weigh only 18 oz. Unfortunately, spiders can't be "farmed"
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  • Flipping Through the Years
    Research has changed since my first term paper. Type a subject into your favorite internet search engine. Hit the enter key and voila, hundreds, maybe thousands, of online references pop up. Some may be a little off target, others WAY off target and even those that seem on target may not be accurate
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  • Minimizing Warp Waste
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn, I am about to warp my loom to weave several separate pieces on the same warp. When I finish weaving the first piece, I need to cut it off so that other work can
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  • Fringe Without Hemstitching
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Good Morning, Madelyn, I want to know if it is possible to make a twisted fringe on a scarf without hemstitching first. While I like hemstitching, I think that having just
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  • A Good Year of Weaving
    2011 was my last year as editor of Handwoven . I’ll probably look at the 2011 issues of Handwoven many times in the years to come, since every issue is full of rich memories. An editor forms rewarding relationships with many people during the production of an issue. The most important one develops
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  • InspiRED to Knit
    Many of you knit as well as weave, so this week’s BeWeave It focuses on a very important campaign in the knitting community that’s working to raise awareness about heart disease, the number one killer of women in the United States. In honor
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  • And We're Off!
    Hi Everyone! Handwoven's "Look Ma, No Sleeves" garment contest is officially open for entries. We'll be giving out fabuluos prizes in the categories of Best Loom-Shaped Garment, Best Tailored Garment, Most Original Garment, Best Project
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  • Life Saving Silk
    Silk is truly wonderful. It feels delicious on the skin, has a lovely drape when woven, and can keep us warm in winter and cool in summer. It is equally beautiful when used for clothing, upholstery, or anything, really. There are many things to love about
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  • Silk Like A River
    I love to spin and knit silk, but there’s something about perfectly smooth silk on a loom that’s simply irresistible.
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  • Learning About Yarns
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi, Madelyn, I am a very, very novice weaver and am trying to figure out the best way to learn about different yarn sizes and types. Everything I find seems to be about knitting
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  • Master Yarn Chart Setts
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn, How were the setts for the Master Yarn Chart determined? For instance, the sett for 10/2 pearl cotton is 20, 24, 28. Why these numbers and not 14, 16, 18, or 30
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  • What Would Mary Meigs Atwater Blog?
    Projects tend to linger on my looms, and while time is a convenient excuse, the truth is that I love the journey of weaving more than the destination. Coming to the end of a project is bittersweet, and sometimes I avoid the ending just so I can walk by and admire the work in progress. (Cloth never looks
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  • Of Tartans and Pandas
    Tartans have been woven and worn by the Celts and then the Scots for nearly three thousand years. Originally tartan patters would signify where the wearer lived, later clan specific tartans appeared, and today there are many tartan categories. A recent
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  • A Weaver on the Horizon
    Welcome to the Year of the Dragon! In honor of the Chinese New Year, which began this last Monday, here's the story of Huang Daopo , a legendary Chinese hero of handweaving. Daopo was born in 1245 to a very poor family in what is now Dongwan Village
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  • Moving Forward at Warp Speed
    Beautiful, bright yarns will make most anything better When I started weaving on my little rigid-heddle loom it was love at first warp. I was amazed at how quickly and easily I could get everything measured and threaded with my little warping peg. Simply
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  • Reed Substitutions
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn! I have recently purchased both the Doubleweave Basics DVD and Doubleweave (the book) by Jennifer Moore. Because I am a ”visual” learner, I have found
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  • The Unraveling of Penelope
    Penelope is the faithful wife of Odysseus in the epic poem The Odyssey . When Odysseus has been gone on his journey for ten years and is presumed dead, Penelope is left to deal with a hoard of suitors all wanting her hand in marriage-and her husband's
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  • Weaving Long Enough to Know Better
    When my latest beginning weaving students came in to finish their final towels last week (I have them warp three times during the class.), I had to conjure up some dialogue from “The Wizard of Oz.” Remember what the wizard bellowed when Dorothy
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  • Mixing Fibers
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, I'm a beginning weaver with a small stash of various types of wool yarn I'd like to use for scarves, but I only have enough of most for weft. How can
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  • Seaweed and Vvv-rrrrooooomba
    Lovely Sea Silk warp waiting for an open loom. Time for naughty Gigi to give up her hammock! OK, new year, new beginnings. In honor of our upcoming March/April issue on plant fibers, I'm designing a handwoven scarf made with Handmaiden Sea Silk fingering
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  • Exploring Fiber Horizons
    Recently, Kathy O’Hern sent us some information about the wonderful display her guild, the Helena Weavers and Spinners Guild, created for the Association of Northwest Weavers’ Guilds Conference. The conference theme was “Exploring Fiber
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  • Converting Yarn
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn, I have a question about converting a yarn in project instructions. I have instructions that call for 10/2 pearl cotton sleyed at 24 ends per inch. I want to use
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  • A Tale of Twill
    Handwoven's new eBook will have you singing the praises of twill The first item I ever wove was a twill “sampler.” It was an assignment by my first teacher. She gave us the warp (mine was orange carpet warp) and the weft (mine was army
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  • Seeing the Forest
    Tom Knisely has taught weaving in a lovely, wooded part of rural Pennsylvania for over thirty years. Last year, Tom had a great idea to help weavers and their looms live in greater happiness and harmony. Here he is to tell you all about it. ––Anita
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  • Threading Dents and Heddles
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hello Madelyn, My question is this: I read the patterns for a project and one of the things that confuses me is, say you have a 12-dent reed and you are told to put two ends
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  • Our Apologies to Mr. Lindbergh
    In the most recent issue ofHandwoven, we made a boo-boo. During the editing process, the description of Charles Lindbergh's flight was changed from "famous" to "infamous." Many thanks to alert reader Frances McClure, who first
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  • Contemporary Weaving in a Medieval Church
    This coming May 12th and 13th, the 800-year-old Medieval Church of Persingen, near Nijmegen, Holland, will host some exciting and innovative weaving. Textile artists Anneka Kersten and Roos Cox play with texture, color, and structure using silk, cotton
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  • Tranferring the Cross
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn, I just tried Deborah Chandler’s recipe for warping front to back because I haven’t got a raddle. In her example, she only puts one thread per dent so
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  • Make a Handwoven Fashion Statement
    For millenia, handwoven garments have varied from simple to sophisticated. I've told you before about my great fondness for Powell's Books (a local and, I'm sure, national treasure), and my weakness for out-of-print weaving books. Well, I
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  • Weaving in the New Year
    Today's guest is Robyn Spady, here to help us ring in the New Year. Robyn is an outstanding weaver and teacher, a frequent contributor to Handwoven , and this year she will be joining the Handwoven tech editing team. Welcome 2012, and welcome, Robyn
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  • A Strange Selvedge
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn, As a relatively new weaver, I am still discovering things. I was weaving some plain-weave towels and noticed that my left edge was much neater than my right edge
    Read More >>
  • Colorful Cotton
    Cotton balls, today thought of as white and fluffy, have a surprisingly colorful history: there was a time when cotton came in a variety of colors. Around 5,000 years ago, strains of naturally pigmented cottons were developed by people living in the Andes
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  • The World's Oldest Weavings
    Paleolithic fashion has long been depicted as loin cloths and animal-skin togas, and for many years, this is what most people believed to be true. According to some modern archaeologists , these Flinstones-esque images are completely wrong. In fact, archaeologists
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  • The Best Reed Sizes
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Madelyn, I weave a variety of projects with an epi of anywhere from 5 to 30. Probably having multiple reeds would be preferable, however, reeds are expensive. If you could
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  • Auld Lang Syne and New Beginnings
    For almost everyone, January 1st is an important date. In December, we send friends and family our news from the year that is ending; December is a time of reflection. But New Year’s Day turns our thoughts to the future. We make resolutions (Go
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  • Come Darkness, Come Light
    The hallow'd and gracious time is upon us, and so the whole Handwoven staff sends you warm wishes for a peaceful and happy holiday season. The new year is as full of promise as a newly warped loom . I love New Year’s Day above almost every other
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  • A Brittle Selvedge
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, I am having trouble with a selvedge thread breaking. I am using 8/2 tencel in the warp. I miscounted the warp threads so had to add one on one edge, and it is
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  • Kwanzaa's Woven Foundation
    December 26 marks the start of Kwanzaa , a holiday created in 1966 by Maulana Karenga as a way for African Americans to celebrate their history and culture. For each of the seven days of the holiday there is a corresponding guiding principle , referred
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  • Weaving With Glass
    Artists Eric Markow and Thom Norris have taken color and texture play in weaving to a new level, and they "weave" with glass ! From colorful kimonos to oversized feathers and three foot long “origami” cranes made from delicately
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  • False Tabby
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, I have a copy of Handwoven's Design Collection 16 from Interweave. There are directions for shadow-weave towels that call for a "false tabby." I
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  • Building Textiles with Color and Texture
    This time of year has me reminiscing about what Santa used to leave under my tree. I was a girlie girl, so dolls were always high on my list. First there were baby dolls and Chatty Cathy. Later came Barbie, Ken, Skipper, Midge, and the rest of the gang
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  • Living With Looms
    For most weavers, buying a harness loom is a big commitment. And as with most committed relationships, living happily with a loom takes some effort. At first it's starry-eyed infatuation with the lovely wood, the number of harnesses, maybe the weaving
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  • Correcting Tension
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, I have learned so much from your newest set of DVDs, Weaving Well. I have a question about using the method shown in the DVD of weaving in a new apron rod and
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  • Endangered Weavers
    UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list protects intangible aspects of cultural heritage, including oral histories, performing arts, and knowledge of traditional crafts endangered by industrialization. One of the most recent additions to the list
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  • Handwoven January/February 2012
    Log cabin, shadow weave, and other striking color-and-weave patterns using both 4 and 8-shafts are the focus of this issue. Featured projects include a doublewidth log cabin blanket, shimmering shadow weave shawls, and a warp rep rug with optical illusions woven in the pattern.
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  • Projects are the Best Teachers
    Anything But Plain placemats by Janet Dawson, from Free Handweaving Projects for Beginners Marjorie Erickson's huck lace towels from Free Handweaving Projects for Beginners Every once in a while, a reader will write to say that handweavers should
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  • Weaving in Heavenly Peace
    “For fast-acting relief try slowing down.” - Lily Tomlin There's still time to weave a gift or two. The holidays are setting in, and for a change, I am not stressed. I can't guarantee that I will stay unstressed (a fact to which my
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  • Warping for Rep-Weave
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com HELP! I'm warping for a rep-weave runner using 10/2 pearl cotton at 60 epi, 5 ends/dent in a 12-dent reed. Never having woven rep before, I had no idea how difficult this
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  • Weaving With...Asbestos?
    When weaving table linens for the holiday season and beyond, oftentimes linens and cottons are the first choice, but there was a time when the must-have fiber for these items was asbestos . Asbestos is a natural occurring mineral that grow in thin, fibrous
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  • The Outer Limits of Tapestry
    For over a decade, the Magnolia Editions fine art studio has been using Jacquard looms to create stunning tapestry works based on the work of contemporary artists as part of their Magnolia Tapestry Project. From photographs to paintings, these tapestries
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  • Broken Warp Threads
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn, I've been weaving the Star Towels that were in the September/October 2003 issue of Handwoven (Britt-Marie Lamb, pages 28-31). I've made them before, but
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  • There's Always More to Learn
    Once again I am humbled by how much I don’t know about weaving. As a Haywood Community College Professional Crafts Fiber student, I attended a talk recently at the nearby Center for Craft, Creativity and Design by Julie Holyoke of the Lisio Foundation
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  • Giving Thanks
    Of course I’m filled with gratitude for my steadfast husband, my interesting and lovable children and grandchildren, my terrific co-workers, free country, decent health, warm house, bounteous table. I’m grateful that I was born in this time
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  • Copyright and Weaving Patterns
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn, If someone makes a project from Handwoven magazine and then puts it in a guild sale, is that against the law? If the fiber, color or size is altered, then is it
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  • Weaving from the Sea
    Italian weaver Chiari Vigo is one of the last of her kind. Like her maternal grandmother before her, Vigo processes and weaves with byssus , a filament secreted from the foot from the endangered noble pen shell and several other bivalve mollusks. A native
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  • The History of the Potholder Loom
    Many of us have fond childhood memories of happy hours spent weaving potholders with colorful loops of stretchy fabric on a little square peg loom. But potholder looms didn’t start out as toys. They were invented as a way for sock factories to use
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  • Block Weaves vs Unit Weaves
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn, I took your seminar on block weaves at the Association of Northwest Weavers Guild conference last spring. I bought the eBook Best of Handwoven: Comprehensive Guide
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  • Sleeveless in Seattle
    By the time you read this, I will be headed over the river (the Columbia) and through the woods of Oregon and western Washington, to have Thanksgiving with my family in the Seattle area. Over the long holiday weekend, we'll bundle up and walk around
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  • True Confessions of a Book Lover
    I love books. If I had to write a sonnet, I would count the ways I love books in it. My mother was a librarian, and even in a librarian’s house, I sometimes had to hide my reading of books under the covers with a flashlight after bedtime. Madelyn's
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  • Centering the Warp
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, I have a Leclerc loom which divides the shafts in half at the centre with a support that is about .25 of an inch wide. This separates the heddles on each side
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  • Vincent and the Loom
    Few would argue that Vincent van Gogh was one of the most influential artists in history. From Starry Night to still life paintings of sunflowers, many of his paintings are considered masterpieces. Lesser known are his paintings and drawings of weaving
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  • The Most Luxurious Fiber
    Ask a weaver to name the most luxurious yarn and they might mention cashmere, silk, alpaca, or perhaps musk ox. While all of these are luscious, they don’t hold a candle to vicuña . Vicuñas, native to the central Andes, are related
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  • Waffle Weave and Sett
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn, I've just started a color/pattern study project making a waffle-weave dish towel, my first waffle weave project. Here's my problem: I'm using 5/2 cotton
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  • Learning as I Weave
    Recently my father-in-law came for a visit. It was during this time that much of Northern Colorado was covered with a heavy layer of snow, the sort of nasty, wet, heavy snow that breaks off tree branches and snaps power lines. While my family was lucky
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  • Nothing New in Weaving? Not True!
    Jean Korus explores shadow weave in her "Shadow Weave Gamp" Did you know that Mary Meigs Atwater invented shadow weave? Of course, she invented Atwater-Bronson lace, too. She also rediscovered the inkle loom, I just found out, and introduced
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  • A Fickle Selvedge
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, I am weaving the deflected doubleweave scarf on page 68 of the January/February 2007 issue. I am not quite sure why the right selvedge is somewhat messy while
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  • An Unusual Loom
    While many weavers may know of the unusual Nadeau Hand-Skil loom, but what about its history? Inevitably when a weaver—or most anyone for that matter—sees one for the first time they want to know not just how it works but why it came into
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  • Raphael's Woven Masterpiece
    Most everyone knows of and has seen the stunning images that Michelangelo painted on the ceiling of the Sistene Chapel. Less well known, but equally stunning are the tapestries designed by the Renaissance painter Raphael . Commissioned in 1515 by Pope
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  • Whether to Lash or Knot
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, I was recently working on a weaving project at a retreat with my guild, and when I went to tie on the warp, a number of friends said that I should lash on rather
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  • Weaving on the Shoulders of Giants
    I love to be around people who have forgotten more than I will ever know. No matter how much I learn there is always someone who can teach me more, and that is a great gift. To build weaving skills, I practice and read and take classes when I can. But
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  • A Healthy, Little Weaving Obsession
    Sometimes I wonder whether my obsession with weaving is pushing toward unhealthy. I was sitting in the dentist’s chair this afternoon and the hygienist was poking away, measuring my gum pockets. I could barely hear her muttering very softly 2-2
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  • When to Use a Temple
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, I’ve been reading with interest over the years about the need to use a temple, seeing that some excellent weavers never weave without one. Up until now
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  • Threads of Heaven
    According to legend, the Chinese empress Leizu was the first to person to discover silk nearly five thousand years ago when a silkworm cocoon dropped in her tea. When she removed the cocoon from the steaming liquid, she found it easily unwound into a
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  • Advancing the Temple
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn, In a recent Ask Madelyn, you talked about temples. Did you really mean to say that you advance the temple every three quarters of an inch? Would that be for only
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  • Weaving Toward Enlightenment
    I recently read that the Buddhist mantra Om Mani Padme Hum can be simply (and probably loosely) translated to mean: “There is enlightenment in all things.” Now, without getting into the finer points of religion or translation, I would like
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  • Weaving the Macabre
    In honor of upcoming Halloween, this week’s “BeWeave It” is admittedly a bit on the macabre side. As it turns out, more people are currently choosing woven burial containers. Not only are these choices a wonderful way to celebrate the
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  • A Weaving Wonder of the World
    Anyone’s who’s ever taken a road trip across the U.S. is probably familiar with signs advertising exciting roadside attractions such as the world’s biggest thermometer or the world’s largest spoon (with cherry) . Well, now weavers
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  • Why Blocks Matter
    Tien Chiu uses patterned doubleweave in bright colors for her block design. Rita Hagenbruch's halvdräll runner was inspired by mums, bittersweet, and the Green Bay Packers. The other day, a reader wrote to Handwoven to say: I don’t like
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  • Double-Doubleweave
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi, Madelyn, I want to do a “double-doubleweave” wall hanging project on my 8-shaft loom. The layers are not to be connected except at the beginning to facilitate
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  • Warp-Faced Weaves
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn! When I've looked at scarves in stores, I've noticed that when the warp is multicolored, the weft is a fine thread in a neutral color. Is that how a warp
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  • Weaving Across the nth Dimension
    "I try to apply colors like words that shape poems, like notes that shape music." ––Joan Miro , Spanish Catalan painter, sculptor, and ceramicist "One gets to the heart of the matter by a series of experiences in the same pattern
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  • Weaving in Braille
    In 1825 Louis Braille devised a sytem which allowed blind and visually impaired people to read and write both words and music. Braille, which uses a raised dots that are read by touch, is probably the most well known (at least in the U.S.) way for the
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  • Kimonos on Display
    Most of us in the West are familiar with the traditional kimono . Elaborately handwoven from fine silk, such kimonos are a luxury few can afford—a traditional kimono can easily cost as much as $10,000! Of course, such kimonos are for special occasions
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  • Who Says Weavers Can't Buy Local?
    What's in your “fibershed?” As appealing as a little building out back to store yarn sounds, I’m talking about a different kind of fibershed. This word started popping up in online videos and blogs about a year ago as a result of
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  • Handwoven November/December 2011
    This issue is dedicated to demystifying block weaves. Nearly all the projects in this issue use the same 2-block profile draft, but each use a different weave structure including doublweave, Halvdräll, Taqueté, and more! Other featured projects include a coverlet woven in summer and winter
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  • Lifting Plans and Tie-Ups
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hello Madelyn, I have purchased the The Best of Weaver’s The Magic of Doubleweave and Jennifer Moore’s The Weaver’s Studio: Doubleweave , and I am new to
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  • Free Table Runner Patterns from Weaving Today!
    Make Beautiful Woven Table Runners: 4 Free Table Runner Patterns from Weaving Today 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
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  • Warp Your Loom, Grease Your Wheel, and Celebrate!
    I invented National Spinning and Weaving Week . This not like Al Gore and the internet (whatever you choose to believe about that). This is me sitting in my office in 1981 and having a light bulb go on. And it was so easy. I remember when I was a child
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  • Tromp as Writ
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn! I have just purchased Design Collection 19, Scarves and Shawls for All Seasons . I have made a few of the projects from this book already and love them, but I don’t
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  • Weaving by the Light of the Moon
    In honor of the upcoming National Weaving and Spinning Week , here’s a another weaving celebration, this one held in Burma (Myanmar). The traditional Burmese month of Tazaungmone (November) is considered an advantageous time to give new robes to
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  • Weaving With Your Dog
    Now that fall is here (in the Northern hemisphere) and the thermometer is slowly dropping, there is plenty of inspiration for weaving warm scarves and blankets. If you're looking for a warm and fluffy material to work with, you might want to consider
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  • Weaving a Coverlet with Eight Shafts
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, Thank you so much for what you wrote about "The Best Weave Structure…" in Weaving Today . Ever since I was a boy of 14 I have dreamt of weaving
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  • Love 'Em and Weave 'Em
    I love the Best of Handwoven eBooks . And that might sound surprising, because it’s one of my jobs to make them. A portion of Madelyn's eBook collection printed out and organized. I’m doubly lucky there, since it’s a job I love.
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  • Creating the Perfect Color Palette
    I’m always surprised by the colors of my woven projects. The way the warp and weft combine to make a surprising new color story is sometimes delightful and sometimes disappointing. It would never occur to me to pair acid yellow-green with violet
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  • Using a Temple
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn! I have read in various places that you recommend using a temple (stretcher) as a means of getting good selvedges. I have tried that, but the teeth of the temple
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  • A Noble Color
    Many of us have heard the term “royal purple” but do you know the lineage of this noble dye? True royal purple, also known as Tyrian purple , was first discovered by the Minoans of Ancient Crete. However, it was in Phoenicia—whose name
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  • Weaving for Children
    In just a couple weeks it will be National Spinning and Weaving Week (October 3-9), a time for guilds and individuals around the country will show off their fiber skills to the public. As anybody who’s done fiber art demonstration knows, children
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  • Calculating Weft
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, I am a beginning weaver. Not only that, but I am not good at math. Is there a VERY simple way to calculate the amount of yarn that I will need for a weft? Also
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  • Learning to be Creative
    "You can accelerate your development by giving yourself a fresh set of challenges, or the same set viewed from a different angle, every day." ––Paul Foxton, painter Color, material, and structure all contribute to successful design
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  • Bust Your Stash? How about Stash Your Bust?
    Okay, this is silly. You’ll just have to put up with it. We’ve been having a “Bust Your Stash” sale at Interweave for the past couple of weeks, the idea being that we can provide resources (books, patterns, magazines, etc.) to
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  • Preparing a Multicolored Warp
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, In your video Warping Your Loom, you show how to prepare a multicolored warp without having to tie, cut, and re-tie the different colored yarns. Instead, you
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  • A "Delicate" Industry
    To go along with Linda’s innovative Stash Busting strategy, this week's BeWeave It—while not about weaving—shows how Polish lacemakers have taken their traditional textile work in a very similar direction. The village of Koniaków
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  • The Ultimate Yarn Stash
    If you think your stash is big, chances are fiber enthusiast Bonney has you beat . Taking up a large room, the stash is touted as the biggest in the world, and after seeing the photos, it's hard to argue against that claim. An update shows that Bonney's
    Read More >>
  • Doubleweave Pick-Up
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Thank you Madelyn for your inspiring newsletter on doubleweave. A query: in the Doubleweave Pick-Up DVD the single block on a chart/cartoon for the image is woven as two warp
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  • Why Stash Reduction is a Mystical Concept
    In every weaver’s life, the time comes when yarn accumulation must stop, at least temporarily. Either financial, space, or spousal limits occasionally demand that, “No more yarn must enter this house/studio until you use up what you already
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  • The Best Weave Structure is Doubleweave
    Madelyn weaving a coverlet on a shaft drawloom Deflected doubleweave scarf If I were allowed only one weave structure, I would pick doubleweave, no question. I became a weaver because of doubleweave, in fact. In the early 1970s, my husband and I collected
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  • Floating Selvedges and Twill
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, I have been playing with turned-twill blocks and thoroughly enjoying it! The only thing that I have been having problems with is my floating selvedges. No matter
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  • Andean Weaving on Display
    Explorer Hiram Bingam III once wrote that, “Ancient Andean weaving, as developed by the Incas , was one of the greatest textile arts the world has ever seen.” While Bingham was no textile expert––expert Andean weavers had been
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  • A Harvest of Weaving Bites
    The harvest season is upon us, so today we bring you a cornucopia of food-related weaving "bites" sent by our friend Pattie Graver, and also news of a good cause (because "as ye sow, so shall ye reap"). Our first bit of whimsy is from
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  • Choke Tie Distance
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, I was threading my loom recently (front to back) and found that the choke tie that I had tied (very tightly) about ten inches behind the cross didn't leave
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  • Cut From Whole Cloth
    I am very fortunate to have a lifelong friend who is also a fiber friend. Sarah and I have been friends since third grade. In addition to the usual kinds of fun and nonsense that friends get into, we learned needlework together from my aunt when we were
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  • Behind the Scenes at Handwoven
    This week, we asked Christina Garton, our new Handwoven assistant editor and also a new weaver, to share her experience of how an issue comes together. ––Anita By this time the September/October 2011 Issue of Handwoven should have safely arrived
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  • Dealing with Loose Ends
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn! I have a basic question that I bet other “not-very-experienced” weavers also have. I always seem to end up with loose ends in my projects where one
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  • The Story of Arachne
    A fabulous spider-silk cloth on exhibit at Chicago Museum of Art shows one of the more unusual ways in which we associate spiders with weaving. But perhaps the most famous connection is the Greek myth of the gifted weaver Arachne . According to the myth
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  • Lucy Morgan: Weaver, Teacher, Hero of Handweaving
    Aft er the Industrial Revolution, American handweaving was in danger of going extinct. Fortunately for us, wonderful individuals around the country kept it alive by opening weaving schools and teaching others. Lucy Morgan was just one of the many who
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  • Advice for Weaving Students
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, I know you've taught many weavers over the years. What advice do you share with your students at The Weavers' School ? ––Regina Phalanges
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  • Back to School, Back to Basics: Handweaving Teachers Share Advice
    It's back-to-school time for teachers and students alike, and for many of us weavers, it's time to set some goals for the weaving months ahead. I like to set myself learning as well as weaving goals for the coming fall and winter evenings at the
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  • A Free eBook for Twenty-First Century Weavers
    How to Weave a Scarf from Weaving Today: Six Handwoven Scarves I've said many times that weaving is unique in its appeal to two widely divergent personality types: techy people who love structure and pattern and touch-feely people who love color and
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  • Fashion Trends in the Handweaving World
    Tien Chiu's Kodachrome Coat is one of the fashion-forward designs you'll find in the September/October issue of Handwoven . Any week now, those mammoth September issues of the big fashion magazines will be straining newsstand shelves and clogging
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  • Apron Rods: Metal vs Wood
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi, Madelyn. Two of my looms have metal apron rods and two have square-sided wooden apron rods. (And now the whole world knows that I am a loom junkie!) I find it easier to
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  • The Darker Side of Crinolines
    Anybody who's seen Gone with the Wind knows the beauty of a crinoline -formed dress. The graceful image of Scarlet O'Hara descending the staircase, hooped skirt gently swishing back and forth, makes crinolines seem like the epitome of elegance
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  • Decoding Dress
    People have always used clothing to make personal statement. For centuries the color purple was associated with certain European royalty. Today people might use a T-shirt to inform others of their favorite sports teams or bands. Wearing a handwoven garment
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  • Warping Sticks
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, I was given warping sticks for my birthday. Now I need to know how often to insert them in the warp. Thanks as always for your help, Ginny Stockton Hi Ginny!
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  • Good news for Weaving Fashionistas!
    New eBook! Everything you to know about designing and sewing with handwoven fabrics. Learn to make perfect seams, trims, and more! For all you weavers who wish for projects you can wear (or are tired of those table runners, rugs, and other flat items
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  • From the Land to the Loom
    We don't often think about it, but our weaving begins with earth and light: the wood for our looms and tools, the plant fibers, and the plants that feed the animals whose fiber we weave, all begin with the good land and the light of the sun. This
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  • False Cross
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, I have heard about a "false cross" when winding several ends together, but never really experienced the problem until this warp. I wound 2 ends of 8
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  • Textile Politics: The Fabric of a Flag
    The Textile Society of America has announced the theme of it's thirteenth bienniel symposium in 2012. In honor of the election year (one supposes) the theme is "Textiles and Politics." If your mind buzzes at this topic as much as mine does
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  • Handwoven September/October 2011
    The September/October 2011 issue of Handwoven is dedicated to handwoven fashion. The winners of the Väv Garment Challenge are showcased in a beautiful photo gallery and instructions for weaving and sewing each stunning project are also included. Other projects include a scarf woven with threads
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  • Cooking at the Loom
    I collect cookbooks, which is pretty funny considering that I almost never follow a recipe. This time of year, my M.O. is to go to the farmer's market Saturday morning, revel in the colors and smells of farm-fresh produce, bring home a fridge-full
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  • Shed Height on Countermarch Looms
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hello, In a recent Ask Madelyn , you stated that "On countermarch looms, the closer the shafts are to the fell, the bigger the potential shed." This seems counterintuitive
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  • Weaving and the Stó:lo People
    Weaving has always been important to the Stó:lo people of the Fraser Valley in British Columbia, Canada. Before the Europeans brought sheep to North America, the Stó:lo used wool from mountain goats or small domesticated furry dogs (called
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  • My Weave-Along: Don't Try This at Home
    OK, so today is August 2nd, one day after the Weave-Along ended, and I’m just starting to weave. What’s my problem! Well, for one thing, I have new sympathy and respect for the contributors I contact for articles for Handwoven . I tell them
    Read More >>
  • The Key to Weaving, Now in Living Color
    This great link was passed on by Mariellen Boss: " Mary Ellouise Black , an occupational therapist, teacher, master weaver and writer, created almost single-handedly a renaissance in crafts in Nova Scotia in the 1940's and 1950's. Her best
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  • Weaving and Old Wives' Tales
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi there. I have a 10-shaft Macomber loom. I have been told that weaving with only four of the shafts is not a good idea. I find this strange, but I was told that I have to
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  • Fiber Fondlers (not) Anonymous
    Everyone has their own path through the textile arts. For example, I am a filthy fiber fondler. Perfect inspiration: my own yarn handspun from roving dyed by friend Klaus Kronenberg. Perfect vacation fun: weaving a handspun scarf on my sweet little rigid
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  • Check Your Handwoven Calendar (And Put Down Those Phones)!
    Whatever happened to paper calendars? Our cover girl, a colorful deflected d oubleweave scarf by Kathleen Morris. Isn't she a beauty? Barbara Walker's February offering will set "Hearts Afire" Just mention setting dates at a committee
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  • Sleying Handspun Yarn
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, I am in the process of weaving a blanket from my own handspun yarns. I determined the sett should be 5 epi. This would allow for the inconsistency in the handspun
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  • St. Paul the Hermit
    Thanks to Handwoven's handy calendar you might know that St. Paul the Hermit is one of the 13 patron saints of weaving , but do you know why? St. Paul was not a weaver by trade, but out of necessity. After escaping persecution in Thebes he moved to
    Read More >>
  • Free Weaving Patterns eBook
    Free Weaving Patterns from Weaving Today: Rigid-Heddle Loom Patterns and Huck Lace and Collapse Weave Projects Here’s a free collection of weaving patterns and how-to information that every weaver needs—new weavers and experienced weavers
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  • Fish and Houseguests
    I’ve recently learned something disconcerting. When you live in Colorado, friends, family, and sometimes casual acquaintances will come visit you en masse during the hot summer months. They all say they will only stay “a couple of days,”
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  • Adjusting Setts
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn, I'm a fairly new weaver and have been doing a lot of projects in 8/2 cotton. I ran across a draft for towels that calls for 22/2 cottolin at 3,175 yd/lb, sett
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  • A Rigid-Heddle History
    A predecessor of today's rigid-heddle looms was the box loom or tape loom , dating to ancient times and used for weaving narrow bands for straps and decorations on clothing. (The term tape loom can also refer to weaving with just a rigid heddle .
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  • Weaving Demonstrations
    Christina is among the many thousands of people worldwide who enjoy public weaving demonstrations each year. Many of these take place at history museums and art shows . A survey of videos on YouTube suggests that overshot is popular to demo, perhaps because
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  • The Right Reed
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  • Introducing Christina, the New Kid
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  • Help for the Color Challenged
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  • Bobbin Burns
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  • Forever Plaid
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    Many people in recent years have joined the "locavore" movement, choosing food grown close to home in an effort to promote sustainable local economies, minimize carbon emissions, and eat healthier. (There's an interesting offshoot, the "invasivore"
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    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn, When you are warping from back to front, is it better to chain from the end of the warp or from the front of the warp? Appreciate your reply, Richard Schenkman
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  • Weave-Along with us, there's still time!
    Weave Along with us! There is still time! I don't know about you, but I need deadlines. Maybe it's because the publishing world revolves around deadlines, or maybe it's a carryover from college, when papers-due and test dates ruled. I was
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  • Master Yarn Chart
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  • In Praise of Teachers
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  • Teacher of the Year
    The votes are in! Tom Knisely of The Mannings is Handwove n’s Teacher of the Year! Tom received the highest number of votes in our recent survey and his students wrote the most compelling descriptions of his teaching skills. His knowledge of weaving
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    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Greetings, Madelyn. I was delighted to see the heddle counts listed for the two projects on pg. 40 and 42 of the May/June 2011 issue of Handwoven , but there were no heddle
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  • The Champagne of Fabrics
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  • Weaving as Performance Art, Revisited
    A couple of weeks ago, spurred on by stories of "yarn bombers ," I asked you all for examples of handweaving as a performance art. Several of you commented on Weaving Today , and I was pleased to be reminded that weavers were pioneers in performance
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  • Warp Color Changes
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn, I am planning to weave the colorful towels in the March/April 2011 issue (“Happy Towels by Tracy Kaestner, pp. 52-53). There are many color changes in the
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  • The Colors of Your Thoughts
    "The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts." ––Marcus Aurelius Demetrio Lazo's rug celebrates nature with a wealth of naturally dyed colors. Last year our local handweavers guild surveyed members about what kind of
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  • Good-bye and I will miss you
    Hi Weavers, Yes, the rumors are true. I am leaving my job as Managing Editor of Handwoven . It's been tons of fun, a lot of work, and I've really enjoyed getting to know members of the weaving community. In many ways, this is a parting of sweet
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  • Raise a Shuttle to Your Weaving Supplier
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  • Twisted Fringe
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  • Green
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  • Laura Fry - The Impatient Weaver
    When people meet me for the first time and find out I’m a weaver quite often the response is “Oh, you’re a weaver! You must be so patient!” This reaction always makes me squirm a bit because if there is one thing that I am not
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  • Laura Fry - The Impatient Weaver
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  • Handweaving as Performance Art
    I’ve been reading and hearing a lot lately about “ yarn-bombing .” In this fusion of textile, street, and performance art, public objects such as trees, statues, fire hydrants, lampposts, buses, and bridges are adorned and sometimes
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  • Unwinding Linen
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Madelyn, It was recently suggested to a meeting of linen weavers I attended that one should unwind linen on tubes from a horizontal direction. The person speaking said that
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  • Animated Bayeux Tapestries
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  • Another Freebie from Weaving Today!
    All About Weaving Looms with Weaving Today: A Guide to Selecting and Using a Weaving Loom Maybe you are contemplating an addition to your loom collection? I know. It is shameful, but many of us do have loom collections. Perhaps you want to take the plunge
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  • Saving the Weavers
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  • Never Out of Style
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  • Finishing Handwovens
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hello, Madelyn. My questions concern finishing and care of pieces, made from yarns that are a blend of fibers with different properties, such as a blend made of cellulose-based
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  • Sonic Fabric
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  • Potholes in Paris
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  • When You Can't Take It With You
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  • Plain Weave Header
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, In a weaving design book that I'm reading, the author talks about the functions of the plain-weave header. She mentions the usual: spreading the warp threads
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  • Maryanne Ladensack's Definitions
    In the new Interweave Knit&Spin bookazine, Maryanne Ladensack gives some useful and often entertaining definitions of spinning terms. Here's a fun one: " Batt : A) A flying creature? B) A wooden stick used to hit baseballs? or C) A rectangular
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  • Handwoven May/June 2011
    The May/June 2011 issue of Handwoven magazine contains fourteen lace projects for woven lace. We've included delicate dotted swiss napkins, instructions for weaving eco-friendly cotton scarves, how to weave beaded bands on a bow loom, and more. We've also included a review of all of the winners
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  • Our First Anniversary
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  • Tabby
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  • Fabric Dictionary
    Did you know that iridescent cotton is also known as changeable fabric and shot cotton? This is cloth woven with different colors for warp and weft. When light plays with the fabric, there can be a dazzling shimmering effect. Shot cotton can be woven
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  • Amanda Cutler - Learning to Weave
    My yarn journey began in 2004 after an unexpected death in our family when I suddenly took to knitting to help me through a tough time. I didn’t have the money for a class so I bought knitting needles, yarn, and a 1960's how-to book from a thrift
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  • Amanda Cutler - Learning to Weave
    My yarn journey began in 2004 after an unexpected death in our family when I suddenly took to knitting to help me through a tough time. I didn’t have the money for a class so I bought knitting needles, yarn, and a 1960's how-to book from a thrift
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  • Rita Hagenbruch - Cloth with meaning
    I am the second generation product of Swedish immigrants. My maternal grandparents and siblings emmigrated during the 1920’s from Råggärd Parrish in Dalsland to Chicago. Grandma and grandpa had siblings who remained in Sweden. About 1967
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  • Rita Hagenbruch - Cloth with meaning
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  • Of Mortal Beauty
    Laura Militzer Bryant comes across as smart, calm, competent, grounded. At first meeting, you might take her for a science teacher or an engineer. But in fact she is a masterful weaver , an artist who sees color as energy, and a celebrant of “the
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  • About Floating Selvedges
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com We have two floating selvedge questions this week: Many patterns in Handwoven have black dots at the edges of the threading diagram that are labeled "floating selvedge"
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  • Laura Bryant's Stuff
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  • Nature Abhors a Vacuum
    " Nature abhors a vacuum. And so do I. " - Anne Gibbons It's spring cleaning time again, and while I empathize with Anne Gibbons, I also enjoy dusting out the corners. It gives me a chance to revisit beloved things normally taken for granted
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  • Selecting a Reed
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hello Madelyn, Regarding the recent Ask Madelyn about the choice of a reed to use with particular setts, I wondered if it should be mentioned that a pattern sometimes helps
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  • A Slice of History
    Here's a slice of Interweave history from Linda Ligon: " A Weaver's Book of Eight-Shaft Patterns actually had two extraordinary editors. One was Carol Strickler, who was phoning in proof corrections even while she was in the hospital receiving
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  • Rosalie Neilson - Too Many Irons in the Fire
    Last week, I returned from the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, N.C. where I taught a week long course in rep weaving during their Scandinavian Heritage Week. I learned the derivation of a term we’ve all used when we are overwhelmed with
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  • Rosalie Neilson - Too Many Irons in the Fire
    Last week, I returned from the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, N.C. where I taught a week long course in rep weaving during their Scandinavian Heritage Week. I learned the derivation of a term we’ve all used when we are overwhelmed with
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  • Freedom to Weave
    A peaceful view from our retreat setting As soon as I finish writing this, I’ll pack and head off to my weaving guild’s third annual retreat. It’s a fabulous thing. We bring weaving, spinning, knitting, beading, and other projects, plus
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  • Weft Color Changes
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Madelyn, I am weaving tartan and wondering what is the proper way to deal with the frequent colour changes. Does one break and restart or carry the yarn up the edges. The latter
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  • Laurie Herrick
    Pacific Northwest artist Laurie Herrick took inspiration from nature to weave tapestry and fabrics that ranged from representational to op art. An exhibit running through July 30, 2011, at the Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland, Oregon, celebrates
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  • Robyn Spady - Unexpected Lessons in Color
    I started weaving in 1969. As I reflect on over 40 years of weaving, there are moments where small lessons in color and design have been critical to my evolution as a fiber artist. In the current issue of Handwoven, I got to flex my artistic muscles by
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  • Robyn Spady - Unexpected Lessons in Color
    I started weaving in 1969. As I reflect on over 40 years of weaving, there are moments where small lessons in color and design have been critical to my evolution as a fiber artist. In the current issue of Handwoven , I got to flex my artistic muscles
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  • We're making a fuss! (Teacher of the Year)
    Waffle weave towels woven by students of Rosalie Neilson Have you been looking for our annual FiberHearts award? Well this year, we are trying something different, and we are getting fussy. We want to make a huge fuss over a weaving teacher who excels
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  • Floating Selvedge
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn! I have difficulty with the floating selvedge; I know it is not threaded through a heddle but through the reed. When I’m weaving, though, it is always on the
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  • Mary and Anni disagree
    It is unlikely that any sole opinion exclusively meets the needs of our craft. Some of our most noted weavers had disagreements. In Weaver , Vol. 6 No. 3, Mary Atwater wrote, "The reasons for weaving are as various as the needs, gratifications and
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  • Liz Gipson - Small Acts
    This is what I’ve been thinking about lately: commercial cloth. After watching a documentary about the Triangle fire on American Experience on PBS, I can’t get the clothing manufacturing process out of my head. Before coming to work at Schacht
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  • Liz Gipson - Small Acts
    This is what I’ve been thinking about lately: commercial cloth. After watching a documentary about the Triangle fire on American Experience on PBS, I can’t get the clothing manufacturing process out of my head. Before coming to work at Schacht
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  • Merrily weaving along--almost!
    I’m Weaving-Along—Almost! So this is my first blog entry for our Weave-Along! I hope to take you with me through my, er, not very exemplary design process. We would love for you to comment and share your Weave-Along progress by posting descriptions
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  • Learn the Secrets to Designing Handwovens!
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  • Choosing a reed
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hello Madelyn, Regarding last week’s Ask Madelyn about the choice of a reed to use with particular setts, I wondered if it should be mentioned that a pattern sometimes
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  • Tribute to want and hope
    Anyone who has read Charles Dickens has heard of London's Foundling Hospital, founded in 1739 by philanthropist Captain Thomas Coram, artist William Hogarth, and musician George Freidrich Handel. Dickens loved the hospital, and in Little Dorritt
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  • Time For Free Stuff
    Learn How to Weave with Weaving Today: Weaving Terms, Warping a Loom and More You already know how to weave or are well on your way! Chances are when friends and family see the stunning pieces you have woven on your loom, someone says, "I want to
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  • Su Butler - My Weaving Journey
    I have never blogged before. But I see blogging as I see weaving. I love puzzles. Word puzzles, pictorial puzzles, and most especially, problems that need solutions. I am blessed and forever grateful to have been educated at a time when schools taught
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  • Su Butler - My Weaving Journey
    I have never blogged before. But I see blogging as I see weaving. I love puzzles. Word puzzles, pictorial puzzles, and most especially, problems that need solutions. I am blessed and forever grateful to have been educated at a time when schools taught
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  • Happenings - Opening our Guest Blog
    Beautiful weather here in Colorado! It's a good thing too. I am a very poor driver, but today I acted like an adult and drove myself ninety miles roundtrip to do an interview for an upcoming Handwoven. You'll have to read My Space in our May/June
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  • An Explorer at Home
    “ We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started... and know the place for the first time. ” – T.S. Eliot Sara likes to weave simple fabrics in rich hand-dyed colors . You would
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  • Best Reed Size for 30 epi
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, A recent Ask Madelyn concerned sett and reed sizes. I have a follow-up question. If I want 30 epi in my warp and I have the choice of an 8 or 12 or 15-dent reed
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  • Architectural Applications in Textiles
    Nothing says "Welcome" like a handsome rug, so artist and teacher Seyed Alavi has thrown out the welcome mat to travellers at the Sacramento Airport. Alavi's public art installation " Flying Carpet " gives visitors the sense of
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  • Weave-Along with Us
    It might not look much like a real rose, but the “rose” motif is one of the most common block designs you’ll find in handwoven cloth. Though it’s usually in overshot, the rose can be woven in any block weave; just a few are shown
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  • Hanging Textiles
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Do you have information on the best ways to hang weavings on the wall? How can I mount them to not cause damage or stretch out? I have several wonderful pieces from travels
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  • A Flying Shuttle
    According to Wikipedia, the fly shuttle had great influence on the Industrial Revolution. Prior to this invention, if a weaving width was greater than arm's length, two people were required to weave the cloth. When John Kay invented the fly shuttle
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  • Lorn No More
    Dear wise, generous, imaginative, lyrical readers, how can I ever thank you? Last week I wrote you a tongue-in-cheek request for advice with a very real problem: deciding what to weave with some beloved yarn, and you responded with empathy, ideas, personal
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  • Learning to Weave
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, Help! I am new to weaving! Can you tell me what reed I should use for fine yarns on the loom, and can you tell me what is a good book to buy that will teach me
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  • Handwoven fabric and quilts
    Back when all cloth was handwoven, no scrap was wasted. When clothing was worn out, the remaining fabric was often used to make quilts Today, commercial quilting fabric is a big industry, but many quilters also quilt with fabric that holds memories: a
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  • Learning to weave, spin, felt and more with 4-H
    Have you ever wondered how to entice young people to want to learn how to weave, or spin, or felt, etc? This weekend I saw this very thing happening at the third annual Larimer County 4-H Fiber Fun Fest in Loveland, Colorado. In talking with Event Coordinator
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  • A Vacation with Bertha Gray Hayes
    When I was growing up, there was no such thing as spring vacation. Because of that, I always daydream about what I would do if I was going on holiday in the spring. Well! My latest make-believe journey began back in early December when cutler070805 posted
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  • Advice for the Loomlorn
    Dear Readers, My handsome hunks of yarn (Clockwise from upper left: rust Highland- style, teal Rauma, three Swedish skeins, and dark brown Romney-alpaca handspun) I’ve never written for relationship advice before, but I am having commitment issues
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  • Measuring fabric on the loom
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hello, Madelyn! I am a new weaver, and I would like to know how to measure the length of fabric I have already woven. I have searched all of the weaving books I have on hand
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  • Weaving Bawdiness
    Today's slightly risqué post is written in a centuries-old tradition of weaving bawdiness. From the folk-rock Steeleye Span classic, The Weaver and the Factory Maid , to the immortal Robert Burns, weavers have been known as a lusty bunch. In
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  • Handwoven March/April 2011
    The March/April 2011 issue of Handwoven is a Designer's Notebook full of tips to help you with your next handwoven creation. Learn different approaches to design and ways to use fiber, color, and texture in handwovens.
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  • Bon Appetit!
    Ramona Abernathy-Paine blended two yarns for each color in these warp-rep placemats, featured in Handwoven March/April 2011 . Lately I've been reading Appetite for Life , Noel Riley Fitch's excellent biography of Julia Child, the woman who brought
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  • Weaving with Handspun
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Madelyn, As a weaver on the transition from knitting I have a question about sett. I know the answer is SAMPLE. Handwoven put out the lovely PDF that shows yarns used in the
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  • Parlez vous franÒ«ais?
    English is full of French words for cooking: sauté , fricassee, entree, bouillon, and many more. Many of our textile terms also come from France, where the Industrial Revolution in weaving began. Here are just a few: ` Cambric or Chambra y , named
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  • In the beginning
    We just sent Handwoven Volume XXXII, Number 2 to press! Way back in the Fall of 1975, Volume I Number 1 of interweave mountain/plains fiber crafts was first published. Linda Ligon was the editor and publisher. . Does anyone remember these early magazines;
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  • Are You Blocked? Get Unblocked!
    So you started with a weaving class. Maybe you wove a scarf or a twill sampler. You loved every minute. You got a loom. You gathered yarns and other lovely tools. One day, during your third or fourth warp, you said to yourself: I am a weaver. But you
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  • The surgeon's knot
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn! I have watched your Warp Your Loom video and can’t wait to start my next warp. I have two questions, though. In one of the places where you were tying a certain
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  • Art for All
    With Valentine's Day just around the corner, it seems appropriate to think about how we can open our hearts and be of service to others through weaving. One person who solidly uses weaving to spread the love is studio artist and weaver Kathryn Pannepacker
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  • Are you in a Study Group?
    Back in the May/June 2010 issue of Handwoven , we introduced the Handwoven Study Groups as part of our new website. Since that time, lots of you have joined a group. Your first job was to weave a sample, due January 1st. Overshot by Rita Hagenbruch The
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  • Skeleton tie-ups and countermarch looms
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn! I want to weave a draft from the Best of Weaver’s Huck Lace that gives a skeleton tie-up so you can achieve eight different sheds on six treadles. But when
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  • Sericulture
    Tomorrow, February 3, is the start of the Chinese New Year. We can be thankful to the Chinese for their contribution to sericulture (silk production). For thousands of years, it was a closely guarded secret, but it eventually spread from China to other
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  • My new loom
    Hello Weavers! It is freezing here in Loveland! I walk to work and this morning when I was about half way to the office, I had to decide whether to return home or hurry to the office. Needless to say, I hurried (and I do mean hurried) to the office -
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  • What (not) to wear!
    I haven’t actually watched “What Not to Wear” on TV, but I’m sure I make every mistake in the book. When I’m shopping for clothes (not a favorite task), I only notice the fabrics. If I love the fabric, I love the garment
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  • Managing Weft Colors
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Madelyn – I have a pattern that calls for 8 picks of light and then 8 picks of dark. How do I keep the selvedge edge from having a long loop of one of the colors? I don’t
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  • History of Tailoring
    According to " The History of Tailoring ," the art of cutting and sewing cloth developed in Europe between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries. The Oxford English Dictionary's first reference to the word "tailor" is from the year
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  • The Page Abides
    eBooks let me zoom in on the details. . . zero in on the topics I want. . . and window-shop enticing content. I live within spitting distance of a book-lover's Mecca. Powell's "City of Books," in Portland, Oregon, is the largest independent
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  • Tabby and Pattern
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi, there. In the "Mary Meigs Atwater Recipe Book" Series VI No. 11 it says,"Weave the pattern as follows: Treadle 2, 7 shots darker color Treadle 4, 7 shots
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  • The Yarn Monster
    Let's face it, we live in a gadget world. That's probably good news for those weavers who are tool junkies. Some of us love our compu-dobbies and the latest weaving software, and some of us love beautiful tools that hearken back to a simpler day
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  • Weaving Tools
    Not too long ago, I asked folks to share non-weaving tools they used in their studios. You may have noticed that we included your great suggestions in the My Space department of our Jan/Feb issue along with tips for maintaining your loom. What are some
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  • New Year's Customs in Peru
    We've officially begun the second decade of the new millenium, and we hope your new year is off to an auspicious start. In case you need some extra auspiciousness for future new years, here's a textile-related good luck tip from Betty Doerr, of
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  • Adventures of the Loom and Soul
    “ Every production of an artist should be the expression of an adventure of his soul. ” – –William Somerset Maugham Modern doubleweave band from Bolivia F or me, weaving is always an adventure, sometimes because I head off into
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  • Best Way to Warp
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn! I read all the reasons people gave in the Warping War Forum for warping back to front, front to back, or sectionally. But I wasn’t able to figure out which
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  • Late Breaking News
    Hello, One of everbody's favorite weavers, Tom Knisely, will be commentator for live coverage of the Pennsylvania Sheep to Shawl competition on Wed., Jan. 12, at 3:00 PM EST. Tom has done this for several years and also volunteers with Sara Knisely
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  • Weaving for the Home Award
    Be sure to check out our Weaving for the Home Award Gallery. Our most recent recipient is Lori Pruessing who participated in Wisconcin's Loominosity 2010. You can see Lori's gorgeous rug here . Handwoven offers this award to honor functional handwoven
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  • Handwoven/Väv Garment Challenge
    Hello weavers! Have you been longing to transform your handwoven cloth into handwoven clothing? If so, then please accept the Handwoven / Väv Garment Challenge. Handwoven and Väv magasinet are cosponsors of a runway fashion show to be held at
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  • The Whys of Warping
    You may not have heard her mentioned among the recent Golden Globe nominees, but our own Madelyn van der Hoogt is starring in a new video, in which she shows us the path to serene warping. (Sadly, this was not filmed on location in Bali, nor are there
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  • Skeleton Tie-ups
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn. In the December 15th Ask Madelyn, you reviewed skeleton tie-ups – how do they work on a countermarch loom? I tried it and if you treadle more than one treadle
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  • Tartans
    In the January/February issue of Handwoven , Linda L. Davis celebrates her weaverly Scottish ancestry with a tartan jacket. Th e earliest evidence of tartans in Scotland is a scrap of woolen cloth from the 3rd century AD, which was used as a stopper in
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  • Digital Yarns
    No one loves to spin a yarn better than Interweave's founder, Linda Ligon, but now she gets to spin yarns in a whole new way: digitally! Here she is to tell you about it. Seeing spinners in action is a great way to get energized about yarn. You have
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  • Coverlets
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com I would like to find a pattern for a traditional coverlet. However, I would prefer to make it the size of a throw as opposed to a full bedcover. Does anyone have suggestions
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  • Digital Tools and Weaving
    Digital tools are becoming a common part of the weaver's toolbox. Drafting and design programs let us experiment with digital (virtual) yarns to see what our ideas will look like before we commit yarn to loom. Other software takes us from design through
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  • The Meaning of Cloth
    Table Runner inspired by Kente cloth One of my favorite things about working for Handwoven is that I get to see and handle most of the items that appear on the pages of the magazine. Whether it is a project piece, a new item for the store such as the
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  • Yarn and Sett
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, I have trouble in figuring out what project I can do with a 12-dent reed and how to determine the yarns and setts I can use. I want to weave dish towels and dish
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  • Christmas Stockings
    "The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that Saint Nicholas soon would be there." Everyone is familiar with this line from the poem by Clement C. Moore entitled The Night Before Christmas . But what is the origin of hanging
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  • Happy Anniversary Saunderstown Weaving School
    Congratulations to the Saunderstown Weaving School of Rhode Island! In celebration of their 36 th anniversary, they are holding an exhibit at the Hera Gallery in Wakefield, Rhode Island through December 23 . There are 79 pieces on display that represent
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  • The Art of the Possible
    Jane Patrick explores the simple joys of rigid heddle O tto von Bismarck said that politics is “the art of the possible.” You could take this to be very cynical or very Zen, depending on your perspective. (Bismarck also said “When a
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  • Skeleton Tie-up
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hello Madelyn, I have a collection of old Handwoven magazines. In the September/October 1998 issue there is an article about Rib Block Weave for a 4-shaft loom. I have a 22"
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  • Lego Sheep
    We’ve all heard of rigid heddles, but rigid sheep? No, I’m not talking about ovines in rigor mortis. Handwoven managing editor Pattie Graver has discovered a previously unknown breed: Lego sheep! Those clever folks from Denmark have come up
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  • 16-Shaft Draft, Geeky Stuff, and Lovely Hands
    Later this week, when the January/February 2011 issue of Handwoven starts arriving in mailboxes, you will notice a reference to 16-shaft drafts for Laura Fry's "Say It" scarves. We'll soon be posting this information here on Weaving
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  • Wild Color
    It's that gloomy time of day where the sun is already set, but it's not quite dark outside. It's that "almost evening" shade of gray. Anyway, I'm doing a bit of housekeeping at my desk from the Jan/Feb issue, and I just picked
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  • Bonnie Tarses in The 12 Days of Weaving
    Greetings, Although I don't know Bonnie personally, I do wish to thank her for this great video . It was sent to me by Philadelphia Roving Reporter Maryanne McDevitt. The entire time I watched it, I kept thinking "ain't it da truth?"
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  • Topics for future eBooks
    Hello, We’re working on topics for the next Best of Handwoven ebooks and would love to know which ones you’d like. Tell us your most favorite one and least favorite one of these five (or suggest a topic of your own): Baby blankets (projects
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  • Dances with Wools
    Tsimshian dancers spread their ravenstail "wings" My family had an extra joyful experience this Thanksgiving weekend, thanks to some very special weavers and dancers. We visited the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture in Seattle, Washington
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  • Warping with a Sectional Beam
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi, Madelyn. Whenever I look at some of these weaving patterns today, I think that they must be for a jack loom and be set up with a warping board. However a lot of us have
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  • Ravenstail Weaving
    According to the University of Alaska, Ravenstail weaving is an ancient style of twining and surface braiding by native peoples along the Pacific Northwest coast until the late 1700s, when it evolved into Chilkat weaving, and the Ravenstail tradition
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  • The Weaving Adventures of Edgar and Rita
    Do you have a studio pet and/or children in your life? If so, you will love the delightful children's book The Weaving Adventures of Edgar and Rita. Edgar, a golden retriever, lives with Rita, a weaver. Edgar accompanies Rita on frequent walks and
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  • Welcome to My World
    Hear how weaving led Kathryn Alexander to explore energized yarns I’m just going to say it: I am probably the luckiest fiber person in the world. After dreaming of this for years, I get to work at Interweave, learn from master craftspeople and artists
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  • Turned Weaves
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Greetings, Madelyn! I keep hearing about "turned" weaves. I think this means to take a draft where something (the floats?) usually run horizontally and make it run
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  • Traditional Winter Garments
    To quote the song, “the weather outside is frightful" in Northern climes. Hence the northern penchant for traditional garments of dense, water-repellent wool fabrics such as German loden and Scandinavian vadmel , perfect for people who work
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  • Christmas Ideas Past and Present
    One of the fun things about working here at Interweave is having access to the archives. We are fortunate to have many of the notebooks that once belonged to Sylvia Pocock. Sylvia was an accomplished weaver from the Baltimore area and from what I understand
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  • January/February 2011
    The January/February 2011 issue of Handwoven magazine is full of ideas to help you celebrate, communicate, and commemorate the special memories and events in your life. You will find cultural inspiration for your contemporary weaving; our cover features a striking warp-rep table runner by Tom Knisely
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  • Of Memory and Hope
    Nilda shares Andean techniques at CTTC T heologians speak of the “community of memory and hope,” and to think of community in this way has always been very powerful for me. I just returned from Peru where I had the privilege of attending Tinkuy
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  • Cotton Shrinkage
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn! In the Slow Cloth issue (November/December 2010), Rita Hagenbruch’s coverlet on page 43 uses unmercerized 16/2 cotton and 20/2 pearl (mercerized) cotton for
    Read More >>
  • Scaffold Weaving
    Beweave It! We all know that tapestry weaving involves discontinuous weft, but have you ever seen weaving with discontinuous warp and weft? It's called scaffold weaving, and it's been around for at least a thousand years. In scaffold weaving,
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  • Happy Thanksgiving
    Just wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! Can you imagine how long the list would be if we tried to name all of the things about weaving that we are thankful for in our lives? We could get really silly and instead of saying yarn
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  • Attention Guilds and Bloggers
    Attention Guilds and Bloggers Gifts from shop.weavingtoday.com Wouldn’t you love to earn some cash from your web presence? We want to help you do that very thing. Did you know that you can become an Interweave Affiliate and earn 10% on purchases
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  • Fabric Drape
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn, I am curious what factors contribute to fabric drape. I know that different fiber types and weave structures make a difference, but what are some general guidelines
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  • Woolen Sails in Scandinavia
    The Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde, Denmark has been conducting research on woolen sails since 1977. Weavers and spinners from Denmark and Norway have been spinning single ply yarn in-the-grease from spelsau wool for the sails. Eight lengths of cloth
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  • Warping War Results
    So which is best—Back to Front or Front to Back? The jury is still out on which way is really “best,” but it is clear that weavers can agree to disagree. Here are the Handwoven Editor’s Picks (Madelyn van der Hoogt, Pattie Graver
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  • Top Ten Table Runners on Eight Shafts
    Eva Gerd Asher's Holiday Table Runner Winter is coming, so get ready for those long, uninterrupted, warm and cozy days at your loom. Need some great ideas for projects? Here’s just what you need—a new Best of Handwoven eBook: Top Ten Table
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  • Twisted Warp Chain
    Madelyn, When I wind a warp and tie it onto the warp beam’s apron rod, I always have the problem of it becoming twisted after I put the lease sticks in and start winding on. That is, as I wind the warp on the beam with the lease sticks in place
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  • Creating Love
    Beweave It! Are you ready for some wild fun? If you need a pick-me-up jolt, this might do the trick better than a double expresso. Check out this electrifying short film entitled Creating Love . It is unbeweaveable! It was made by the DaWanda Community
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  • Donatella, Coco, and You
    Jacket by Judith Shangold Donatella Versace, Giorgio Armani, Coco Chanel, and Stella McCartney. Wait a minute! Fashion designers? This is supposed to be Weaving Today’s e-newsletter. Oh, but it is, and it’s your chance to be a clothing designer
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  • Proper Sett
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, I am doing a doubleweave scarf (MOMA Scarf) from a past Handwoven and I am using an 2/14 Alpaca Silk rather than the regular 30/2 silk (when twisting them they
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  • Smart Textiles
    The Technical School of Weaving, or Väfskolan, of the University of Borås was founded in 1866. Today the University is a world research leader in “smart textiles’” such as cloth that changes color when a mobile phone rings
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  • Connected by Threads
    Linda Ligon, Interwea ve’s founder, started Piecework in 1993 to honor handwork and explore the personal stories of traditional makers, what they made, and how they made their creations. Every other month, Handwoven ’s sister magazine, Piecework
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  • Overshot
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn, I have come across a question about determining which tabby to use after weaving the first pattern pick to make the pattern look 'right' in overshot. Donna
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  • Kilims
    Textiles often carry messages down the threads of time. For example, for thousands of years the women of Cappadocia, in Central Turkey, have woven kilim rugs that were far more than floor coverings. Before writing and photos were available, village women
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  • Transcendental Weaving
    Since Madelyn chose to get everyone stirred up over warping last week, I think it’s time to restore some serenity to our weaving community. ( Tell us which warping method is best, you have until this Friday. Prizes will be announced in next week's
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  • Finishing
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, I prefer to make up my own designs rather than working from directions; but I'm a fairly new weaver and can't always remember how to wash my new piece
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  • Campaign for Wool
    Beweave It! Like to weave with wool? Well, your wool devotion puts you in good company. None other than HRH the Prince of Wales is patron to the Campaign for Wool , a cross-industry initiative convened by Prince Charles to promote " the natural,
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  • Counterbalance Shed
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi, Madelyn. I recently bought an old counterbalance loom. I thought one of the advantages of the counterbalance design was that they tend to give a larger shed, but I'm
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  • Warp Weighted Weaving
    Beweave It! If the whole front-to-back vs. back-to-front question is too stressful for you, there are alternatives. For millenia, weavers have produced stunning cloth without a thought to reed or shafts. In Scandinavia, that bastion of back-to-front warping
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  • Shake, Raddle, and Roll
    Things have been too peaceful lately over at Handwoven , so Madelyn just had to stir things up. "It's a touchy issue," we said. "No good can come of this," we opined. But she would have none of it, so here she is to tell you about
    Read More >>
  • Sleying
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hello Madelyn! Is there an easy way to sley two, three, or four different warps (hand-dyed) together? When I have done it, it's a jumbled up mess. I get it done, but it's
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  • Color in Weaving
    By now many of you have taken Madelyn's weaver's personality survey , and the last I checked, the color/texture people and the TBDs had a solid lead over structure/pattern folk. So maybe it's time for a bit of self-study about color in weaving
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  • No Weaver Left Behind
    Our Handwoven study groups have been hard at work under the expert and caring eyes of their Mentors. If you haven’t had the fun of participating (learn more at weavingtoday.com ), we thought you’d like to see what your fellow weavers are up
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  • Spinning and Weaving Week
    In honor of Spinning and Weaving Week, I thought it might be a good idea to celebrate the weaver within each of us. Maybe this week, we can recognize our own unique gifts and offer those to our community instead of falling into that silly trap of comparing
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  • Turning an Overshot Draft
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, I am planning to do a turned (warp-way) overshot project and I am following a pattern. Is it possible to turn any overshot pattern into its turned version should
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  • Waulking Songs and Your Chance to Compose
    Traditional waulking songs helped make the hard work of fulling cloth into a festive gathering. Here is a gorgeous performance of a traditional Scottish waulking song , performed by singer Margaret Stewart on the BBC series The Highland Sessions . And
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  • 'Tis the Season
    In times past. textile tasks helped define the rhythm of the year. Anyone who's looked at the 2011 Handwoven Calendar has seen the days of the many saints who oversaw and blessed the steps of cloth-making: St. Blaise of the wool-combers, St. Crispin
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  • Star and Rose Treadling
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Madelyn, Could you please comment on star and rose treadling? I gather star = tromp as writ. Rose is more confusing. Is it the name given to a variety of lift plans that result
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  • Spray-On Clothing
    If you're one of those beautiful people who can wear jeans that look like they were painted on (or if you just admire the aesthetic), rejoice. Now there's clothing that's literally painted on . The brainchild of a Spanish fashion designer
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  • What a Weaver Can Learn From a Spinner
    Rita Buchanan is a constant source of inspiration as a weaver, spinner, gardener, and as a fount of overflowing joie de vivre . Some years ago, in a keynote address at a fiber conference, she showed us pictures of her lovingly designed garden and studio
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  • It's handwoven, exceptional, and enduring!
    Hello Weavers, Take a look here. Yup! That is handwoven cloth being used to cover restaurant equipment in an outdoor kitchen. I stumbled upon this while on vacation, and I mentioned to a hotel staff member that they were using handwoven cloth to protect
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  • November/December 2010
    This issue is all about the joy of the weaving process and what "slow cloth" means to handweavers. We invite you to peruse ten beautiful projects that you can weave as presented or use for inspiration for your own creations. And, just in case you want to go even slower than creating your own
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  • Doublewidth Overshot
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, I am new to doubleweave and have been told that any overshot pattern can be used to weave a doublewide fabric. How do I figure out the treadling, especially when
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  • Khadi Cloth
    Pattie Graver, Handwoven managing editor and Roving Reporter maven, has a daugher who has lived in and imported textiles from India. Pattie recently sent a link to this beautiful video about the making of khadi , a coarse handspun and hand-woven cloth
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  • Warping Their Looms and Rebuilding Their Lives
    Handwoven Roving Reporters Warp and weft have been used as metaphors for the structure of life. This example was clearly put into action in August of 2005 when fellow handweavers were among those in New Orleans who experienced the destruction of Hurricane
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  • YAPS! (Yet Another Personality Survey)
    No, we're not aspiring to become Cosmopolitan magazine with its famous tests, but Madelyn van der Hoogt has developed a weaver's personality assessment. I've taken it, and it's fun and sure to generate some interesting conversation during
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  • Sectional warping
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi, Madelyn, I'm new to weaving and recently purchased a Leclerc Nilus 45" 4-shaft loom. I also purchased 1" sectional attachments, tension box, and spools. I
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  • Saori weaving
    Are you indescribable as a weaver? Do you defy classification? Maybe SAORI weaving is for you. SAORI is a Zen approach to weaving. SA is the first syllable of the word SAI , a Zen concept meaning that everything has its own individual dignity. ORI is
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  • Weaver's personality survey
    Write the number for each answer (you must answer every question and choose only one answer for each). Add up the numbers of your answers (11 numbers). A. I would rather weave 1. An alpaca shawl. 2. Linen placemats or tablecloths. 3. A sampler using networking
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  • Ironing Tips from the Masters
    In honor of Pattie's pressing prowess, here are some ironing tips from the masters: T he Whirlpool Institute of Fabric Science says you should never, ever iron in circular strokes or you'll end up stretching the fabric. TLC Home has this energy
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  • Beaming
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, I have a 36” wide loom. I learned to weave on a much narrower loom and had no tension problems with it. After I wove for a while on the wider loom, the
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  • The Devil in the Details
    My unexpectedly "exuberant" fringe We put so much thought and energy into our weaving – the colors, the structure, the sett, the selvedges. Yet, when all of that is said and done, the small details of finishing can determine whether your
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  • Musing on the Meaning of Clothes
    In celebration of the meaning of cloth, here are some musing on the meaning of clothes from famous folk throughout history: Our clothes are too much a part of us for most of us ever to be entirely indifferent to their condition: it is as though the fabric
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  • Blending Colors in a Wrap
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Madelyn, I was wondering if I could get some advice on how to blend colors in a warp. I'm not very knowledgeable about painting warp, so I would be using commercially dyed
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  • Invested with Meaning
    From Merriam-Webster Online : in·vest \in-'vest\ Function: transitive verb Etymology: Latin investire to clothe, surround, from in- + vestis garment a : to array in the symbols of office or honor b : to furnish with power or authority Anita
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  • Stuffer Rugs
    Years ago I saw a rug that the weaver called a 'stuffer rug'. I don't know if that means two warps or more wefts? It was very pretty and thick, which is what I'd want for a rug I'd like to weave for my new grandchild. I do remember
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  • Getting Funky with Plarn!
    Since we’re getting funky with yarn, we must not neglect the increasing popular eco-option. Whether you call it plarn or parn, a guild gallery or show-and-tell is now scarcely complete without items woven, knitted, crocheted or otherwise fashioned
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  • Show Some Skein
    Ruth Ronan turns handpainted skeins to painted warp. Are you a chaste conehead, cleaving to your spools of 10/2 cotton, 16/2 linen, and 12/2 wool? If so, I must warn you, as a friend, that the September/October issue of Handwoven may tempt you to kick
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  • A Tribute to Iceland and Jane Patrick
    Jane Patrick fell in love with weaving when she was an exchange student at the Löngumýri home economics school in Iceland. Textiles have been at the core of life in Iceland for more than 1,100 years. Icelandic textile maker Istex says that
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  • Floor Wax or Dessert Topping?
    All Together Now combines materials, colors, and structure in a playful way. Do you remember the classic Saturday Night Live skit where Gilda Radner and friends advertised Shimmer, an amazing product that was both a floor wax AND a dessert topping? Some
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  • Postcards from Convergence
    Liz Moncrief and her Randall Darwall scarf I save postcards sent home from vacation trips. They're displayed on the refrigerator for months, then they become bookmarks, and eventually they find their way into some little cache of pictures and letters
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  • Yak It Up!
    If you go and look at the video postcards from Convergence , you'll see a brief, but cordial greeting from Eileen and Carl Coop at Bijou Basin. These lovely people escaped after decades in high tech, moved to a 70-acre ranch, Carl became a vet tech
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  • Joyful Diversity
    Tradition . . . and innovation. Friends, old and new. Sometimes we see things more clearly at a distance, and this is certainly true of an event like Convergence. Being there was such a swirl of sights, people, and ideas, it’s only now that my impressions
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  • Beater Blues: Getting Consistent PPI
    Dear Madelyn, I am weaving with 10/2 mercerized cotton—two projects on two looms. One is 46” wide, the other is 10” wide. They are both set at 24 EPI. On the 10” wide project the PPI is 24. On the 46” wide project, the best
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  • Mary Meigs Atwater
    Beweave It! Mary Meigs Atwater, the "Dean of American Handweaving," was a woman of the world. Raised in Iowa, she travelled to Europe, then studied art at the Chicago Art Institute and in Paris, France. Life with engineer husband Max Atwater
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  • Threading Drafts
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi! You left it as a question for another day, but I'd love the answer, why read threading from right to left? I think I've been reading left to right (I also thread
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  • A New and Growing Art
    "It is not a dead art we are reviving but a new and growing art." – Mary Meigs Atwater Striped Spring Tablecloth By Ronnine Bohannan I’m writing this post from my hotel room at Convergence in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We’ve
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  • September/October 2010
    This issue contains 14 projects in yak, cashmere, alpaca, paper, and more! There are five projects that can also be woven on a rigid-heddle loom and a special bonus yarn insert. Special Yarn Issue!
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  • It's like Christmas in July!
    Hello everyone, It feels like Christmas Eve! Tommorow I head for Convergence, and even though I'll be working the whole time, I'm happy to be part of all that wonderful weaverly energy. Please stop by the Interweave booth in the Vendor Hall and
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  • Convergence - New Mexico Fiber Arts Trails
    Beweave It! If you're headed for Convergence or planning a trip to New Mexico, check out New Mexico Fiber Arts Trails , created by New Mexico Arts and a grassroots network of fiber artists to cultivate awareness of New Mexico's rich fiber arts
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  • Studio Magic with Jennifer Moore
    In my high school drama group, the moment before the curtain went up on opening night, the cast waiting in the wings would give each other big hugs and whisper "It's magic time!" Magic time is the moment when you walk into the lights and
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  • Breaking Warp Threads
    I have a new loom (new to me) and have had many breaking warp threads—they are on the sides, on both sides. What do I look for and how do I correct this? —Janet Dear Janet, It would be unusual for the loom itself to cause warp threads to break
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  • GoodWeave-certified: Inunoo Inuit Carpets
    Beweave It! Some weaving traditions are handed down and some weaving begins as a gift to the future. Inunoo Inuit Carpets is a licensed importer of GoodWeave-certified rugs. While consulting in the Arctic for the West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative, textile
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  • Walking on sunshine
    For centuries, weaving has been a proud profession, passed down from generation to generation. Even today, many of us know or can name a handweaving family or two. But some children in developing countries are forced to work at weaving, particularly carpet
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  • Treadling Direction
    I always start my treadling from the top down. I recently read in an old weaving magazine that you should start from the bottom up. What was the reason for this? —Jeanie Campbell Dear Jeanie, Thank you so much for asking this question. (Don't
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  • Threading Doubleweave for Stripes
    Hi Madelyn, I have been studying Handwoven May/June 2010, featuring double weave, and I want to take the plunge to make a double-width (folded) woolen blankets. I get the concept in general from reading various articles BUT I really want to do plaid blankets
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  • Great Moments in Weaving
    The Newbury spinners and weavers at work Weaving is a product of time and place, and there are as many perspectives on it as there are weavers. Last week Madelyn talked about the pleasures of slow weaving. But slow weaving wasn’t always appreciated
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  • The Throckmorton Coat Caper
    It’s hard for us, in this age of machine-produced cloth, to imagine the excitement generated when mill owner John Coxeter of Newbury, England, produced a coat for Baronet John Throckmorton, from shearing to wearing, in just over 13 hours. An estimated
    Read More >>
  • Celebrating Your Efforts in Guatemala
    Thanks to all of you who have responded to Deborah Chandler's suggestions for helping the Guatemalan weavers affected by the recent flooding and volcanic eruptions. To celebrate your good works, here are a couple of nicely done video links about Guatemalan
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  • Watching the Cloth Grow
    Madelyn in a previous life, weaving slow cloth In a recent survey of our readers, we asked the question: What is most missing in your weaving life. Your universal answer was: TIME! This probably would have been my answer, too, which got me to thinking
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  • Wet-finishing Wool
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, I would like some help, please, with the finishing of some fabric I have just woven. The yarn is a 2-ply worsted handspun from woolcombed Bleu de Maine fleece
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  • Shuttle Orientation
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, When throwing the shuttle, I kept wanting to get a bigger angle on the yarn in the shed. I recently hit on the idea of turning the shuttle around so its slit
    Read More >>
  • Not Your Grandmother's Spinning Wheel
    We’ve been reviewing the results of our reader survey, and it’s apparent that you are a multitalented group. In addition to weaving on-loom and off, more than half of you spin, which is great to see. Besides providing balance for the often
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  • It crackled me up!
    Well, I survived the drive through the canyon, and I'm back from my workshop at the Estes Park Wool Market. I took a two-day class with Susan Wilson on classic crackle. I am amazed at how much you can get out of 4-shafts. Not only did the class weave
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  • Thanks to Mabel Ross
    Mabel Ross may no longer be the only or the last word on spinning, but we all owe her a great debt of gratitude. The mother of modern spinning techniques, Mabel’s scholarship and technical ability provided the foundations of the diverse spinning
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  • Last day of school
    All weaving workshops have some qualities in common. Everyone spends the whole time weaving, thinking about weaving, and talking about weaving. This is always a joy, since back at home, family and friends roll their eyes at too much weaving talk. The
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  • First day of school
    Today is the first day of a class at my school. I love first days, especially before the students arrive, while we are getting ready. I loved playing school as a kid, and all the time I taught junior high and high school, my favorite part was the same
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  • Things I don't know
    Here in Colorado, the Estes Park Wool Market starts tomorrow! I'm really excited, and I'm attending a two-day class on crackle taught by Susan Wilson. She is also the mentor of our crackle study group here on weavingtoday.com. I must confess.
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  • Natural Sequences and Proportions
    Beweave It! June 9, 2010 If you're looking for weaving inspiration, there's no better source than Mother Nature herself: the Fibonacci sequence, the Golden Ratio, and other natural sequences and proportions have been used by artisans, architects
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  • Bobbins
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com June 9, 2010 Hey, Madelyn. I have learned that when loading a bobbin into a boat shuttle the yarn should feed over the top of the bobbin. A number of people have told me that
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  • Helping Mayan Hands
    By now, we've all seen the pictures of the devastation in Guatemala. A few of us have been hearing firsthand from Deborah Chandler, of Mayan Hands, about the effect of these disasters on our fellow weavers and artisans. Deborah's community has
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  • New at this stuff!
    We're over forty-eight hours into our official launch of Handwoven Weaving Today. Please don't tell Madelyn or Linda, but I didn't get a thing accomplished at the office on Wednesday. I kept monitoring the site to see if people were finding
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  • Winding Bobbins
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi again, Madelyn, I read in Allen Fannin's book about how best to wind a bobbin. I wasn't exactly certain what he meant, but it sounded like this: it's best not
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  • "Why weave?"
    I'm back from the woods of Northern Ontario, where the Weavers and Spinners of Ontario North held this year's conference. Attendees of WASOON, some from Southern Ontario, drove as many as twelve hours to get to Kapuskasing, the conference location
    Read More >>
  • Is it a blog, or is it a glob?
    I love anagrams. (I love palindromes even more, but they are harder.) For someone not even a generation removed from yellow legal pads and #2 pencils, the whole concept of “blog” feels like a “glob” to me. You natter away on a
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  • Inch by Inch, Row by Row
    "Gonna make this garden grow. Gonna mulch it deep and low, gonna make it fertile ground." I love this song, a Pete Seeger classic, because it expresses the hope and determination with which we plant seeds. It's gardening season, and as I
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  • Something new!
    All of us at Handwoven are very excited about this new website. I am a little intimidated, though, because as many blogs as I've read, I've never actually written one. I am reminded of a commercial on TV where a family is all sitting on the porch
    Read More >>
  • Welcome to our new community!
    Welcome to our new Handwoven - Weaving Today community website! My personal wish is that we can help weavers come together and grow our community. I'm hoping that a greater presence on the internet will serve as a resource to all, attract new weavers
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  • Yarn for Upholstery
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn! I want to make upholstery material for our breakfast bar stools. We use the area a lot, so the material needs to be strong. What yarns are suitable for upholstery
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  • Floating Shafts
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi, Madelyn Our guild owns an 8-shaft LeClerc loom. We have set up Lynn Tedder's project for fingertip towels from the Handwoven website, which is a lace threading and
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  • May/June 2010
    Sampling is a great way for both new and experienced weavers to gain new skills! In this issue, Handwoven offers eighteen projects and study-group starters. Also, see the spectacular winners of the Not Just for Socks contest. For this challenge, weavers had to create something that featured sock yarn
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  • Dummy Warp
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, I'm weaving a scarf with some very expensive beaded novelty yarn, and I don't want to waste an inch of it. I've heard of something called a "dummy
    Read More >>
  • Weft Angle
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn, Is the weft angle in each shed always the same angle? What angle do you recommend, if there is a standard? ––Joanne Cyphers Hi Joanne! This is an excellent
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  • Looms
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Madelyn, I weave with a jack-type loom (rising shed). I have never found a good description of the difference between counterbalance looms, countermarch looms and a sinking
    Read More >>
  • March/April 2010
    In this issue, we have great tips and projects that will inspire weavers to learn a variety of doubleweave techniques.
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  • Doublewidth
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi, there. I am about to try my first doublewidth cloth inspired by Tom Knisely’s blanket in the March/April Handwoven. My project is a cotton tablecloth 60 inches wide
    Read More >>
  • Metal Heddles
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn, After reading about heddles (again) on the Handwoven email, I have a sticky question (pun intended!). A few years ago I was gifted with the most beautiful old Herald
    Read More >>
  • Smiling Selvedges
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, We understand that when the fell line at the selvedges starts smiling, our selvedge warp threads are too loose. But when this happens mid-project, is it better
    Read More >>
  • Doubleweave on 4-Shafts
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, Is it possible to double weave a black and white checkboard design on a 4-shaft loom? If so, where can I obtain the threading and tie up? Thank you, ––R
    Read More >>
  • Portee Cross and Porrey Cross
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, Could you explain the difference between Portee Cross and Porrey Cross, terms that I've come across in some English weaving books, and how/when these are
    Read More >>
  • Long Eye Heddles
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, Years ago I was given a great number of heddles called "long eye." They are 12 inches long and the eye is five inches long. Would you explain the use
    Read More >>
  • Sett
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi Madelyn, I find that some yarn I want to use seems to look best at 11 epi –– by the way, thanks for the sett thing from Halcyon in the current issue ––
    Read More >>
  • Widely Spaced Warp
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi, Madelyn. I'm weaving a double-krokbragd piece, and with most shafts raised on each pick, the shuttle is falling through the widely spaced warp threads that are down
    Read More >>
  • More on Heddle Direction
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, I was quite interested in Leslie Megill’s question about the direction of the heddles because I received a table loom for Christmas with "organized"
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  • Double Two-Tie Unit System
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi, Madelyn! In "Twill and Tencel for a Line of Luxury Scarves," Handwoven September/October 2009, page 40, Barbara Elkins writes “Plaited twills can be woven
    Read More >>
  • Crossed Threads
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi all! How can warping be done to prevent threads crossing at the back beam? And is it important to the overall quality of the finished piece to keep them perfectly straight
    Read More >>
  • Pleated Scarves
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi, Madelyn. I love the Twill Stripes scarves by Ruby Leslie in the Nov./Dec. 2009 issue of Handwoven . I would love to use some handpainted soy I have on hand as the warp
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  • Heddles
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi, Madelyn! Somewhere I read that it is important to have all the heddles on my loom well organized, so a while back I matched up all the zigs-zags and flat spaces at the
    Read More >>
  • e-Books
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi, Madelyn I'm sorry, but as a fairly unhip computer person, I don't understand the purpose of these e-magazines. Are they merely compilations of patterns from old
    Read More >>
  • Selvedges
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, Is there any information available for alternative finishes to selvedges on handwoven textiles? I have seen handwoven scarves for sale locally that seem to have
    Read More >>
  • Lease Sticks
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi, Madelyn. I’m a relatively new weaver. I’ve seen some illustrations showing lease sticks used on the cloth beam but don’t understand the importance of
    Read More >>
  • Floating Selvedges
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Hi! "Floating selvedge" means an extra thread on each side of the warp, in the reed but not through the heddles, right? Does it make a difference if I include these
    Read More >>
  • Variegated Yarn
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, When weaving with variegated yarn is it better to use it for the warp or the weft? Which is the best method to showcase the variegations in the yarn? Thanks,
    Read More >>
  • Chenille
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Earlier this week I finished a 45" x 62" chenille rug that I wove to use up my acrylic worsted weight stash. I really like how it turned out, but I'm finding
    Read More >>
  • Chenille Selvedges
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, I can manage decent selvedges with most yarns except chenille. My chenille edges are downright sleazy! The outer thread invariably is too loose. I am careful
    Read More >>
  • Balancing a Draft
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, In the September/October issue of Handwoven , there is a set of waffle-weave towels (Lynn Tedder, "One Threading, Four Patterns, Four Towels"). I am
    Read More >>
  • Random-but-Symmetrical Warping
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Syne Mitchell's article in the November/December Handwoven , "Stash-Busting Scarves," pages 24-26, includes a note saying you can do this kind of random-but-symmetrical
    Read More >>
  • Jack Looms
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com Dear Madelyn, I’m interested in knowing what “jack looms” are. As you can tell, I’m a beginning weaver. Thanks, —Beth Elver Hi Beth! You might
    Read More >>
  • Tencel
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com I fell in love with Tencel after weaving the two scarves in the Handwoven September/October 2009 issue (Barbara Elkins, pages 40-43). Now I need help finding other patterns
    Read More >>
  • Basketry
    Beweave It! October 7, 2009 It’s an old joke: college football players who took “underwater basket weaving” to keep up their grade point average. According to Wikipedia, a letter to the editor of the LA Times in 1956 bemoaned a decline
    Read More >>
  • Sleying the reed
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com October 7, 2009 Hi! Do you have any tips regarding keeping threads in order when sleying 2 or more threads per dent? I tend to get many crossed threads! -Angela Getas-Econ
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  • Spider Silk
    September 30, 2009 Beweave It! Many a spinner might envy the skill of spiders, with their gossamer threads. But what about weavers who can turn those wispy filaments into cloth? For the next six months, the American Museum of Natural History will have
    Read More >>
  • Doubleweave
    Ask Madelyn HAVE A QUESTION? OUR EDITOR HAS THE ANSWER madelynv@interweave.com September 30, 2009 Dear Madelyn: It's been years since I've woven doubleweave and I totally forget how to weave a tube with one end closed and the other open. Can you
    Read More >>
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