Well, I guess we can say that blogging on a regular basis is not my forte. Apparently, the timely completion of projects is another weakness; but since the Christmas towels are finally off the loom and ready to ship to their recipients, I thought it might be a good time to update here.
These towels are a purely plagiaristic effort, having passed by a sample of them at The Mannings a number of times before succumbing to the fumes. Tom's daughter told me that he wove runners for a wedding present with this draft, then wove the towel sample as extra. His sample is of an olive and medium dusky green striped with a pewter-ish pattern weft. I never in a million years would have considered overshot for towels until admiring this sample. So I gave in and purchased the goods to make these beautiful towels as Christmas gifts. The two cones to the right are 10/2 mercerized cotton and comprised the ground stripes. The cone on the left is 5/2 mercerized cotton for the pattern weft.
I wound 7 yards for 6 towels, beginning with the darker of the two ground colors edging the fabric.
As I wove with the pewter pattern weft, I wasn't sure I liked it paired with the warm of the browns, so after weaving two towels, I moved to a warmer pattern weft color that I had on hand. I preferred that while I was weaving, but when the towels were finally off and finished, I found that I liked the pewter weft as much as the gold, just in a different way.
It was the weekend before Christmas that I came to the end of the first warp and tied on to the existing to have another run with the stripes rearranged. The first run were edged by the dark brown, which was also used as the tabby weft. At the change, the lighter color became the edging and tabby weft.
Were it not for the fact that the edges were better for having a matching weft color, the overall presentation of the two warps were not appreciably different across the two weft colors.
Hems were sewn (I prefer machine-stitched hems on a towel that I hope will see a lot of use!). The zipper foot has a nice guide for even stitching. No tabs were woven on the inkle loom for this project.
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....and now that the final towels are off the loom and finished, the packages can be mailed to those who live too far for hand-delivery.
I have to say that this was an incredibly enjoyable project. I thank Tom Knisley for being such a wonderful influence and inspiration. Please note that these towels are his fabulous design. I'm not in the least frustrated that they have taken so long to complete (too much work; not enough play), as it has been a fun weave from start to finish. I will certainly never rule out overshot as a towel option again.
Finished towels are 18" x 30"
Thank you for visiting!
....until next time...........
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