Christmas Rep Weave

Hi there - this post is about some Christmas weaving and if I don't get a move on with it it won't be this Christmas !!

When I was in Sweden (how often have I said that !) I saw a table laid with these lovely Christmas placemats........................

That is actually a picture in a catalogue from Blomqvist/Nordiska.

I returned to their stand several times before making up my mind that yes, I would have Christmas this year and we would have new placemats !! I was able to buy all the yarns there so was all set.

Last week I hinted that all was not going well with the warp ! It was cottolin and I was having a hard time getting it through the raddle and onto the back beam. Husband was getting very fed up sitting behind the loom while I combed out 852 ends !! My thanks to Annie who commented last week ! She seems to have had the same problem with cottolin and no longer uses her fixed Louet raddle to beam cottolin. I think I must take heed if I use it again ! Here is a reminder of how things were ..........................

However, I am pleased to report some progress. Who's the boss now...........................

Threading and tieing on did take me a while although it was a straightforward 4 shaft  draft.

Only two treadles to tie up so that was easy. The sleying was 48 ends per inch, 4 per dent in a 12 dent reed.

I have never done rep weave before so this was a new experience for me ! The thin weft was 16/2 black cotton and the thick weft seemed very thick to me. I did a sample and soon got the hang of the technique. However, I found that I couldn't get a shed with the close sett and had to use a stick after each pick to get the shed to open. This adds another step to the process but actually makes a nice tight weave. I should tell you that Susan did give me some advice when I said I was doing this weave and I should have paid attention ! She said the shed would be difficult and that I should spread the warp over 8 shafts instead of four. I have to confess to being a bit unsure of how to do this and so just threaded on four. So, apologies to Susan, I bow to your experience !!

Anyway, with stick in hand I am making progress ! Am on mat number three but I have enough warp for about 10 maybe !! Mind you, the thick weft is using up the warp at quite a rate so my calculations may be a bit suspect. Will wait and see. Hope you will agree things are looking quite good at the moment.....................................

This project will keep me out of mischief for a while ! We have a decorating project underway at home just now so weaving will have to take a back seat until that is all done !

Many thanks to all who commented last time and I look forward to hearing from you again this week !

Happy weaving .....................