Tom Knisley, noted weaver, wrote an article for the March/April 2021 issue of Handwoven magazine, describing his experience weaving with paper.
I’m unconvinced that this makes any sense at all — for one thing, it’s expensive! — but, like Tom, once I knew the project existed, I had to try it. How could I not want to weave paper towels? Read more…
No, it’s not the fine art of scoffing chocolates on the divan — it’s using a cord/yarn/thread to edge or decorate fabric.
Using a special foot, the cord is set along the edge, and zigzagged in place.
Sooo . . . evening after evening I’ve kept my fingers busy repairing the small pulls our felines diligently create on their favorite blanket. And then, one morning, I woke up to this:
Somebody really went to town during the night.
As I worked on mastering selvedges, I wove a lot of yardage just for practice — not always terribly successfully! This mattered a lot less to me than you might think, since my entire — my only — reason for getting a rigid heddle loom was to decrease anxiety. I wanted something to keep my hands busy and my mind off just about everything. (Times are tough, folks!)
So at one point I ended up with yards of blue, not exquisite, fabric.
The first project on my 32 inch/81 cm Kromski rigid heddle loom was a cat blanket. This was a no-risk proposition, since the end result was doomed to destruction, eventually. Cats love wool, but ours all have claws, and claws inevitably catch on fabric.
Bearing these facts in mind, I warped the loom with a poor quality (and likely vintage) natural cotton. I was not surprised that it had joins all over the place — something that responsible yarn makers don’t allow any more! In testing the joins, though, I discovered that, though bulky, they were tight, hence perfectly fine for this sort of warp.