“”How Long does it Take You to Make That?”

The title of this blog is a phrase often asked of creative  artistic people.

 I’ll give you this handweaver/tapestry weaver’s answer shortly.

My current weaving project involved weaving 5 dish towels…

each with a different color of thread so they all look different.

They were woven at 24 threads per inch (threads on the loom)  

and woven with 24 picks (rows per inch) for the weft

 (the yarn you weave with).  Makes sense to me... 

However, when working on a grid made up of horizontal and 

vertical threads, it’s hard to weave a perfectly round circle,

because most weave structures (interlacement of warp & weft) 

shrink at a different percentage rate.  For example in this project, the 

length shrunk 20% (after washing & drying)  and the width 17%.

This complex structure created neutral colored

circles on one side while the circles on the reverse

are colored, all on a multi colored vertical striped background.

Sure glad someone else figured this out and all I had to do was

 read the directions in my weaving magazine, thread my loom and weave. 

Now to answer the "how long does it take" question...   

Before I start weaving it takes me about 10-12 hours to 

measure the warp threads and thread the loom. Then the weaving begins. 

And once I’m at the end of my warp (not rope), which took about

 2 1/2 minutes to weave a 1 1/2” pattern repeat… over and over 

again for a length of 33 inches for each of the 5 towels, 

the  woven cloth was  removed from the loom,

but it’s not finished yet.  I washed all 5 1/2 yards of 

cloth in the washer and  dried it in the dryer, and

 then used my serger to cut the towels apart.  This fantastic time saving
 device cuts the cloth and overcasts the raw edge all in one step!! 

Then I set up my sewing table & New Home
sewing machine and 

carefully measured, pressed and sewed the hems in place,

 

while  outside a couple of very skilled, artistic & hardworking
 craftsmen created 

a 4’wide by 45’ long paver sidewalk along the side of our house.
And how long did that take?  Only took them about 6 hours

and they left the place spotless!!!

I started sewing when I was 9 on my mothers 

New Home treadle machine which was hard for me to get the hang of… 

since I’m left handed I  seemed to be very good 

at getting it to go backwards.

In addition to creativity, will power,  interest and desire, it 

often takes lot of expensive equipment  that  helps 

us do the the job easier,  quicker and hopefully more successfully… 

At least that's my excuse, what's yours?