twill shawl off the loom

The shawl is finished! Wove it off in one night- maybe 3 hours? Not bad for weaving with a sticky shaft 8 that I had to manually push back down to keep a clean shed. It is a loose weave, but washing should full it out. Going to send it unannounced to my aunt, because unannounced packages are really the best ones.
I took photos today on my lunch break at Bryant park while on the way to the library for more weaving books- I am so lucky to work so close to the main branch. Oh look at those London Plane Trees! So beautiful. Can't wait for springtime.


oh, also a flat to see the strong twill line! I tried my best to blend the colors, but a few of the yarn blotches got the best of me.

Art Milk

I am feeling so lucky today: to have been featured on Art Milk! It is a sister site to Design Milk and they feature some wonderful art, so I am honored to be a part of it!
The piece is Memory, a journal of my year in Sarreguemines, France typed onto wax paper including all drawings I did at the time... I then invited visitors at the show to take incense and burn patterned holes into the paper, erasing pieces of words. Making this piece five years after my stay -basically rewriting the journal word for word- brought back all the tiny details and unwritten memories that lay beneath the surface of the written "things I did today" lists and events.

Premiere Vision 2011

January 12/13th was the Premiere Vision Preview show for fabric in NYC. I went yesterday as my work requires, to see what the Spring/Summer '11 should look like. The first time I went, I could have stayed for hours, looking through all the fabric selections. This year, it was really all over the place. Even the color chart was a mix of incongruous neutrals and pops of fluorescent color. There was your generic floral spot, mix of "ethnic" elements, and a nautical theme. Haven't we seen this all before? I absolutely adore fabric, and a good piece of fashion can make my heart skip. But the fashion industry has a scarily similar "projecting" aspect to it that reminds me of the stock exchange. We in the fashion industry go to these "forcasting" shows for inspiration and to know what will be "next" in the waves of fashion trends. It's all about one trend idea and fitting it to your particular customer/marketing base. Going with the flow. What if they didn't listen? What if it was all left up to chance? Ha. Then no one would make the massive amounts of money they wanted. (although this is no longer true for most) It's best, for them, to be seen as one powerhouse of retail trending. Alas.

(all images © Premiere Vision)

push and pull sequins

(a few quick patterns)

SEQUINS. You may be seeing a lot of them around- currently they seem to be everywhere. And they are probably not going away anytime soon, based on the amount of sequins we've been sampling at work. Solid, metallic, matte, printed, embroidered, embedded in faux fur... and that's only for our specific target market. oh boy! Today, what I might call my favorite sequins so far in the assortment came in. I suppose technically they are paillettes, since the hole is off-center. These are two different colors on each side and are able to be flipped by dragging your fingers across them. I can't help but be intrigued by the construction. Like finger drawing patterns in a plush rug or couch. Vacuuming carpet. The rows of cut grass left after mowing a baseball field.

It reminds me of the other "design-it-yourself" clothing coming from artists and fashion designers lately. Such as the "renewable clothing" from Fernando Brizio. Although I am skeptical as to its renewable properties, functionality and practicality, I love the concept. Here's another approach based on the rug idea: Giles Miller 'Miranda' Surface Tiles via dornob.

shawl test warp

First weaving done! It's good to be back! Time flew while weaving- only took about an hour to weave off 1.5 yds... Note to self: buy a threading hook. I have a brass reed hook that came with the loom, but failed to remember that I would also need a heddle threading hook. Luckily there were only 30 ends that I hand threaded like needles. However, I would love one before I have to thread the 208 ends for the actual shawl.

I used WeaveDesign on my work PC to create five treadlings based on a straight draw and 1-8-1 draw. (looking into mac weaving software... quite a difficult decision, as I only have experience with Fiberworks PCW, which I love, but is only available in PC format)


I started with some leftover golden wool from Halcyon, woven tightly. It was lovely. I wish I could have made a blanket this way. I'll have to file that idea away for the future. After weaving, I washed it with woolite and let it dry. There was not much shrinkage, maybe 2%. I've decided on a threading and treadling pattern, and now just need to construct a rattle! The yarn's age (and probably dye saturation) have made parts of it VERY fragile- I had three yarns break during weaving- not from tension.. the construction of the yarn must be so compromised that the fibers just pulled apart. Common sense tells me to take a hint and use other yarn, but I insist on being stubborn and trying to make it through with a back to front warping and careful attention.