A new warp on the loom is always an exciting prospect for the West Coast Cloth Company.
This week, a warp that will make eighteen metres of hand-woven cloth is ready to weave off. It was put onto the back beam in one inch sections with fourteen threads per inch-wide strip making their way through the tensioning device and reed, and onto the beam. In total there are 560 threads plus four selvedge threads, and the beam was turned twenty times to get the requisite amount of yarn on it. That makes a grand total of 800 revolutions by hand.
Threading took the longest time because the loom had to be adjusted for the threads with heddles taken off and put onto shafts but finally it is all ready and the weaving can commence. The header image is of the threads on the loom.
This particular cloth is for an Exciting Project. Over the past few months I have been working on a jacket design with a tailor over the mountains near Christchurch Ōtautahi. We have settled on a unisex shape, inspired by the 1960s, that will show off the cloth being woven in the studio. There are some minor tweaks to make and then, when this cloth is woven off, the pattern will be used to create jackets for sale in the shop in Māwhera Greymouth. Here are some close-ups (special details are being kept under wraps for the moment) of the jacket in progress.
For many years I have harboured the dream of making mens’ coats that I would like to wear. This was the genesis of the current project and it is finally coming true.
Comments
4 responses
Wow this is absolutely superb. Well done. What an exciting piece to be weaving. Thank you for your news each week
It is an absolute pleasure, Rosslyn. Writing the blog brings all sorts of things to light for me and it is always interesting!
Looking very stylish!
Thanks Laura. Fingers crossed it all works out…