This is my current warp. It is masquerading as tea towels, but really it's a sample warp for my next coverlet. My warping board is only 12 yards, I don't have a sectional beam, don't want to shell out for one, and don't even want to change warping boards. I've used this one for so many years my muscle memory lets me wind quickly and accurately, with no (or seldom any) bumping of fingers and hands. So, 12 yards is what I have to work with. Out of a 12 yard warp, I can get three widths for a complete coverlet, but it does not leave any room to sample. So, I throw on a tea towel warp for my sample.
This is out of "Weaving Designs: Miniature Overshot Patterns" by Bertha Gray Hayes. This book is full of wonderful small overshot patterns and I've woven several. This is one of my favorites already. It's called "Flowers and Ferns" and it's a 52 shot repeat. I'm using 10/2 cotton for warp, set at 24 epi, 10/2 cotton for pattern, and 20/2 for tabby.
I started out with the pattern threaded to the edges and a floating selvedge. I wove the first towel off in that manner, then rethreaded 20 threads at each side into a twill for an edge, dropped the floating selvedge, and wove the second one off. Today I washed them both in hot water, dried hot, and measured shrinkage.
Now I know several things:
I know the extension of the pattern at the edges for 8 threads is too little if I want to be able to make a small seam and match the pieces. It will need to be twice that. I know the width shrinkage is 18%, the length 20%. I know that the size of the float with a twill edge and no floating selvedge washes up to be perfectly acceptable to me. I know to wind a little extra (I'll have to figure out exactly how many) at each side. After I make the first length (which will be the center piece) I'll rethread the seam allowance threads plus a few extra in to a twill on the right edge for the second length, the left for the third length. Then I'll have a small border on the side edges of the coverlet. We'll see how these plans play out.
So, this is a photo of the right side of the sample, after wet finishing in washer and dryer. I've had this laid across an end table in my living room the last few days, and the more I look at it, the more I see larger and smaller versions of flowers.
Below is a photo of the wrong side of the fabric, same orientation as the top photo. Pretty different.
So, now I will continue weaving off this warp, figure width and # of ends for the coverlet warp, and start winding that. Overshot is fairly slow if you want it even and correct, which is what we all want, right? After slamming the last plain weave, but prettily striped warp off in a little over a week, it's a change of pace.
