Waffle Redemption
I have been redeemed as a weaver through a series of organic cotton dish towels. My faith has been restored. I might be a little premature because they are being spun in the washing machine as I write. But I know they will come out beautifully
• because the yarn is beautiful: 6//2 organic cotton of a beautiful warm grey brown color – made even beatiful-er by the fact that I got 3 lbs/$10.00 at the Factory Sale of Textura Trading.
• because, I LOVE waffle weave. I think it is one of the best cheap thrills weaving has to offer. You can get super dramatic texture, super function and super aesthetic appeal all on 4 shafts.
• because I had exorcised all my bad weaving demons on the previous series of towels.
I threaded this set using shafts 1 & 2 for plain weave and shafts 3 – 8 for the waffle. I sley 2/dent in a 9 dent reed (18 epi) except for the last 6 threads on each side which i sleyed 3/dent. This made my selvedges firm and my beat even. I will post “after” photos tomorrow.
The after photos are added above – so okay – perhaps “redemption” is too strong a word. The major oversight in THIS project . . . is the incredible draw-in and shrinkage of the waffle portion of the towels (will I ever listen to wiser weavers than I ????) so that both the plain weave selvedges and the plain weave header/footer are fanned or ruffled. I am going back to the drawing board with two solutions. Thread the selvedges basket and weave very narrow headers with very fine yarn . . . we shall see.
Donna Menghini
I have just received some 6/2 Organic cotton by Fox Fibres and was so lucky to find your website. I have never used this yarn for weaving before but would like to make a baby blanket/throw for a family that has a nearby Organic Farm. Do you have any suggestions as to what weave structure would be appropriate and what sett I should use. I’m a fairly new weaver and excited to try this new-to-me cotton out.
After seeing your beautiful waffle weave towels, I would like to use whatever is left from the blanket to try these as well.
Many thanks for your help,
Donna M.
Elisabeth Hill
Hi Donna,
So glad to hear from you. I love my 6/2 cotton. I wove a series of towels, sett at 18 epi (I think) on 8 shafts in a point threading – 3,4,5,6,7,8,7,6,5,4 repeat. I saved 1 & 2 for basket weave selvedges – 1,2,2,1,1,2,2,1,1 – I wove towels in waffle, basket and twill on the same threading. They are very soft , and would make a nice baby blanket too (if you have weaving software I will send you a couple of WIFs.) The weird thing is that they were surprisingly UNabsorbent for the first dozen washings (or more). They have just recently become very absorbant and darkened from their original cream to a light greenish grey. Good luck and let me know if you would like the WIFs.
Ruthie
I wondered if Donna ever wove her towels. I also have some 6/2 Fox Fibre organic cotton and would like to know what pattern, sett and so on that you wove. Elisabeth-Your towels are beautiful and I wish that I still had my 8 shaft loom, but alas I had to sell it when I had back surgery. I hope that you will post more projects.
Elisabeth Hill
Hi Ruthie,
Thanks for the comment and I don’t know about Donna’s blanket – never heard from her again . . .? Anyway, the threading and sett that I used for my towels are outlined in the response to Donna’s question. If you are interested in a four-shaft waffle I can send you a WIF, or you can find it in many, many weaving books. Sorry to hear about your surgery – but great to hear that you are still weaving.