My looms are idle today. Kind of feel costume crazy at the moment. I just finish a pile of costumes, think I will rest then another armload appears in its place. Don't get me wrong I love sewing and I love Theatre, there's just never enough hours in the day or energy in the tank as I would like.
The energy at the College is wonderful though and watching a show come together and in some way sharing my creativity even in a small way is very rewarding. And deep down it is a dream of mine to design and create fabulous costumes for theatre.
Good Night fellow weavers

This past week we spent two nights away recharging our batteries at Yellowpoint. I took my Knitters Loom and worked Saori style on some bathroom fingertip towels. It drew a lot of interest and discussion. One women even tried weaving and next thing I heard was her telling her husband that she thought it would be a great thing to take on the boat. A new weaver perhaps?
I came home and warped Maggie, the vertical loom. I had felt a little daunted by her size but she warped very easily and was great on the back as the reed and heddles are at a good height while standing. Header weaving, warp wrap and hem are done. I don't as yet have a 'picture' in mind for the warp. It is like a painter looking at a blank canvas and letting the ideas arrive. I warped about 3 yards of usable 'canvas' so may do a small sampling of techniques. This is the first tapestry loom I have used with heddles and a reed/beater bar.
Patience is waiting for some tencil to arrive before I can dress her. I plan to warp her for some scarves. I will be extremely busy in the fall with costumes as I said yes to coordinating/designing/sewing for VOS' production of Gypsy, so need to get a jump on some Christmas weaving.
I still have 2 more costume dresses to sew for VOS by tomorrow. I will also be doing a bit of sewing for CCPA for their performance of 42nd Street at the end of April. Having dressed looms means I can easily pop down and weave.
Have a great day.

saori weaving

Today...oops yesterday, I really should go to bed, I took a Saori Weaving class. It was great fun to play and design as I go. The ladies were fun as well. I took the class to try something new and maybe to lose some of my perfectionistic nature. Even playing I wanted it to look good. It has potential and I will play with it in the future. I like patterns and textures of mutliharness weaving. I also care about selveges. All in all a fun day and I think beneficial.

The purple is off the loom but not fulled. I tried it as a shawl but it is much too heavy. It is about 2 yards long and 20 inches wide.I think I have enough for a carpet bag but may may use commercial upholstery fabric for complement.

Godd night
Chris

life will be what life is

Last night as I attended the weavers guild 75th anniversary tea/meeting my phone went off. It was my son's cell phone calling and as a mother I knew I needed to respond to it. It turns out it was a call from another student saying my son was in emergency having fallen at school and knocked his front tooth out. I had to abandon the ladies I had driven and go to emerg. I arrived just in time for them to stitch up his chin and bottom lip then wait and wait for an emergency dentist. The ER docs and nurses were great but getting frustrated with the lack of response from dentists. Sara-Anne, the student with amazing pluc just started calling Dentists in the phone book (mine doesn't do emergencies) and finally found an amazing dentist that was willing to get out of bed and see Marcus. She was able to put his front tooth back in. We will have see if there is any nerve damage and whether the tooth will hold. He will probably need to have both his front teeth capped eventually. Marcus is a performing arts student, like I said life will be what life is. I thank God the fall was not any worse, teeth can be repaired, I thank God for all the wonderful help he received, Sara-Anne (a calm head in a school were dramatics are the norm), the ER staff and the dentist and her husband (who acted as her assistant).
Thank you for letting me write about this.
Chris

Patience's first Project photos

Here is a picture of the mauve Finnish Bird's Eye fabric. This was going to be a shawl but it is working out too heavy. The photo was taken sideways to eliminate shadows. I can see beat errors. Oh well this is the first project on this loom and 4 harness weaving in about 4 years. I am relearning a lot as I go along. How to throw the shuttle, proper tension, and most importantly where I am in the weave pattern when the phone rings.

As you can see I weave in the basement on cement. I need to make a rug for under my feet and I also need to figure out antislide for the legs. The loom slides forwards when I beat and ends up on my knees. This is a large table loom on legs. Any ideas?

I Am fairly happy with this project, once I get over my need for perfection.

Cheers

Carpet Bag

For the carpet bag project I have used the pattern from Favorite Things in the past. I am not sure if I will have enough yardage so will probably have to change pattern. Will keep you posted.

Meet Maggie

It amazes me (to the frustration of DH) that I can always find ways of fitting in more 'toys' into my ever expanding art area. I rearranged and gave away stuff to make room for a 45 inch Leclerc tapestry loom. I am calling her Maggie as she came from a Margaret. I have done some small scale tapestry weaving on a copper pipe loom, usually in the TV room while DH watches sports. I am looking forward to having a designated area.

I will be sewing today as I have a few things to sew/alter for students at the Canadian College of Performing Arts for their presentation of A Midsummer's Night Dream. Hope to find some time to weave and dream of a project for Maggie.

Have a thread happy day.
Chris

Welcome to My Blog

Hi and welcome. Why "Wrapped in Threads"? Well I seem to always be surrounded with threads be it sewing threads or threads from spinning, weaving or knitting. And as it sometimes goes I have so many ongoing projects I literally feel like I am wrapped in threads from head to toe. Currently I am working on a few costumes which I hope to see the end of later this week. Also I have a couple of hours of work for another performance.

As weaving has also become a focus again, I am trying to weave daily even if it is only for 10 minutes. I had stopped weaving for a few years. The floor loom I had been using went back to it's owner and I had, stupidly, given most of my other stuff away. In the in between years I have been collecting antique treadle sewing machines so space is now at a premium. My new to me loom is a large table loom by Leclerc. It is the Iris model but she is named Patience. She stands on legs and is a 4 harness loom.

Using some yarn I had purchased awhile ago I had to relearn warping a loom. I took my time and looked at some books. I am using a Finnish Bird's Eye pattern from Marguarite P Davison's book. The yarn is 2 shades of mauve and about an 2/8 (or 8/2 for all you folks south of the border) acrylic. Sett is 15 EPI. It is turning out quite well but heavier than I had first thought. It is like upholstery fabric so I think I will make it into a carpet bag for my mom.

Well sewing is calling and my loom is standing idle.