Peggy Osterkamp's Weaving Blog
"Weaving should be fun!"
Here are the sett charts from my book, Weaving for Beginners. They are more like summaries of the comprehensive charts found in my book, Winding a Warp & Using a Paddle but I think they can do for a quick check. My charts are based on the yards per pound (m/kg) of the yarns. … Read more
It’s been five years since I published my new website including over 100 weaving tips and I’m counting down the top ten. Here is number 7. I’m amazed that it has had about around 5,000 views. The top one has about over 23,000 views to date!! Can you guess what the subject of that tip is? This … Read more
New Sett Charts in Book I: Winding a Warp & Using a Paddle and “Weaving for Beginners” Sett Charts Sett charts can save you valuable weaving time. Instead of using the sometimes inaccurate wrapping method or doing the tedious calculations yourself, you can look up the type of yarn that you are using to find … Read more
In weft-faced fabrics, the warp is all but covered by the weft. To accomplish this, you have to space the warps far enough apart that the rows of weft will pack down and cover them. There is a method which can be used as a starting point for experimentation in finding this warp spacing. Use … Read more
This is a weaving trick for sett used in industry: a balanced looking fabric is actually a bit more warp predominant than precisely balanced. It looks balanced at a glance, but upon inspection, you will see that there are more warps per inch than wefts per inch. We handweavers can use this principle, too. And … Read more
There is another concern about sett to consider: The Purpose. Do you want a firm or an open or a medium weight cloth? Figures A, B, and C show the same yarns, all used in a balanced plain weave (warps and wefts show equally). So, an open weave can be as balanced as a tightly … Read more
The sett is the density of the warp. It is the number of ends (warp threads) per inch (epi). The sett you choose depends on the yarns, the weave structure (e.g., plain or twill, etc.) and the intended purpose of the finished piece (e.g., a loosely-woven shawl or upholstery in a tight, firm weave, or … Read more
Ellen Miller showed me her gorgeous alpaca double weave scarf. She was disappointed that the sett wasn’t exactly balanced as typical double cloth is. This showed more in the white areas. My sense is that it is beautiful with the more open sett. You can still see the solid black and white areas. For her … Read more
Ashenhurt and other sett charts tell you the setts for balanced weaves–where both the warp and the weft show equally. Weavers often don’t want both to show equally, they may want the warp to predominate in some cases, or the weft. Then you adjust the sett from the charts accordingly–more warps per inch (epi) for … Read more
There is a comment asking for more information and clarification about sett and Ashenhurst and various sett charts in other sources. My reply follows. What do you find confusing about my descriptions in my Book #1, Winding a Warp & Using a Paddle, and in my new book, Weaving for Beginners? Your input will help … Read more
Jan Hudson wove 2 scarves on a whim, and I asked her to make the April Fools Day post. I used a variegated rayon knitting yarn as warp on the orange and blue scarf. The weft is a very thin unidentified cotton yarn I had in my stash but sewing thread would work also. The … Read more
From Lenore Tawney: A Personal World, published by Brookfield Craft Center to accompany two showing of works by Lenore Tawney. 1978.text by Jean d’Autilia. Photos from Lenore Tawney A Retrospective published in conjunction with the exhibition of the same name at the American Craft Museum 1990. Introduction:I seem to be getting too many ideas while … Read more
These ideas take “plaids” to different levels. I just realized that all of these projects must have been made on the same warp! The same warp stripe system is in all of them. Cleverly, the tote bag has the pattern turned 90 degrees for another idea and look. What the wefts do make very different … Read more
Introduction:I thought I would tell a bit about each of my books and maybe some of the back story about how I came to write them. If you like, just skip to my website: www.peggyosterkamp.com for details of the Holiday Sale. Buy One book and Get One Free! My annual Holiday Sale begins today on … Read more
This post may help explain how my needle pillow cloth was woven. These pieces were made on the same warp. I had made a dozen or so pillow fronts and backs (in plain weave or tabby). Then I got creative and played with ideas of what else could be woven on the same warp. This … Read more
When you tie on warps, whether you lace on like I did here, or tie on with surgeon’s knots, you can begin weaving right away without rags, toilet paper, and such. See the solution, below. This way the warp weaves the width it’s supposed to be and doesn’t splay out. Also it’s not lumpy. Sometimes … Read more
IntroductionI’m finally allowed to go to my studio as of a week or so ago. My friends were talking about a weave structure that looked interesting and they said it was easy to treadle so I wanted to try it. It called for dark and light thread for the warp and weft yarns. I found … Read more
IntroductionI have 5 pages of text and illustrations in my book, Weaving & Drafting Your Own Cloth on the Beat. This post is taken mostly from Weaving for Beginners. However, I couldn’t resist including how to beat lightly from the Weaving & Drafting book. There’s, a lot more to it if one is interested. Also, … Read more
Regular selvedge threads often get tight. The problem is solved by winding separate selvedge threads. More than anything, you want to keep the selvedge warp threads from tightening up. By weighting them separately from the main warp they can weave and take up without getting tight.It isn’t hard to do, and it ensures good-looking selvedges … Read more
Introduction: Many of my weaving friends never learned to make 2 crosses on the warping board. Instead, I think that they stopped to make ties and tied off each and every group of threads for the raddle. I taught my beginners to make a cross with groups of threads for the raddle as well as … Read more
Introduction: Someone commented about my previous post on making a sampler: “Sample or Sampler”. I think most of us know about samplers but the difference between that and sample needs some thinking about. What do I mean by “sample”? I mean trying out your ideas on the ACTUAL WARP before weaving a project. That means … Read more
Introduction: I have been enjoying Instagram a lot lately. (look for peggyoster) It’s a way to show photographs from my daily and now evening walks around my building. I haven’t missed a day since the lockdown and the same walk requires (allows?) me to really look for interesting things, and to watch the progress of … Read more
Introduction: The answer to the question in the title is answered at the end of the post. I was thinking of a quick and easy project for a post the other day. Besides quick and easy, I thought it also should not be precious. Because when something is precious it takes extra time, planning and … Read more
“It’s not finished until it’s finished” a quote from my teachers When our teachers told us this, it always meant that the woven cloth needed to be washed so the threads would relax and settle into the weave. I do wash or at least wet my fabrics and usually give them a hard press. That … Read more
I’m amazed at how people are checking on and helping each other as we deal with the Covid-19 virus and stay in our homes. I spent the day cutting fabrics for making 200 masks for our staff. Thank goodness for a rotary cutter! I can’t tell you how good it felt to be doing something. … Read more