Woven Shibori: The Last 2 Samples

I suppose if I make some more samples at home, the post will have to be called "Woven Shibori Returns." ;) Anyway, for these last 2 samples I tried a couple of things just to see what happens.

sample 7: before

Sample 7: 3/5 twill, weaving only every 3rd pick (123, 456,781, 234, etc.). Wefts are 6/2 green cotton, 7/2 green cotton, 10/2 white cotton, handspun paper yarn. Removed sections of some threads, pulled and immersion dyed in dark blue.

sample 7: after

This one was fun. I used some cottons that I had partial bobbins of to make stripes, interspersed with some handspun paper yarn I made in a class with Jennifer Falck Linnsen last spring. It felt a little stiff when I was weaving, but the finished cloth is very flexible and maintains a nice texture. It took the dye well, too. The dye penetrated the cloth more where the paper was so lines aren't as clean, but I'm not sure whether that has to so with the nature of the paper yarn or the fact that its stiffness made it harder to gather up tightly.

The thinner cotton definitely made a cleaner pattern. With the twill reclining to this degree the diagonals still show up but they are broken up into sections instead of making long lines. All in all, a nice texture and lots to think about as far as materials and pattern.

sample 8: before

Sample 8: 4/4 twill. Wefts are 10/2 cotton, ecospun polyester, and poly/cotton, with 10/2 cotton alternating with one or the other of the polyesters. Pulled, immersed in dark blue dye, steamed to set pleats.

sample 8: relaxed

I wanted to see what ratio of poly to cotton is needed to maintain pleats, even though the cotton does not heat set. The 1/2" stripe of cotton does not seem to be affected at all. The 3/4" stripe seems looser but doesn't really bubble out much. The 1" stripe of cotton dies try to flatten itself out between the poly stripes and creates a nice contrast.

sample 8: pinned open

It was also interesting to see how the 2 polys dye differently. The pure poly does not dye at all in the fiber reactive dye, but the cotton/poly takes up some of the dye (although not nearly as much as the pure cotton). Now I need to search out some polyester yarn of my very own to experiment with. This whole permanent pleat business is very exciting.