Shadow Weave Pillows... finished!

The pillows I've been working on have been a much greater challenge than I anticipated.  The 100% wool yarn is very loosely spun and prone to "fuzz" with minimal friction.  Fortunately, because I wove samples, I was aware of what would happen.  The solution was to weave the pillows face down and roll the fabric onto the fabric beam with paper in between the layers.  

I chose a different treadling for each side of the two pillows; two small scale and two larger. Here are the two smaller patterns:

 

 

And the two larger:

 

 

Sewing the pieces together presented another challenge.  Because the fabric is so thick, it would barely fit under the presser foot of my sewing machine.  It also wanted to shift, and I was concerned about the look of the seams if they weren't aligned correctly.  So... I sewed all the seams by hand using 8/2 cotton and a large eye tapestry needle.  It took awhile, but I'm glad I took the time to do it.  I was able to follow one thread along each edge for a precise seam.

The fabric is far too heavy to use for covered welting; instead, I made a ropey twisted cord and stitched it carefully over the seams. 

I'm pleased with the way these pillows turned out and sent photos this morning to Madelyn van der Hoogt, editor of Handwoven magazine, who initiated the idea of using an especially heavy yarn.   She likes them!  And they will be published in the January/February 2012 issue of Handwoven.  Yea!

Big, Bulky, Burly Spun Shadow Weave Sample

I've been working on samples for shadow weave pillows for Handwoven magazine.  Editor Madelyn van der Hoogt asked if I would try using a heavier-than-usual yarn, so I'm sampling with this very bulky yarn from Brown Sheep called Burly Spun.  The warp and weft setts are only six ends per inch!  I chose a draft with more than ten treadling variations, some of which you see here:

It's so interesting to see how the pattern can change; from a Bargello-like zigzag to diamonds and circles.  I'm planning two pillows so now I have to decide which are my favorites! 

 I've included this photo of some of the yarn (I also sampled this heather grey and charcoal) so you can get an idea of how bulky it is.  One half pound has only 135 yards.  Compare that to 8/2 cotton (which I often use) with over 3300 yards per pound!