Tottie Talks Crafts Blog

February 27, 2011 · 4:04 pm

Another woven Gypsy Jacket done

I decided it was time to finish weaving the pieces for the new Saori style Gypsy jacket and get stitching them together.

So… I pulled the plug out and got to work.

Which pleased Ms Kitty enormously.

I like to do most of the stitching by hand, but do re-enforce the back neck edge with machine stitching, as it takes the lion’s share of the weight of the jacket.

After 2 days of stitching away on the jacket, I thought… oh oh… what if I don’t like the jacket…. or what if it doesn’t fit?

I assumed that since the first woven jacket fits just fine, that this one would, too…. and then had the ‘yikes’ about it….

It fits the furgrandkid beautifully, with a little room to spare…

At first I thought that the new jacket was a little shorter than I wanted it to be…. but, my husband disagrees…. he thinks it’s just the right length.

If I do decide to add more length to the hem, it’s easily done. Just weave up a band, and stitch it on.

Alright… this jacket is done… now back to work on the new book! 🙂

The pattern for this jacket is based on pattern # 51 in the Saori pattern book – available from your favorite Saori weaving studio.

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Filed under Loom & looms & small loom weaving, weaving & handwoven

Tagged as handwoven. handwoven clothing, woven jacket

February 10, 2011 · 10:01 pm

Clasped weft weaving for handwoven Gypsy Jacket

People kept asking me how many hours it took to weave my first “Gypsy Jacket”. See: First Gypsy Jacket

So, I thought that I would set myself a challenge.

I decided that I would weave another one and log in, keeping track of all the hours I put into weaving a Gypsy Jacket.

I logged in an absurd number of hours of weaving time, and decided that I just didn’t want to know anymore just how many hours I put in.

Why did it take so long?

Because I was using a very slow technique, of working with 2 sets of clasped wefts to get more color play into my fabric.

I only used one shuttle, but had yarn on cones to the right of the loom, and yarn on spools on a spool rack to the left of the loom.

The shuttle comes out of the warp strands between picks and sits on the surface of the web, about 6 inches from the left hand edge.
The first motion is to open a new shed, pass the shuttle into the shed, take it out to the left, go under the strands of yarn that are hanging from the spool rack, pull them into the shed with the yarn from the shuttle.

Bring them into the place where you want them to end. There is a double strand of that set of weft strands.
Now, the shuttle goes to the right hand edge and out , and goes under the yarn that is on the cones. The shuttle goes back into the shed, and is pulled up, bringing the 3rd color as far as desired. The shuttle then is moved back to it’s exit point, the shed is closed, beaten, and the next shed is opened. The whole process is repeated.
It’s slow, but you can create pretty intense colorways this way.

Of course, it’s faster to just use one set of clasped weft yarns, but by clasping from both selvedges, you can get some pretty gorgeous patterning.

So far, I have used 5 different looms for this jacket, and still have a couple more that I will be working with to complete the weaving of the parts of the new Gypsy Jacket.

One section was woven with a cradle loom and a small rigid heddle.

And, one section was woven with a small Goodwood frame loom. I love frame looms, and used another frame loom for other pieces of the jacket.

More weaving to go…. and then the sewing.

Would I sell the jacket? Well, yes, actually. 🙂

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Filed under Loom & looms & small loom weaving, weaving & handwoven

Tagged as clasp weft weaving technique, handwoven clothing, rigid heddle loom, small loom weaving, weaving, woven Gypsy Jacket

January 24, 2011 · 8:30 pm

Hurrah! My Gypsy Jacket is done

Last summer, I bought a huge cone of variegated red shaded mohair at one of our fave thrift shops.

Ever since then, I’ve been thinking: Ooooh…. gotta weave myself a red jacket with that yarn….

Just before Christmas, I thought- Mmmm… why don’t I warp up that neat red mohair and weave myself a new jacket to wear to Jim’s Christmas concert? (My husband, Jim, is a jazz musician extraordinaire, and his trio always does a jazzy Christmas concert every year).

So… I got warped, and wove and wove and wove…and wove up 2 yummy lengths of freeform weaving yardage for the jacket.

I had scissors clutched in my hand, poised above the yardage, about to cut it out, using a pattern that I had never made before.

Luckily, my little inner ‘Oh Oh Voice’ popped up and asked if I was nuts, and shouldn’t I consider making the jacket up in commercial fabric first before I slashed my way through my yards of handwoven treasure?

I went… oh… what a good idea.

I whipped up the jacket in some stash fabric and was aghast to discover that it looked truly horrible on me! Yikes!

Luckily, it looks fab on my daughter in law.

I was so put off by the whole thing that I folded the fabric up, plopped it on the top of a shelf in the studio and carried on with Christmas-ing.

Last week, when I realized that the concert that the ‘Road to Django’ concert that Jim was playing in on the 23rd was a really important one for him, I thought: I need to make something really spiffy to wear to it!

And discovered that I didn’t have anywhere near enough fabric, as I am quite tall and that means that there is a lot of me to cover!

So, I warped up and wove the 2 sleeves for my Gypsy Jacket.

And then, started snipping and stitching it all together.

Did I take pics of the process?

No… my camera is stuffed full of step by step photos for my new book, and so I didn’t want to take the time to deal with those while I was frantically building the jacket.

As we were racing out the door to the concert, I had to leave one pocket still on the loom.

Just not enough time to finish the weaving, and to get it stitched onto the jacket.

I had some doubts, as I was putting the jacket together…. I wasn’t sure that it was going to work.

BUT… I love it!

It is the MOST comfortable jacket – and it’s just plain fun to wear.

NOW… I can hardly wait to get warped up for the next one!

Here’s a larger view of the jacket:

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay

What looms did I use? A 24 inch rigid heddle loom, an inkle loom, a potholder loom, a frame loom, and a 2 inch square vintage weave-it loom.

I stitched it all together by hand, but did use my sewing machine to zig zag the cut ends of the fabric.

Yarns: Mohair, silk, wool, cotton, chenille.

Today, I finished weaving the second pocket and stitched it onto the Gypsy Jacket.

By the way, the concert was FABULOUS!!!

39 Comments

Filed under Loom & looms & small loom weaving, weaving & handwoven

Tagged as freeform weaving, Gypsy Jacket, hand woven, handwoven, one of a kind jacket

January 17, 2011 · 3:41 pm

Edward Bear has two new fans

The phone just rang, and it was my sister.

She went grocery shopping and found ‘Knitting Today’ on the stand.

She thought… hmmm… Isn’t this the magazine that has Noreen’s teddy bears?

She was delighted to flip it open and find Edward Bear in his new raincoat, boots and hat.

Another lady was browsing the knitting magazines, so Sis said:

“Excuse me…. I just have to show you what my sister does…”

and showed her the photo of Edward looking spiffy in his raincoat.

They had a lovely chat, and as my sister turned to toodle off, the lady reached over and said:

‘You don’t need to buy ALL the copies of the magazine! I want one, too!”

She reached over and plucked one of the copies out of Sis’s basket, and grinned.

And, then she went off to see Mom.

Well…. Mom fell madly in love with Edward Bear, so, guess what?

I need to knit an Edward Bear for our mother, and of course, one for my sister… and, oh yes, I promised one to my daughter, too….

Hmmm… I wonder if Sis would rather have an Anastasia Bear?

I need to stop everything and knit up some small, but wonderful bears for the women in my family.

We all have a well developed sense of whimsy, and Edward and Anastasia definitely are all about delight.

Off to grab my needles….

7 Comments

Filed under knitting

Tagged as Edward Bear, Knitting Today! magazine

December 30, 2010 · 7:54 pm

Weaving Goddess tapestries with my cat

For weeks and weeks, I have been avoiding working on one of my Goddess tapestries.

I just couldn’t summon the courage to weave her face…

The metaphor or pun is, of course: I couldn’t face her.

Well… I decided yesterday, that I am going to finish weaving her before this year is done.

So, I got out the lovely new sketchbook/journal that my daughter gave me for Christmas, and the gorgeous aquarelle watercolor pencils that my son gave me, and started sketching:

That was exactly what I needed to break the barriers I had set up between the tapestry and myself.

Then, under the close supervision of Ms Kitty, who settled in on her usual perch: I wove the face four different ways.

I kept tearing it out and re-weaving until I was happy with it.

Tapestry weaving is wonderfully forgiving: You simply go back and pull out what you don’t like and weave again until you find the solution.

It’s fascinating, because, as I weave, I become aware of all the running chatter that flaps through my mind.

I have to consciously work at stilling the negative voices and work on letting just the appropriate stuff through.

So, weaving is a VERY Zen process.

Just ask Ms Kitty.

She knows all about Zen.

And, she also knows all about weaving.

She’ll be happy to tell you about it.

Or perhaps she’ll just smile sweetly at you and wink.

12 Comments

Filed under Loom & looms & small loom weaving, Uncategorized, weaving & handwoven, Woven Women tapestries and woven works

Tagged as goddess tapestries, tapestry weaving

December 11, 2010 · 7:02 pm

A Blessing for the New Year by John O’Donahue

I am so deeply immersed in working on projects for my new book that I am rarely blogging these days,

but I do have a couple of things that I wanted to share with you….

The first is a pic that I just love… it’s me, dancing with our sweet grandbaby a few weeks ago, while Jim’s trio was playing.

I love how Jim is peeking over my shoulder!

The second thing that I really wanted to share with you is this poem by John O’Donohue…

It expresses my feelings so perfectly!

May you have days and nights that are beautiful, happy and blessed!

A Blessing for the New Year

by John O’Donohue from

‘To Bless the Space Between Us”

On the day when

The weight deadens

On your shoulders

And you stumble,

May the clay dance

To balance you.

And when your eyes

Freeze behind

The gray window

And the ghost of loss gets into you,

May a flock of colors,

Indigo, red, green

and azure blue,

Come to awaken in you

A meadow of delight.

When the canvas frays

In the curragh of thought

And a stain of ocean

Blackens beneath you,

May there come across the waters

A path of yellow moonlight

To bring you safely home.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,

May the clarity of light be yours,

May the fluency of the ocean be yours,

May the protection of the ancestors be yours.

And, so may a slow

Wind work these words

Of love around you,

An invisible cloak

To mind your life.

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Filed under Uncategorized

November 13, 2010 · 1:03 pm

A little woodworking with my tapestry weaving

Weaving and woodwork are completely interwoven at our house.

I am working on an ongoing series of woven tapestries.

(In amongst working on a new book and a million other things… never a dull moment!) 🙂

I love weaving on frame looms, and find them to be a joy for tapestry weaving.

One problem with frame looms – especially a BIG one like my Goodwood (no profit in saying how much I like their work, just a happy customer) 13 inch frame loom (actual dimensions are close to 16 inches wide by about 32 inches tall) is that it’s waaaaaaaaaay too big for working in my lap.

So, I went out to the workshop and made an easel for it.

I get the heeby jeebies at the thought of drilling holes into a gorgeous loom.

But, it was essential to have holes in the sides for attaching the folding stand.

So I got Jim to drill the holes! LOL 🙂

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay

While I was out in the workshop, I couldn’t resist making myself a couple of small tapestry beaters and some funky tapestry flat bobbins.

Why do tapestry bobbins need to be round and turned on the lathe?

They don’t.

I saw a photo of a flat tapestry bobbin somewhere on the net, and had a huge ‘aha’ moment!

And have discovered that I really quite like the little one of a kind carved ones.

They are slow to make (which is why machines are used to whip out the commercial ones) but are a treat to use.

And, will I be selling them? Nope…. too much work to make them.

Will I continue to make more for myself?

Intermittently…. I am deep into working on my new book, and there aren’t enough hours in the day…..

I have a tiny beater that I use for the miniature tapestries that I have been working on, but haven’t been able to find my full size beater.

So, it was a good excuse to play with some lovely walnut wood that we were given years ago, and make myself some Goddess shaped tapestry beaters.

The new beaters and bobbins are a treat to work with.

The tapestry is moving along nicely, although the ‘hours in the day’ issue is a hard one to get around!

One of the other tapestries that I am working on is on ‘wait’ mode…. but I hope to get back to it soon.

But, the new book is first and foremost, so that’s my focus right now.

As I make progress on it, and as we get the technical problems we’re having resolved, I’ll post more about it.

🙂

I have been having a very frustrating time with technical problems on my blog lately, and we have spent a ton of time trouble shooting. I haven’t been able to upload pics, so have spent hours and hours fiddling around with deleting old posts, in case that is the issue…. hopefully, we’ll get to the root of the issue soon!

All material on this blog is copyright protected and may not be used without permission from Noreen Crone-Findlay

3 Comments

Filed under Loom & looms & small loom weaving, Uncategorized, weaving & handwoven

Tagged as frame loom weaving, handmade tapestry bobbins, tapestry, tapestry loom, tapestry loom beater, tapestry loom easel, tapestry loom stand, tapestry weaving

October 23, 2010 · 12:39 pm

October just pranced away on us!

Whoops… October has shot by without a single blog entry from me…. which has been brought to my notice by getting emails from friends and relations asking, ‘Why?’

One of the reasons is that I am having trouble with uploading photos and I get so fed up that I just stomp off and go humph.

Oho! I just discovered that I am too close to having used up all my allotted space on this blog- so that’s why it didn’t want to accept the photos! I went and did some ‘housecleaning’ and will delete some more stuff so that I can carry on.

The photo that I ~finally~ figured out how to upload is of one of my new looms.

It’s a lovely little loom from Goodwood Looms – one of their mini inkles. (No profit in me telling you that I love their looms, just a satisfied customer. And, I did use one of their frame looms in my book: The Woven Bag. I always feel odd saying “No affiliations”, as I do get very fond of my looms, and so I do feel ‘affiliation’ – so it’s more honest to just let you know that I don’t make profit by singing praises of the things I love).

I ordered another frame loom, too, as I love the one I already have, but it appears to have gotten stuck to the desk of some bloke in Customs.

Aw, c’mon! I want my loom! Puhleeeeeeeeeeeeeze release it!

I have been weaving up a storm…. I am working on some new pieces that I will be making a gallery page for on my new website (which I haven’t managed to get done, oh my…. oh my)

I also have just bought a couple of wonderful new weaving books- I am now working my way through Laverne Waddington’s ‘Andean Pebble Weave’ book (Link)

It’s awesome. I had done pebble weave on my Inkle loom, based on Helene Bress’s book, and it’s a very different kettle of fish than the way Ms Waddington presents it. I am soooooooooo excited by the possibilities of working with the Andean Pebble weave.

As a dyed in the wool small loom aficianado, I love the potential for creating intensely complex patterning using this technique on small looms.

I am so grateful to Laverne Waddington for the years of exploration and study that she has immersed herself in and for her generous sharing of her scholarship and expertise.

One other thing that I just have to comment on is that she has such a lovely presence in her videos- she seems like a total sweetheart, and that comes through so beautifully in all that she does. I hope that she will be doing more books.

I chose to go with the paper copy and I am glad that I did, as I like to be able to work at different places in the studio, and this way, I am not tied to the computer desk.

AND… a big thank you to Syne Mitchell for all the hard work that she does in bringing such deliciousness to the weaving world! Yay!

The other book that I’ve just bought is Jane Patrick’s new book: The weaver’s idea book:creative cloth on a rigid heddle loom.

LINK (and I just noticed that they also have 2 of my other all time most favorite books ever at this link: Helene Bress’s Inkle Weaving and Betty Davenport’s Hands on Rigid Heddle weaving. They are MUST HAVES).

The Weaver’s Idea Book is also destined to become one of my treasured books. It is stuffed full of really useful information. It’s beautifully presented, and the book itself is a sturdy piece of technology that I love: a hardcover that opens up to be coil bound inside.

Again: No affiliations, just loving both books.

What else have I been doing instead of blogging? Well, I’ve been busily designing crochet and knitted projects for yarn companies and magazines, so that has cut into my weaving time!

And, working on new book proposals… we shall see how those go….

And, a million and one other things that leave me wondering at the end of the day- ‘Who pushed the fast forward button?’

🙂

8 Comments

Filed under book review/book/books, Loom & looms & small loom weaving, weaving & handwoven

Tagged as weaving books

September 11, 2010 · 12:57 pm

Travelling Bear settles in- part 3

Well, September has been challenging so far… I am playing unwilling host to a nasty flu thingie that has me feeling like a squashed bug, so I have been spending a lot of time curled up in fetal position wishing that the virus or whatever it is would just go away and let me return to my normal happy, healthy self!!!

Needless to say, I haven’t felt like blogging – who wants to hear moaning and groaning?

Anyhow, I thought I would FINALLY tie up the adventures of the tiny traveling bears (see part one and part two)

Earlier in the summer, my son and his wife and one of their closest friends moved one of their other near and dear friends to Vancouver, BC.

I gave them wee teddies to keep them safe on their journey, and my son took photos of the bears on the trip.

He also took pictures of Paul and his teddy as they settled into their new home:

Teddy decided that he quite liked hanging out with the prayer flags. He sent lots of good wishes out with them, too….

He’s mostly hanging out around Paul’s computer, helping with editing school work and stuff like that.

He needs to give Paul a little nudge to send us a note… ahem….

Because we are all sending Paul and Teddy tons of love and hopes for great happiness in their new home and school and city!!!

2 Comments

Filed under crochet

Tagged as crochet teddies, crocheted teddy, teddy bears, travelling teddy bears

September 6, 2010 · 7:08 pm

Adventures of 2 travelling bears part 2

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!! sometimes, technology is BEYOND frustrating!

I have spent the last 2 hours, trying to get this post to ‘take’…. but even though I have edited it a dozen or more times, and even deleted, and started over …. the photos just WON’T show up….. I’ll try again tomorrow…. 😦

In part one of the adventures of the traveling bears ‘ Link ,

the bears and their humans set out for Vancouver to get Paul moved and settled in for his new school year.