Scarf Version 2

Last fall I wove a cotton scarf on my Rigid Heddle Loom with white cotton warp yarn, and using variegated turquoise, gray and white thick and thin cotton weft yarn. There is a blog post about it here. I posted the scarf on my ETSY shop and someone bought it right away. I thought it would be interesting to try the same scarf again using blue cotton/modal/silk yarn for the warp instead of plain white. The photos below show the yarns used in the first version of the scarf last fall, followed by the yarns in the current version.

The first step was to put the blue warp yarn on the loom. Luckily my dining room table with all the leaves in it is just the right length for a scarf.

The next photo shows a close up view of the warp yarns going around the back apron bar on the loom, and two yarn ends threaded through each slot in the reed.

The next steps in preparing the warp were winding the eight feet of warp yarn around the back beam so it was all contained on the loom, threading one of the ends from each slot through the adjacent hole in the reed, and tying the ends on to the front apron bar. The finished scarf was closer to six feet, with the extra two feet used up in fringe, loom waste, and “take up” (the warp yarn going up and down over and under the weft yarn). I did not take any photos of this part of the project. In the next photo you can see the yarn ends tied on to the front apron bar and the beginning of the weaving. There are some header rows that were removed later, followed by the hem stitch that finishes the end, and the first few inches of scarf.

There were hours of weaving weft rows, but I worked on it here and there with a long break during the middle of summer, so I don’t know how long it took. Skipping ahead, the next photo shows the hem stitching in progress at the other end of the scarf. I had to consult my instructions for hem stitching after not doing it for so long.

Once the hem stitching was complete, I cut the warp ends off the back apron bar leaving enough length for fringe, unwound the scarf off the front beam, and cut the ends off the front apron bar leaving enough for fringe there too. In order to twist professional looking fringe from the loose ends, I anchored the end of the scarf down on the dining room table using the heavy photo album from my son’s wedding.

Following are photos showing a close up of the weaving after it washed, and a photo of the completed scarf wrapped around a bust of me that my mom made years ago.

Lastly are photos showing the second version of the scarf with blue warp yarn, next to the first version of the scarf with white warp yarn. They are both nice, but I think I like the second one better.

Since completing this scarf I have stepped up my weaving game. Watch for future blog posts with details.