Atelier Enila Tityad
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Drawing the pattern and weaving
You have :
- The trestle prepared with a warp of1 2/12 cotton, 15 cm width in the centre.
- A bobin with 12/12 cotton.
- A section of round or half round wood (diameter 1 cm) whidth of your trestle.
- A sheet of cardboard, a marker, a ruler.
- A large tapestry needle.
You are going to make your first pattern. Use a lightweight cardboard.
Your cardboard should be 15 cm wide (the width of your warp) and maximum 45 cm high. If more, the passage of the bobin then becomes difficult.
Your design should not start at the bottom edge of the cardboard, because first you have to weave a 1.5 cm plain cotton strip.
The design you are going to make has to follow certain rules. Do not make a complicated one. For a good basic learningcess you should include in it :
- a straight horizontal line
- a straight oblique line
- " steps "
-a square
- possibly a curved line
- a diamond for any symmetrical work.
Caution : all the areas drawn must be closed, as the weaving work has to be done zone by zone, well delimited.
The Cotton Strip.
Once your warp is assembled, there are still some irregularities at the level of the knots and spacings.
The 12/12 cotton strip that you will weave will allow you to rectify these imperfections.
You will also have to finish your work with a second cotton strip at the end.
Bande de coton
Bande de coton
By correcting the position of each thread and knot as you go along, you should end up with a perfectly flat and evenly spaced warp.
Weaving
To weave is to pull every other warp thread and pass the bobbin through the space created between the warp threads that have been pulled and those that have remained in place.
This space has a name: the warp opening.
When you reach the end, you have to go back in the opposite direction and pull every other warp thread that was left in place during the previous pass.
This creates an over/under effect which constitutes the weave.
A complete passage in both directions is called a full pass of weft.
A single passage in one direction is called a half-pass.
beginner's work
Pull your warp threads in groups of 5/6 at the most, slide your bobbin into the opening of the warp that corresponds to this section, the thread of the bobbin is placed loosely "in a little bridge". Then it is lowered by placing the thumb in front of the warp and the index finger behind the warp, making a clamp.
When two or three full passes of weft have been made, a beater is used to pack the weft. An old heavy metal fork is a good substitute for this.
It is important at this point not to pull too much on the thread of the bobin, as the work will be deformed by "squeezing".
on the contrary, leaving the thread too loose will give a puffy effect. You should not use your thread like a seamstress. The bobin is not a big needle!
Good and regular tension is the first necessity of a good tapestry.
You can now put the cartoon behind the cotton strip. With a large tapestry needle sew the cardboard and the strip together, starting in the middle (this prevents them from moving sideways).
Then, in the two corners at the top of the cardboard, pass a cotton thread which will be fixed on the top of the trestle.
If you open the same shed all through your assembly and slip a round or half-round wooden stick into it (so one thread out of two) you will keep this opening permanently. You have just placed a shed stick. This way, one half-pass out of two, you can easily slide your hand into the warp opening and quickly select a section of yarns. Be careful not to pick more than 5 or 6 threads at a time, otherwise you risk to change the tension. This way, by increasing the speed of weaving, requires a lot of vigilance to maintain the necessary regularity.
For the second half of the line, you will have to pull your threads one by one until you learn how to put up a heddle bar.