Tencel, Take 2

So, it took me a few hours, but the loom is now re-threaded and my back is warped ;)

          Re-threading in progress

Before I re-threaded, I tightened up my loom. Thankfully, there were no threading errors. 

I sleyed at 20 epi again, and started weaving 2/2 twill. At 5 inches, I did 3 picks of plain weave, then reversed the twill for 12 picks. Then I did 3 more of plain weave. It resulted in a nice textural change and broke up the monotony of the the twill in white. I threw in a section of blue. 

I seem to have eliminated the draw-in somewhat, but I am still breaking the right hand side floating selvedge thread about every 4 inches. Now I'm thinking that it's not the Tencel but that this loom needs a good tune up. 

Happy Weaving!

Overshot in Tencel - An Epic Fail :(

As I work my way through my list of things to weave this winter, I've come to Tencel. I've never used it before. When I began warping, I loved the feel. So soft and light and shiny. When threading I was amazed at how easy it was! The Tencel is very smooth and very strong. I thought threading pearl cotton or linen was easy, but Tencel makes it a breeze. 

I used 8/2 Tencel in natural for warp sett at 20 epi, or 2 threads per dent in my 10 dent reed. 

I used the pattern Wreath Rose from Estes' Original Miniature Patterns For Handweaving, Part II. Here is my draft.....

Threading in progress, 1/2 way done...

Fixing a threading error :(........

Here is 16/2 Bockens Linen as pattern weft with the Tencel as tabby....

Nice, but the linen isn't thick enough. 

Next up, 5/2 pearl cotton in purple.

Still not completely happy with the 5/2, I then tried 3/2 in black.....

I like the look better. The 5/2 sample is woven more to square than the 3/2 but I'm hoping that it will even out when off the loom and after wet finishing....if it ever makes it off the loom. 

Fast forward a bit and my warp threads are breaking like crazy. 

I think there is too much draw in at the fell, but I don't have a temple that small so I'll try to make one. 

Fast forward another day, and I've given up on the overshot for now. My homemade temple just didn't work right. I'll re-thread in a straight draw and see if I have better luck with a 2/2 twill. 

Happy Weaving!