Backstrap Weaving – Belt Up

It’s just a short one this week as I’ve had other projects going on lately that have limited my time at the loom. I’m giving myself a bit of time off to write this post and then I’ll be back at them.

My stash of weaving materials has been reduced pretty much to one drawer now, most of it lovely silk in various sizes. I really didn’t have an idea of what I wanted to weave next. As you’ve probably figured out, my projects are born from a desire to just be at my backstrap loom weaving rather than a need for any kind of product.

I opened the drawer to see what would leap out at me and this is where I ended up…

This is the naturally-dyed cotton from Mayan Hands in Guatemala that Kate had given me many years ago. It was what she had left over from a towel weaving kit that she had purchased. The beautiful light blue thread was dyed with indigo. I love the washed-out look it has like a very faded old pair of jeans. The other colors were dyed by me using synthetic dyes….a variety of blues that I had used in other projects.

The light indigo-blue features in this bag for my cotton spinning tools and supplies along with the other shades of blue that I’d dyed myself.

Because my supply of this light blue thread was now so low, I’d need to come up with a smaller project than the tool bag. I decided on a belt using the same structures that I’d used for the bag fabric above.

That fabric was woven using both complementary-warp and complementary-weft structures, a combination that I’ve only quite recently been sampling and using. The darkest blue and light blue sections use the warp threads for making the patterns. In the other horizontal bands of pattern in other shades of blue the weft threads create the figures.

I used the structure that I call Andean Pebble Weave for both. I turn the Andean Pebble Weave structure sideways in order to be able to weave it as a weft-faced rather than a warp-faced structure.

I started experimenting and sampling with this a bit over a year ago, first by alternating bands of weft-faced pattern with warp-faced plain weave….

I really enjoyed the way it allowed me to change colors at will. Then I decided to combine complementary-warp and complementary-weft in the one piece, rather than just doing plain weave between the weft-faced sections.

The orange and white sections are complementary-warp and the burgundy and yellow are complementary-weft.

The first challenge was to adjust the way I wove the warp-faced sections so that their width matched those of the wider weft-faced ones.

Then I was able to go on to weave the fabric for the tool bag….

Because both structures are complementary ones, both faces of the cloth show the same figures except that their colors are reversed.

The strap for the bag uses the same two techniques except that I didn’t weave any figures into the warp-faced sections. Using only one color instead of two in the warp-faced sections made the strap less “noisy” against the busy bag fabric.

Using a complementary-warp-float structure, even though it’s just in one solid color, between the weft-faced sections gives a thicker, sturdier band than I would otherwise get with just plain weave.

Now after all that introduction, we finally get to the latest belt project. I wove it in much the same way as the strap above….solid light blue warp-faced sections with no pattern alternating with patterned weft-faced sections. I had to alter the way I did the weft-faced sections so that my little hummingbird figures would be well proportioned. That meant passing my weft over and under groups of fewer warp threads so that the figures wouldn’t turn out stretched and “flattened”.

The little hummingbird figures that I designed in the structure that I call Andean Pebble Weave normally sit on my bands aligned like this, looking like they’re about to fly off the edge…

Weaving them sideways in the weft-faced structure meant that they would be flying along the length of the belt and be seen the right way up when the belt is worn. (BTW, I did actually try to design a different hummingbird aligned sideways on my charting paper but couldn’t come up with anything that I liked).

And there it is off the loom.

The first little fella’s beak was too short. I don’t think he’ll be able to get at much nectar with that. The split in the band at one end will allow me to accommodate the belt buckle’s “tongue”. This is the first time I’ve woven a belt and thought far enough ahead to weave that split. It certainly makes things easier when adding the buckle later. The other end is a nice selvedge, something that my backstrap loom allows me to easily create, so I don’t need to worry about hemming or otherwise stabilizing it.

I took a walk down to a local store called Hebilandia, which translates to Buckle Land. It’s in the narrow chaotic streets near my home which are packed with fabric and upholstery stores. I’m always glad that that the gentlemen there tolerate my requests for just one of this and one of that. They really are geared up to selling in bulk to professional belt makers.

There I got a buckle, a thingamajig to hold down the excess bit of strap, a metal tab to go on the end (although, it isn’t quite wide enough….not a problem because that end is a selvedge anyway) and some webbing that I used as backing. I always back my belts, even the heavier double weave ones, because I like them good and stiff. After having tried different things with belts over the years, I just go with gluing on the backing. Oh, and while there, I also got the holes punched. It’s such a great little store to have just a few blocks from my home.

Buckle, thingamajig, end tab and holes.

Now I’m pondering this….

Both of these are gifts from Australian fiber friends. Susan gave me that skein of silk many years ago and it caught my eye as a nice thing to dye to combine with the variegated silk that Will gave me on my last visit. I think they might both be 20/2. Now, I’ve never used variegated thread as warp before and I am not quite sure about the best way to use it. Many years ago I was given some stunning Just Our Yarn variegated tencel that I was using as supplementary weft. Most of it got used by my students in workshops and it was absolutely gorgeous as supplementary weft.

I love the mother-of-pearl colors in the thread that Will has given me and am thinking that perhaps I could combine it with a matching solid color in rep weave. But, I don’t know….does anyone use silk for rep weave? It seems like that chunky structure doesn’t suit the delicate nature of silk.

I’ve only ever done two rep weave pieces before in cotton.

But then there’s ikat. I think that dyeing a solid color over an ikat pattern in variegated thread could be interesting. You can see that the last thing I’m thinking about right now is the product! I really don’t need anything. Maybe it could be fabric for a pillow cover? I might have enough thread for the front, or at least part thereof, of a pillow cover which can be backed with something else.

Going through old photos the other day, I saw this one which reminded me that this silk ikat piece is sitting at the bottom of a drawer. The finer patterning is in supplementary weft.

Pillow cover came to mind for this piece too, something for when I am living in Australia, although I’m determined not to get into home decorating when I’m there. I’ll be starting from zero as far as furnishings go and want to keep things as minimal as possible. After clearing out so much stuff from my place here, it’s nice to see how little I need in the way of furnishings….as long as I have something to which I can anchor my backstrap loom!

I’ll keep pondering that variegated silk and let’s see where it takes me. Until next time….