Double Weave Carpet and Fully Lined Japanese Jackets.

Instead of two two-meter blankets...there is one monster three-meter blanket and a somewhat useless one meter whatever..

Guess who kept weaving without measuring the progress?

The 90% wool 10% silk yarn was purchased from Nancy Zellar at Longridge Farm and she shipped it half way across the planet away from the lovely sheep that produced the wool.

It was all dyed with Madder and Indigo (overdyed) in varying shades of intensity. Ten threads per centimeter. It was a tight weave. When it is fulled will loose some of the nuances of the weave structure colour? Worried. 

 

Barbara Pickel and her lovely daughter Molly picked up some more wool from Nancy and flew it all the way here from New York. One suitcase full! 

That big Finnish loom in the middle room was a bit of an embarrassment. I changed it from a counter-balance to a counter-marche several years back. Wooden squeaky dowels etc. It was time for an upgrade and Barbara lent a hand. We made new jacks and lams and put them on stainless dowels. 

It now has eight harnesses instead of a humble four. It can do anything now. It is for real weavers now.

Four rather messy harnesses...

Making new lams and jacks.

  

A loom to be proud of.

Last summer I was asked to clean out an old barn near Ogata san's house and found an old miserable warping wheel and silk farming materials in that had not been used much since the war. It took a few days  to wash them down at the river then sand then repair. It works perfectly now. 

Whiteboots loved all the moving parts and was being naughty when the blue linen warp was being taken off.

The blue linen warp is being used on a 8 shaft twill double weave. 

The colours are reverse on the back of the cloth. The carpets on the step up from the entrance are pathetic. This is 3 meters long and 50 centimetres wide. It will be slightly felted after it is woven. This is the practice part....time decide the weft colours and weave. The natural grey colour (Wool from Finland last summer, thank you Henri.) looks good with the darker blue. The bolder pattern will suit the place it has to sit.

While fixing and setting up the loom Barbara and Molly took time to cut stencils, indigo dye a beautiful antique linen sheet Barbara had found in Europe. The sheet was enough to make two hantens. It was the first time I was able to teach the entire process from dyeing to construction with out the help of Yazaki san the local kimono seamstress! Fully lined and beautiful. Molly is a knitter and her insignia on the jacket is a knit stitch. Barbara is a weaver and her insignia is a plain weave. 

Barbara taught me how to upgrade the loom and set up a 8-shaft double weave and I taught her how to dye and sew a hanten. Loving my winter vacation already.

I had a few cancellations in the hanten making workshop from April first for two weeks in the mountains here in Japan. (I am sorry I turned away a few people and sent them to the autumn workshop.)  If anyone is interested in learning to dye and sew one of these jackets let me know.