Decisions, Decisions

 

Playing around with more options for the upcoming warps, I think I will be going with this one.

The warp will be 2/16 unmercerized cotton, the weft 2/20 mercerized cotton.  The play between the shiny and mat yarns should make this an interesting textile.

These will be 'proper' tea towels.  The yarns are light enough and absorbent enough that they should work well.  With a finer weft than warp, I am planning on increasing the epi I've been using for the 2/16 towels from 32 to 36 epi.

Someone asked me (in another context) if increasing the epi by one or two ends actually matters, and I said 'yes'.

One of the exercises I did for my master weaver monograph was weave the same yarn at a variety of densities.  I chose a singles wool and used a very open density, then increased that by one or two epi to make a variety of different qualities of cloth.

I then wet finished them, including fulling as part of the experiment, but I did the fulling in pre-set times - 2 minutes, 4, and if I had enough cloth 6 or 8.

The changes may have been subtle, but they were absolutely discernible, if not to the eye, certainly to the hand.  And they would have made a difference in how the cloth functioned.

In most cases, the 2 or even the 4 minutes of fulling left the cloth unstable in the more open densities, and my conclusion was that people should not be afraid of fulling.  It does, however, need to be monitored in order to not go beyond the state you want it to be when 'done'.

Cotton, however doesn't full, so you do have to pay careful attention to density.  Given that 2/16 and 2/20 are pretty close in size, I might not have increased the density very much.  But mercerized cotton is more slippery than unmercerized cotton, and the fancy twills I've been working with are less stable.  So the 32 epi I had been working with seemed too loose to me, so I'll be using 36.

If I find that the cloth still isn't stable enough, I can change the tie up and add some plain weave, but for now it's a 1:3:1:3:2:2:3:1 tie up.  (I like using tie ups where I can arrange to lift fewer shafts, even if it means weaving the cloth 'upside down'.)

My goal today is to finish threading the 2/8 cotton warp which will use up the last of the thicker linen for weft, and may even use up the slub that is one ply cotton, one ply linen.  If there is still warp when those are gone, there is a fairly large cone of textured cotton.  

Little by little I am making headway on the my stash.  

It feels a bit awkward to be ordering more yarn so that I can use up what I have, but the 2/20 mercerized cotton simply is beyond it's best buy date for warp so it will get used up as weft.

My story, sticking to it... 

Talkin' bout Towels

I'm really pleased with how the current warp is weaving up - subtle!

Some people wonder why I don't promote linen more as a towel yarn. Why do I promote cotton?

Well, actually, what I promote is a very specific yarn combination, one that includes linen.

Why do I call this combination of 2/16 cotton set at 32 epi and 22/2 cottolin weft the 'perfect' towel rather than some other combination?

Check the absorbency comparison I did - click on the absorbency label below.

Linen is a wonderful fibre. Unfortunately it has special needs. The most important of those needs is the requirement of higher humidity than I live in. Trying to weave with a linen warp, especially in a grist and twist appropriate for towels becomes a nightmare of tangles, snarls and snapped threads.

I am not going to recommend to inexperienced weavers that linen is the only appropriate choice for towels - especially if they also live in an area of low humidity.

Neither do I recommend Perle cottons, no matter how pretty and strong they may be. Perle cottons, as I understand it, were originally spun by DMC for embroidery yarns. They are combed, very dense, and very very strong. Beginning weavers love this yarn because it gives them very little difficulty as warp and their strength, luster and rich colours are very attractive.

But they aren't terribly absorbent because of their density.

Many new weavers do not understand that the construction of the yarn is what causes the yarn to be less absorbent than another cotton yarn. The only difference they see is that Perle yarns are mercerized. They then assume that the mercerization process has reduced the absorbency instead of how densely the yarns are engineered.

Likewise I don't recommend 100% 2/20 mercerized cotton (not a Perle cotton, just mercerized) because the yarn is so absorbent it becomes saturated very quickly.

(Just like not all tissues are Kleenex, not all mercerized yarns are Perle.)

I love linen. It makes a wonderful textile, suitable for many things - anything from household linens to garments.

I just don't love weaving 100% linen here where I live. Even as weft this doubled 24 nm linen is pesky - but well worth the trouble of using it to make what I believe are going to be really lovely towels.

The Perfect Towel

It's always heartening when I hear of weavers continuing to explore after I've taught a workshop:

In 2009 the Central Ohio Weavers Guild hosted a workshop with Laura Fry, author of Magic in the Water. Laura presented our guild with what she refers to as the forumula for the Perfect Towel using specific warp, weft, sett and dimensions.

Following the workshop a study group was created to make some towels using Laura's formula. From this study group a book containing nine samples, drafts and color photos was created. The drafts are 3 to 8 harness. Each sample is at least 4" x 4" and finished using Laura's methods as described in Magic in the Water and sewn into the book so it can be viewed and handled to really appreciate the work.

Additionally a CD containing .PDF docutments containing drawdown and draft as well as .WIF files for those having weaving software. We are selling these as a guild fundraiser for equipment and future guild projects.

You may view a picture of the book, a page layout with draft and sample at http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n70/swakins/perfect%20towel/ If you are interested in purchasing the Book with Samples ($26), Book with Samples and CD ($31), or a CD ($16) please contact me at Swakins@.... These prices include Priority Shipping. I will accept PayPal, MO or personal check. If you would like international shipping please contact me for rates.

I'm supposed to teach in Columbus again in May. Hope they save a copy for me to see. :) Not sure if the links in this copy/paste will work, but do look at the photos. It looks like a nice addition to a weaver's library.

Absorbency

Towel woven of 2/16 cotton for warp and a cotton slub for weft.


In August of 2007, I finally did something I'd been wanting to do for a long time - a test of absorbency of different textiles.

The following is a report I shared with members of a study group.


"I've just finished a rather rudimentary absorbency test on the towels
submitted for the Challenge, plus some samples of my own.

I weighed the dry sample, floated it on some warm water to which
detergent had been added for the surfactant effect (breaking down the
surface tension of the water) for a count of 10, removed the sample from
the water letting the water drain until the stream of water was just a
drip, and weighed the sample again. Then calculated the % of increase
in weight for each.

Towel #1 10/2 organic cotton warp and weft 28% increase

Towel #2 16/2 rayon warp, cotton novelty weft 16%

Towel #3 8/2 cotton (US standard, not warp twist) plus a slub -
probably rayon 28%

Towel #4 10/2 merc cotton warp, 16/2 unmerc. cotton and cotton flake
weft 18%

Towel #5 8/2 cotton (US standard), cotton flake, weft of cottolin 32%

Towel #6 10/2 unmerc cotton warp, 16/2 cotton and cotton flake weft 30%

Towel #7 10/2 Perle cotton warp, 8/2 Tencel and 5/2 Perle cotton weft 38%

2/16 cotton warp and weft 40%

2/8 (warp twist) cotton and singles linen 38%

2/16 cotton warp, cottolin weft 50%

2/20 cotton (merc but not Perle) 25%

2/16 cotton warp, single linen (tow) 20%

Strictly speaking, the absolute absorbency numbers still don't tell the
whole story. There is also the fact that some fabrics, while being
thirsty, also feel wet very quickly.

There are also some fabrics that, once wet, are slow to give up their
moisture. They take a long time to dry, and if you live in a humid
climate, they can take a *very* long time to dry.

Last, but not least, there is the issue of texture. I have some towels
made of 2/16 cotton and 2/10 Tencel. I don't like how they feel on my
hands - they feel very slick and even a bit "cold".

After all this, perhaps it becomes a lot more understandable that when
people ask me questions about what is "best", my first response is
inevitably "it depends". :)

The people involved in the towel exchange will receive these numbers as
part of their evaluation package, plus they will receive samples of my
textiles tested above (where available) for them to study.

Cheers,
Laura"
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