Linen Adventures--winding and starching the warp

Linen!

Next project is linen...which terrifies me.  Why?  Because it is so inflexible.  I like a little flexibility in my weaving.  Nevertheless, I have linen in my stash, and there is no time like the present.  The Ravelry board "warped weavers" got me started as this is their weave along for Winter 2017.  Much of the information below came from the very knowledgable weavers on this board, and other sources are referenced.  But mostly I just want to write about my experience with this project.  Whatever happens success or fail I will share on this blog and learn from it.

I've decided to weave linen napkins from Carol Strikler's A Weaver's Book of 8-Shaft Patterns (Strickler, 1991, pg 194).  I have 20/1 linen fiber, and estimated the yardage at about 2000 yards.  Here is a photo of the pattern and fiber:

I then started to read everything I could find on weaving with linen.  Determined that the set should be 33-35epi, and that I should starch the warp before I put it on the loom. But first to wind the warp...you need to be careful with that as well.

Linen is interesting.  It is so strong that it will slice your fingers before it would break, even a fine linen like 20/1. It comes from the flax plant Linum usitatisissimum, which is grown in cooler climates.  Flax is the unspun fibers, flax becomes linen when it is spun into thread.

It is a very inflexible fiber...it will not stretch. So it is important to wind an even warp.  Flax is tough...it will pull your warping board off the wall.

Not exactly an even warp, but frankly I've worked with worse...so I carried on to the next step.  Made the choke ties tight, and chained it to prepare for the next step...starching.

Linen, will not break, but it will unravel and come apart under pressure, when it is folded or bent.  Starching will help the fibers stick together and keep it from unraveling.  So I purchased a standard liquid laundry starch, and mixed it for a medium starch application, and soaked the warp chain.  You do not have to soak it for long, just long enough for the fibers to become saturated, about a minute or two.  Then just hang it to dry.

So that is where I am right now...waiting for the warp to dry.  I might be able to spread the warp tonight...I plan on warping from front to back, which will allow me to even up any uneven ends to my warp...its also the only way I know how to warp.  LOL

The pictures on this blog are photographed by myself with my iPhone.  My husband happens to be a photographer, so we thought it would be interesting to see the difference professional photography can do for your weaving products.  He's going to have fun with lighting, and clearly capturing what I'm trying to describe and accomplish in my weaving...and will post his adventures from time to time.

Take care...will update with next steps on this project and others as they evolve.

This is Marty our lovable chihuahua...looks very pensive here...probably wondering if I know what I'm doing...



Strickler, Carol (1991). A weaver's book of 8-shaft patterns. Interweave Press, page 194.
The Woolgatherers (2015). Looms, Linens, Lessons. http://woolgatherers.com/FlaxHemp4Handweavers.html