MARY MEIGS ATWATER

Mary Meigs Atwater and son Monty (Mary born February 28, 1878)

FOR THE MONTH OF MARCH, I AM OFFERING A NEW MARY MEIGS ATWATER KIT AS A FUNDRAISER TO SUPPORT WEAVECAST. (SEE SIDEBAR) Just as Mary did so much in terms of archiving and spreading the oral traditions of handweaving in the 20th century, so does WEAVECAST today.

Although the kit will provide instructions for just the horoscope portion, I will be happy to guide anyone who wishes to meld together Color Horoscope Weaving and Turned Weft Ikat.

Here is a little quote from Mary, "It was in Basin (Montana) in 1916 that I began my study of handweaving, not only to find an outlet for my own artistic impulses, but also to provide social service. .....My research finally unlocked the secret of the summer-and-winter weave---the most beautiful and the most distinctively American of the weaves used by our early craftsmen. This weave is now well known among modern American handweavers."



I AM HEADING TO SACRAMENTO ON MONDAY TO TEACH A COLOR HOROSCOPE WEAVING WORKSHOP, SO THIS IS MY LAST POST UNTIL MARCH 4TH (MY 67TH BIRTHDAY) WHEN I RETURN.

Wondrous Blanky The End

Woundrous Blanky Wash and Block

I held my breath and tossed it into the washing machine (after the tub had filled with water). I learned a bitter lesson having the water spill directly onto the fabric. I did one gentle cycle on cold and two rinse cycles (gentle cold) for a 25% shrinkage.

And here is my least favorite step and my most unflattering picture. (although it tells the story) I spent 5 hours blocking the blanket directly onto the carpeting. I literally wore the skin off my knees. I am happy to say I weigh 60 lbs less than I did in that picture.


Even if I moved all of the furniture out of my new place, I wouldn't have the room to block a blanket. I can't say I am sorry.

Woundrous Blanky Comes Together

No, that is not a tiny harpoon, it is actually a needle. The reflection of the metal from the camera flash distorted the needle shape.

Joining Tips: With most fibers, I find it best to join before washing. The big exception is chenille, but that is a story for another day. I have spread the two panels for photographing, but when I am joining I have the pieces stacked one on top of the other. It still amazes me to work folded, but then the weaving opens completely flat.

Always plan for a join to happen where there is a color change if you want the join to disappear.


Notice that I have brought one of the yellow warp ends from Panel #2 to be the first end in Panel #3. I discovered ( through painful experience) just how difficult it is to distinguish the warp from the weft when both are black.

When joining, I join pick to pick. I will sew through and join every single weft pick. It takes me between 3 and 4 hours to complete a join.

Again, I want to remind folks that this major project took me over a year to execute with lots of thinking time between each step.
I am really not that productive.

Woundrous Blanky on the Loom Five Times

Panel #1
Panel #2
Panel #3
Panel #4
Panel #5

My biggest concern was that the ikat would overwhelm the horoscope panels.

And, yes, I hand wind all of my shuttles. I always have. Since I weave with multiple strands of weft, I find it easy to control the tensions as I load the shuttle. In addition, the shuttle holds 15-30 minutes of weaving time. I find that if I have to stop at frequent intervals and perform a task other than weaving, my aging body is thankful.

Woundrous Blanky Warp Chains

I arranged all the chains on the floor and figured out I could weave the blanket in five panels.
I was hoping to show you each panel on the loom in this post, but Blogger wouldn't let me upload all five. The weaving will happen tomorrow.

Woundrous Blanky Begins

I just spent the better part of the evening attempting to create a slide show on Flickr of my entire process fulfilling my grant proposal. Alas it has proved too much for me. I will have to enlist the aid of my trusty computer wizard, but probably not before I leave to teach a Color Horoscope Weaving Workshop in Sacramento. I leave next Monday the 23rd, and will be gone for a week.

But rather than drop the thread, I will give you little bits each day. It will give the illusion that I am working really really fast.

OBJECTIVE (The problem): to weave a blanket combining Color Horoscope Weaving and Easy Ikat (now called Turned Weft Ikat).

INITIAL DECISIONS: 1. Fiber (content and sett) 2. Size (approximate finished width and length) 3. Select horoscope to weave.

No problem with the objective, but I spent at least 3 months on the initial decisions. I ran tests on several fiber options and finally settled on Jaggerspun Super Fine Merino, tripled ends and sett at 12 epi. How I labored over the decision as to whose horoscope I would weave! I didn't want to weave my own (again!) I wanted somebody sort of famous, someone I truly admired, someone connected to weaving, MARY MEIGS ATWATER, my weaving hero . (By the way, her birthday is Febrary 28th.)

I decided to wind my warp 4 yards long and weave it in 5 panels. I wanted to end up with a blanket width of 80-90". The horoscope portion (pictured above) is 360 end @ 12 epi = 30" of warp width. I would need to make up approximately 50" of width with ikat panels. The horoscope divides into 12 sections, so if I put an ikat stripe between each section and ikat stripe borders I would need 50 " divided into 13 stripes = 3.8" per stripe (give or take)

Are you with me?



Four matching ikat chains.

I really didn't have a plan as to which chains would go where. I just knew if I had and even number of repeating chains, they would look good somewhere.


Four different matching chains.


And four more of another repeating set of chains. The 13th chain is non-repeating and is the center of the central panel. Each white tag marks the chain for ease in assembly, so tune in tomorrow to see Assembly and Weaving.

Please click here to read article in WeaveZine about Turned Weft Ikat. The process described in the article is exactly the process I followed for the blanky.