Ombre as weft element: a cowl on Surfacing

This was a super fun cowl to weave.  I'd been saving up a very special yarn remnant to use as weft on it for months....

You may remember, way back last summer, I dyed the warp for Unconditional.  It was my entry for the Great Competition of Weavers at IBC Atlanta: the themed competition required an ombre and/or monochrome element in the submission.  Well, the structure I used required what is known as parallel threading - every other warp thread being color A and every other warp thread being color B.  One color was a deep maroon of mother's love, and the other warp color was an ombre grad from mostly blues to mostly greens.  The cakes of yarn are pictured above.  As I wound the warp, I wound the leftover bits onto a pirn to save for this project.  So the ombre that goes warp wise on Unconditional became an ombre that goes weft-wise on this cowl on Surfacing.

I love that the shift from blues to greens speaks to the heart of Surfacing, to that liminal space between the depths of the sea and the verdant hills above.  

This cowl is 100% long staple Egyptian cotton that is super soft and soapy.  It is one of the only pieces that will be publicly available in the shop off of the full Surfacing warp, although I may sneak in a scarf-only warp in the Surfacing colorways because there is just so much I want to play with! 

Unconditional : Great Competition of Weavers IBC Atlanta

Unconditional is woven as a networked twill on a parallel threading.  This means that two colors, here a wine red and a variegated greens and blues, alternate (abababab) across the entirety of the warp.  The wine red symbolizes a mother’s love: its constancy through the changes which life brings, its unconditional nature.  It is hand dyed in tones of the same color, bringing in a monochrome element to the design and speaking to the way that a mother’s love is enacted differently for an infant, a toddler, a child, a teen, an adult as her child grows and yet the essence of it remains the same. The variegated warp contains four shades of blue and four shades of green.  It moves in an ombre from mostly blues on one selvedge to mostly greens on the other selvedge.  This symbolizes the way that our children change and grow, perhaps multiplying in number, while rooted in the constancy of a mother’s love.  The draft itself resembles leaves, evoking the tree in the competition image itself a symbol of Mother Earth and the essence of abundant fertility that mothers embody.  

This year, for the first time ever, Loom to Wrap  hosted the Great Competition of Weavers live in person at IBC Atlanta.  There were three components to the judging: online voting, in-person voting, and live judging!  The panel of three judges was comprised of a well-respected baby wrap weaver, a long time experienced babywearer and handwovens enthusiast, and a Master weaver from the Atlanta guild.  They judged the pieces based on an impartial rubric.  

The above image was the official inspiration image for the competition.  I drew thematic inspiration from the sweet line drawing and pulled a few colors from the logo image.  Additionally, we had to include either a monochromatic and/or an ombre element in the design.

It was amazing - and slightly nerve wracking - to have my work seen and touched (and wrapped with!) by so many people!  And so cool to see the diversity and craftsmanship of handwovens having a moment in the spotlight at IBC!  The feedback overall from the guild's Master weaver was that she was really impressed with the artistry and craftsmanship that our little corner of the world has to offer.  

Two pieces, one of which went to the competition and one which I am keeping were woven in a black lyocell weft with the full leaves pattern.  The black weft really brings out the jewel tones I was going for with the dye job. The treadling sequence was a 204 repeat, which means that my feet made 204 different steps before the pattern of leaves repeated itself.  

On one piece there are four visible disruptions in the pattern, left unmended in honor of the way that moments of great happiness or great tragedy, whether personal or national or global, leave an indelible mark in our lives yet do not change our lives’ dynamics of growth and love.

One sister piece was woven with a smoke grey mulberry silk weft that made for one of the most luxurious feeling piece of fabric I think I've ever touched.  I love the way the light grey makes it appear almost pastel, yet still vibrant, from a distance.

The final sister piece was woven with a hand dyed long staple Egyptian Cotton weft.  I pulled out one of the greens and one of the blues from the warp along with the wine red and added in an eggplant purple.  For this final piece I changed up the treadling and found a fancy diamonds weave where the colors seem to nest inside one another: blue green diamonds inside wine red diamonds and wine red diamonds inside blue green diamonds. 

This all EC piece is so soft, stretchy, cushy, and an absolute delight to wrap with.  I think it was my personal favorite of them all, which is funny since I was not at all sure that the bright colors in the weft would work! 

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Draft credit to Eva Stoessl (https://evasweaving.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/8-shaft-woven-scarves-parallel-threading-networked-treadling/)