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| Happy Birthday to you... Happy Birthday to you... |
Yes, it's true. My sister had a birthday last month and I have been dying to write about the placemats I wove for her! But, I didn't want to spoil the surprise- now she has them and I can show you all photos!!
It all started a year ago, when she asked me to weave her new placemats for her birthday this year. I tormented her with photos, questions- What colors, what pattern, what size?? And she dutifully answered everything, picked a pattern, suggested colors... so I went ahead and did something totally different!! I know, I know, I'm like that.
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| Four Placemats |
I wanted to use the warp that I painted in the class I took with Kristie at
Blue Flag Handweaving Studio. It was originally supposed to be for scarves, but my sister didn't want scarves... She wanted placemats! The painted warp is perle cotton and the colors don't show up very well in this photo, but they are the lighter stripes. Then I
had to buy some blue perle cotton for accent stripes and weft. I
did use some of my stash for the green and yellow (can't really see the yellow...) stripes. This is also cotton, but it is cotton rug warp.
And then, I suddenly got tired of the blue perle cotton and was
forced to buy some beautiful dark green- thus 2 blue napkins and 2 green napkins.
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| 2 blue, 2 green |
Things I learned:
- a plain weave border looks nice, but takes up differently than a twill body. Next time, use basket weave for the border (thanks Kathy!)
- Perle cotton and rug warp cotton are not the same, they have different stretch and shrinkiness (yes, I made that word up!)
- I hate sewing. Well, not exactly true, I don't hate it, I am just not good at it- even seams, I couldn't sew a straight line if my life depended on it!
- Napkins and placemats don't HAVE to be square...
- 6 yds of warp is A LOT of warp.
- I love packaging things! One of the most fun parts was folding these up and tying them with pretty twine and a label.
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| Pretty twine and label (complete with pink kitty button accent!) |
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| Beautiful placemat!! |
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| Napkins and Placemats |
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So there they are- Birthday placemats! (plus bonus napkins)
Next up... Crochet mania
Hope you all have a very Happy Holiday!!!
