Thursday, March 3, 2016

Note to Self: I Am Not a Machine

This is for anyone left wondering what ever became of my Very Large Project of drapery fabric.  After having everything come together so amazingly smoothly for this project, I must admit I suffered somewhat of a defeat.  Although I measured the pattern repeats as I wove and tried to keep my beat consistent, when it came to assembly the panels' stripes did not line up along the entire length of the drapery.  In this photo (courtesy J&L Draperies), you can see that the hem in two adjacent panels ends at a different part of the repeat.

Despite this, I'm happy to see it made up and installed, and the effect is similar to the original ones that were disintegrating after 50 years of use.  If I ever get an opportunity to do something similar again, I would.  It was fun and I have learned the lesson: if it involves horizontal stripes that will need to be matched, proceed with caveats or modify the design.

4 comments:

  1. evidence of hand crafted and/or the hand of the artist
    Sandy in the UK

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    1. Thanks, Sandy. The client couldn't find anything commercially made close to what they wanted, so they went with hand-made. If anyone notices, I guess they have a conversation topic!

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  2. I recently made some lace curtains for my bedroom and had similar problems. If I were to do it again - and I think I will - I'd do doubleweave with 2 shuttles and 2 separate layers, ensuring that I'd get 2 identical panels. Wouldn't work for a window as wide as yours, but it's something to think about.

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    1. Thanks for the thoughts, Peg. Actually I originally set out thinking I'd do double wide to get the panel width we needed, but the treadling was so complicated, it was fortunate that I came into possession of a 60" dobby loom! Happy weaving.

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