A BIG Finish: The Red Wandering Vine Coverlet is Complete

 

The Wandering Vine Coverlet

I pulled it off the big loom on Saturday morning last weekend.  12 yards of fabric --  2 panels for the coverlet.  Only 2 panels because this is a wider loom.  I finished up the extra warp with all cotton towels in the same wandering vine pattern.

I cut the coverlet panels apart and did the work of piecing them together.  This should be done before wet-finishing or any other tinkering.

I explain in more detail (with pictures) how I pieced the panels together in this post for the last coverlet:

Progress on the Mountain Cucumber Coverlet Project

 

I had some concerns that the pattern in the panels might not match up -- the tape measure seemed to say that the 2nd panel was longer than the first.  In actuality, they were pretty close at 104 inches. 

I think the measuring tapes much have shifted while on the loom.  No surprise there.  Things are under tension while I'm actually weaving, but on the off days the rest of the week, I loosen things up.  There's a lot of back and forth on that tape.  When I took them off and measured them side by side, they matched up well enough.  Whew!

This photo shows the zigzag used to pieces the panels together.

In any case, I was able to match up the pattern easily enough.  I overlapped the selvedge edge by 1/2 an inch.  Finned it in place with safety pins (less pokey that way), and took it to the sewing machine to piece the panels together.  I used a narrow zigzag 1.5 stitch length and 2.5  stitch width.  The zigzag covers that selvedge edge and contains it.  Then on the flip side, I sort of stay-stitched it with a straight stitch, and then went back over it with the same 1.5 / 2.5 zigzag.  You can hardly tell there's a seam in the middle unless you are looking for it.  The wandering vine pattern matched up pretty well.  ;-)

 

I did the hems a little different this time.  I trimmed the cream-colored cotton plain weave hems to 3/4 inch.  Then I folded them over 3x so that none of that white plain weave shows--like it would for towel hems.   Then I stitched it down with a blind hem stitch.  I think it looks more professional that way -- more of the classic look where the pattern is all you see.

 

Pulling the nylon fishing line used to fortify the floating selvedge edges. It's hard to see, wound around the medical pliers.

I almost forgot to pull the nylon fishing line that I use for the floating selvedges.  It works like 2 charms to keep those edges straight.  But I do need to pull it out of the final cloth.  I already had the panels sewn together when I remembered to do that.  It wasn't hard to pull it from the outside edges, but a little trickier to get it out of the  seams that joined the panels.  Trickier, but still manageable -- I used a handy medical forceps to grab onto that fishing line, and then twist until I had all of it extracted.

The thing about nylon fishing line is that you should cut it up into little pieces before you throw it in the garbage.   This prevents animals from getting tangled in it when it goes "wild."

Hemmed and pieced BEFORE wet finishing.  If you look closely, you can barely see the seam moving horizontally about halfway through the piece -- but only if you know what to look for.  It came together better than I thought it would.  It looks good -- if a little flat.  But wait for the magic of wet-finishing!

After wet-finishing.  The reds seem to bloom so nicely!   It really comes alive after the wet-finishing.  The wool yarn gets a 3D texture--I'm not sure how to describe it.   Almost like that old flocked wallpaper.  

 

And no running reds either -- That's always a concern with red dyes.

It has a really nice hand, too.  I love this combination of 10/2 cotton with a wool yarn about 2x that weight.

The sectional warp worked marvelously and mitigated most of the tension issues I've encountered in the past.  Hurray!  What a good investment that was!

Materials:

10/2 American Maid natural cotton warp and tabby

Red Wool yarn for the pattern weft -- I don't really know the specifics more than that. 

Measurements:

Off the loom and BEFORE wet finishing:
Each panel was 35-1/2 in x 104 in.

Together, the full coverlet was 69-1/2 in x 97 in. (after hems top and bottom)

AFTER wet finishing, the full finished coverlet measures 65-1/2 x 94 in.

I am very pleased with how this turned out.  Not quite as fun to work on as the Mountain Cucumber pattern, but I DO love weaving!  I DO love my looms!

 I will see if I can put it in the Fly In Quilt Show this summer -- in the bed turning again.  I will take it to Quilt Guild this week for show-and-share.

Now the loom is naked -- such a sad state.  I'll need to run a warp for the next project soon! 

 

Here are the other blog posts about this project:

Antique Wandering Vine Coverlet in Red and Cream - March 3, 2024

Plans for the Wandering Vine Coverlet - March 31, 2024

Fiberworks Weaving Software and Davison's Wandering Vine - May 5, 2024

Now We're Getting Somewhere ... Progress on the Endless Warp - May 19, 2024

Weaving Again! on the Wandering Vine Coverlet - May 29, 2024

Wandering Vine Test Pieces - Wow! - June 15, 2024

Progress on the Wandering Vine Coverlet - July 14, 2024

Wandering Vine Coverlet: Panel 1 of 2 Complete and Lessons Learned So Far - August 25, 2024

Progress on the Wandering Vine Coverlet - Nov. 17, 2024

My Happy Place: Weaving at the Loom - December 15, 2024

Loom Music on a Cold Winter's Day: Weaving the last of the Wandering Vine Warp - Feb 8, 2025

Pale Blue Whig Rose Coverlet

Pale Blue (maybe even light gray) Whig Rose Coverlet - wool and cotton

I saw this coverlet on eBay a few weeks ago.  It's very similar to the other whig rose reproduction coverlets I have from the 20th century.  (They are softer than the older ones.)   I thought they were probably all made by The Goodwin Guild,  but maybe not?  Not all of them have tags to prove their provenance.

What makes this listing so interesting is the paperwork and the history of the coverlet and the weavers who made it (although not included in the purchase):

 There is a Wisconsin connection, too!

Viola did the fringe treatment on the edges.  I don't think I have another one quite like this.  

Interesting to have it up close to study!

  

Art and Viola's Weave Shop in California.  I think this might be more about them?

The fact that this coverlet was made within my own lifetime (I was a teenager in the 80s, and in no position to weave myself back then, although I already had a huge fascination for Gramma Medo and her spinning wheel), I still had an appreciation for those who did weave.  It makes me feel closer to them somehow, in that long line of weavers before me.  Sigh!  And now I am making cloth too!  ;-)

It makes me wonder if some of my other reproduction coverlets (without tags) were made by this couple instead of The Goodwin Guild?    Star of Bethlehem is featured in the paperwork above-- I purchased the "Pumpkin Spice" coverlet last fall in the Star of Bethlehem pattern.  Maybe it was made by this couple?

Meanwhile, I am contemplating my next weaving project.  I know it will be difficult to make the circles of a whig rose even and true circles.  So perhaps it's better if I continue to collect whig roses, instead of attempting to make them as misshapen coverlets?  Or try a smaller scale like a scarf or table runner?  Or go for a more square design?

I was the only one to put in a bid on this one, and I won!

Banner Day at St Vinny's: Wool Rag Wheels for Rug-Making

It was a banner day at St Vinny's this week!  I put that down to my friend Karla being along.  If there is any wool in the store, she will find it!   We started with the usual circuit over by the donated fabric and craft supplies ...  Not much there for fabric that day, but an entire laundry basket of these wool "wheels" with the yardage listed on the tag!  They seemed to be reasonably priced at $4 and $5 per wheel -- but now that I think of it, 9 yards doesn't really go very far as weft on a rug ...   

It's a great time-saver NOT to have to cut the fabrics and prepare it for weaving.  Even if I get woolly worms or the premium strips from Pendleton blankets, there's still a fair amount of preparation to make the "yarn" into weft suitable for making rugs.  It looks like all that work is done for these wheels.

There was plenty there for Karla to also get several wheels for her own weaving stash.  Perhaps this will be the motivation to get her own rug loom up and running in the new year?

We will have to check it all over to make sure we are not bringing in a bunch of wool moths with it ...  There are ways to mitigate that with either heat or cold.  It is winter here now -- They could stay on the porch for the next few months, or you can bake them in the oven to raise the temps enough to kill any critters that might be present.  So far, they look pretty clean ...

It makes me a little sad to see someone's stash here at St V, that she never got to use it, that she's given up on this part of her creative life.  I think of my dad having to give up nearly everything this past year to move into assisted living.  My time will be here before I can use up my own stash, but for now, I'm going to continue making things as long as I can!

There was also a cone of wool in that bin suitable for warp.  We both tested it for strength and couldn't break it.  $4 for that cone!

I was thinking the next project would be a set of sumptuous towel from a kit, but perhaps I can do a batch of rugs to use up some fiber in the stash?   I do have 2 floor looms now so why not both?

Progress on the Wandering Vine Coverlet

I wove the last pattern repeat on Panel #2 of the red wandering vine coverlet.  Sigh!  There not much to show just yet, since the woven cloth is still currently wound on the cloth beam.  

According to my measurements, I think the 2nd panel may be slightly longer than Panel #1.  I guess 90 minutes on a Sunday wasn't enough to keep a steady beat -- Apparently, I need the full 3 hours as I did on the Mountain Cucumber coverlet in 4 panels.  I am hoping the panels will match up well enough to  make the pattern work.  We shall see ...

I still have several yards of warp on the loom, so I thought I would finish it off in the same wandering vine pattern for towels.  Here I've started on a sky blue Brassard cotton.  In order for the pattern weft to be thick enough for overshot, I am doubling the threads.   

I think it will be 5 pattern repeats of the sequence per towel.  The phot above shows 1 pattern repeat -- along with the treadle beads atop the beater bar.

It's the perfect time to use my Jim Hockett 2-spool bubinga shuttle.

There is a mistake in the bit woven above.  Can you see it?  I may have to pull that thread -- Then again, it's just towels!

I purchased some other colors:  cherry red - emerald green - navy blue - sky blue - and a lighter green.  It's very difficult to know the true colors when you see them online, so it was kind of a crap shoot until you can see them in real life.

Time to study and get ready for a new project!

Schacht Matchless Spinning Wheel: My "New" Spin Baby

 

Schacht Matchless Spinning Wheel (circa 2001)

I always thought if I needed to replace my Louett S90 Spinning Wheel (circa 1998), that the closest thing available would be a Schacht Matchless.  They are both castle wheels, both elegant in design.  

This week, someone nearby posted a used Schacht Matchless Spinning Wheel on Facebook Marketplace for what I considered a reasonable price for a used wheel of this caliber.   New ones sell for about $1800.  It needed a little little love and attention -- not too much.  Just a good cleaning and oiling, and a minor adjustment to the treadles, and it is back in working order again!

 

On the back is a serial number so you can figure out how old the wheel is.  It's more precise than the serial numbers on the old Singer sewing machines.  The number above tells me that it was made on August 29, 2001 and it was the 6th Matchless spinning wheel of the day. 

I may need to replace the treadle brackets underneath the wheel.  They are a bit worn.  One of the treadles popped off as I was spinning the initial test yarns.  Plastic parts don't last forever.  It's too bad these wheels are not outfitted with speedometers, so you can tell how many miles are on it -- How many miles of yarn spun!

 

I pulled a variety of fibers from my stash to "give it a whirl" and see how she spins.  To my utter delight, she spins like a dream!  I tried various fibers in my stash, and they all come out pretty nice on this wheel!    In the photo is some old wool fleece (some of the first I bought in 1998 from Patty Reedy at Rainbow Fleece Farm -- It sparkles!), and some newer alpaca.  It all looks pretty good!

What I really want to spin on this wheel is fancy art batts, and sparkle yarn.  ;-). The Louett is reserved for plying these days, although I can spin pretty much anything on it.  ;-)  The Schacht-Reeves Wheel (aka the sleeping beauty wheel) seems to be optimized for alpaca.  A few weeks ago, I grabbed some white fiber to continue spinning, and it was coming out so wiry and crinkly -- I felt like I was a brand new spinner again, like I had to start over and learn it all over again.  It was pretty bad yarn--until I realized it was merino, not alpaca.  When I realized the fiber didn't feel so nice and silky as alpaca, and went back to the alpaca, the spinning looked normal again.  It's kind of a touchy / finicky wheel.  Beautiful to look at, though!

I am so pleased with this Matchless!  Also to know that I still know how to spin!  And equipment makes a difference.

The Schacht Matchless has 2 treadles, rather than the 1 treadle I've been used to for the past 26 years on other spinning wheels.  I thought that might be harder to get used to than it has been.  Not a problem!

I asked the seller if she had named this wheel.  She didn't even  an bat an eye at the question.  She said she got it from a woman in Chicago named Ekaterina, so she called it Katya.  It sounds like this lady got old and couldn't do it anymore, and her family didn't know what to do with the wheel.  Lacey, the seller, hasn't been able to give it the love and attention it needs.  Life got in the way, and she had no time for it.  Although she did take the time to outfit it with the bulky flier -- She sent it back to Schacht in Colorado to have it fitted to this particular wheel.  That's cool!  

There are bobbins with yarn spun by both women, plus 2 by me.  Some of it is quite nice!  Some of it I may use to practice chain plying ...  But that will be a separate post!

The seller also outfitted it with the bulky flier and sent it back to the Schacht factory in Boulder, CO, for it to be perfectly fitted to this wheel.  That was an investment!    

 

Last but not least, I also purchased this Vera Bradley backpack used on MarketPlace for only $15.  I will use it to hold the extra bobbins, fiber, manual and other supplies together for this wheel.  It also makes it easy to take-it-on-the-road if I want to take it somewhere else ...

In the photo above, hanging from the mother-of-all is the tiny tool box I made for oil, lube, oriface hooks, and whatever else might be required to keep such a machine in running order.  I will make a separate post on that little project. 

I was watching a number of videos to prepare for owning a Matchless -- Where to oil it, how to use the various tensionning options, etc.  That may be a separate post in and of itself.  I am used to the Irish tension on the Louet, which is easy to manage.  The double drive is a little trickier.  I have not used the Scotch tension.  Each one has it's uses!

 

For now, I'll leave you with a shot of the old fleece from Patty Reedy's Rainbow Fleece Farm.  It's a good looking single!  I love her fleeces because they just sparkle naturally.  They have such a lovely luster.  With the new wheel, I am committed to finally spinning up those old fleeces.

I made the realization that I can use singles as the pattern yarn in coverlets.  So there's no need to ply them, as they can be used without the additional processing.

More to come ...

1800s Red Wool Coverlet

Yep-- I bought another lovely antique coverlet.  These days, I just buy what I like -- If it's pretty, or has an interesting pattern, if it's something I want to study, or a pattern I might want to try making myself.

I'm not sure what pattern this is, but it's so darn pretty and pleasing!  It's heavy which makes me believe that it really is as old as the seller says it is.

Here are the photos from the eBay listing for documentation's sake:

 

eBay item number:166849616679

 

$125 (plus sales tax and S&H)

Item Description from the Seller:

Antique 1800s wool overshot coverlet, ***colors may be slightly different.*** In good condition for age, along the bottom a few black half dollar stains along with a few scattered smaller ones. Please refer to photos. May be more noticeable in person.

Measurements: 59 inches by 85 inches 

Item Specifics:

Condition: Pre-owned: An item that has been used or worn previously. 

Brand: Unbranded

Type: Coverlet

Size: non standard

Color: Red

Style: Antique

Material: Wool