woven handbag fabric

I have finished most of the projects on my to do list (called Todo). The last big item is to weave off the warp on my small table loom. Table looms are good for workshops, perhaps for sampling, and for people with limited leg use. They are not designed for speed, however. I use this loom when my legs aren’t working well , when I am going to a workshop, or when my other looms are all full and I want to test a new weave. As table looms go, I love Woolhouse looms. www.woolhousetools.com They are made in British Columbia, Canada . These table looms exert the least friction against my lower back. That means that the mechanism to lift the shafts is smooth and low impact. I have an 8 shaft Woolhouse and a 24 shaft Woolhouse. The 24-shaft is versatile, but too heavy for me to carry along to a workshop.




This warp has been on this loom for years. I worked on this a bit when it was on the kitchen counter, but for holidays and big dinners, I needed the counter space so moved it out of the cooking-dining area. Out of sight, out of mind. It wasn’t even out of sight. It was in the bedroom – clogging up the space and making the room very un-feng shui. It sat there for months…and I wove not one shot. This morning, it went back into the kitchen, and three more inches are complete.

This fabric was going to be for structured handbags – with interesting handles. I would like a nice Chanel type jacket out of this. I could make kumihimo braid to match. Alas, I think it is too narrow a warp, unless I piece the sleeve. The goal, at this point, is not to use the finished fabric, but to get it woven. The yarns are wool and silk. The burnished gold is silk and merino (Jaggerspun), and the red and purple are fine wool yarns I picked up in a yarn shop in London. You know those quests you make when you are traveling – a yarn shop in any port, as it were. This shop was several tube rides and long, long walks away from my regular route. And yes, worth it, always they are worth it, for the yarn obsessed.