All the Paper Shirt deets, all in one place.

In the Fall of 2021, I attended SOAR at the Boulder Colorado Chautauqua; one of my classes was on how to spin paper, taught by Judith Mackenzie. It took a bit of work to get the hang of it but I left the class with a firm resolution to spin some yarn and make something out of it.

Mulberry paper has been spun into thread and woven into cloth in Japan (shifu) for centuries; there are a number of descriptions on the internet of how it’s done.  We used a similar but not identical method to cut continuous strips of tissue paper and of old tissue paper sewing patterns and spin them into yarn! 

For my project, I used some of the old sewing patterns in my closet, and received some from friends. When I discovered I needed more, I went to Fabmo, a local “Non-profit that finds & sells reclaimed fabric” and found a bunch of intact patterns; I choose 1980’s patterns with large shoulder as they were unlikely to be reused.  Here are steps I took to spin the paper:

• Crumple the paper to make it more pliable.
• Check paper grain by tearing a strip or test spinning a strip; make sure you’re cutting with the grain or it will not be spinnable!
• Cut into 1/4” strips with a rotary cutter, then separate into continuous strands similar to shifu cut, then spin.
• I chose to ply with a very thin silk single for strength. 

Close up of finished fabric! 

I spun a 10 yard sample and wet finished it; the yarn was stiff and unappealing until I wet finished it by gently agitating it in a sink full of cold water.  It held together, and softened up enough to be used in a garment, so I kept spinning, 

My yarn was not suitable for warp but looked like it would work well for weft. My yarn turned out to be approximately the same grist  as my 8/2 cotton. I also tried knitting a bit but decided I’d rather weave with it.

I decided to weave the fabric in plain weave for the maximum number of interlacements so that the paper would be well supported. I sampled with a 8/2 cotton warp set at 16 EPI (because that’s what I had on my loom). I tried all paper weft, pick and pick with 8/2 cotton, pick on pick with a thin cotton boucle, and every third pick in paper. The fabric was stiff and unpleasant. I then machine washed the sample in cold water, to make sure it would hold together; it did; I line dried and ironed the sample and decided the pick on pick suited my purposes best. 

 

I had not yet picked out a sewing pattern so I guessed at the width I’d need for a camp shirt and warped up 5 yards of 8/2 cotton (natural color), 14.5 inches in the reed, and started weaving.  Meanwhile I started working on a pattern.

I ended up choosing the Natalie pattern by Seamworks, which unfortunately has a dart; I decided I didn’t want a dart in this bulky fabric… I redrafted the pattern without the dart and made a muslin, then a test garment from linen, and a second test garment from a Malay Batik my husband brought back from a business trip.  By this time the 5 yards of fabric was off the loom so I was almost ready to sew!

Sewing the shirt

There were a few sewing design decisions to make. My fabric had drawn-in/shrunk 13% down to 12.5 inches, so was not wide enough for my pattern pieces.  Also, I didn’t want to put button holes in this fabric, so I solved the problems with the front by making the button bands of unbleached muslin. To complement the look and so that I didn't use the bulkier paper in the collar, I made the collar from muslin as well. The two pieces that would make up the back were also not wide enough, so I put a stripe of double thick muslin down the back (to approximate the same weight as the paper fabric). I followed Daryl Lancaster’s suggestion of using a Hong Kong finish on all the pieces to stabilize the seams before  sewing them together; this worked very well except I had to fuss with the underarm seams to eliminate some bulk.

My biggest surprise was that the plain wood buttons I’d bought for the garment simply did not work. I dug through my mother’s button jar and found 5 silver toned buttons which were perfect!

I wore the shirt open with a tank top underneath to the CNCH 2023 Barbecue and Fashion Show and to my delight it was comfortable and perfect for a summer evening.

Many thanks to Judith and to the folks in that spinning class for the inspiration and to my Sewing with Handwovens Study Group for their suggestions and encouragement!

So happy it's done!

Big swath of muslin in the back

Not yet done-done, but done!

Done, not yet done-done.

The jacket is done! Well, not done-done, because I have snaps and buttons on order, and I'm still debating adding a collar. But otherwise done. It's so warm!

More info on the fabric and weaving process is in this post.  I drafted a square armhole jacket in a class in 2019 at Stitches. The fabric is wool, alpaca, silk and nylon (I have no idea of the percentages; I cleaned out the oddball and partial ball sock yarn stash of blues/greens/teals/purples) and is quite drapey, so I interlined with silk organza to give it a little more body. The front facings and Hong Kong seam finishes are done with commercial quilting cotton toughened up with a little lightweight fusible interfacing. The sleeves are Magpie Fibers Swanky DK,  a blend of Merino, Cashmere, and Nylon.

Would I make this jacket again? Probably not. I would prefer something with set in sleeves and a little more shaping. The fabric also presented more of a technical challenge than I expected and I frankly needed more experience to carry this off. And I didn't notice the treadling error that I positioned right across the center chest of the left hand side!!! Still, I suspect I'm going to wear this a lot and enjoy it immensely.

Double wine bag, ready to go!

Classic profile pic

A year ago (August 2018) I made a rep rug for the studio. It was my first rep weaving and I loved making it! When the rug was the right length, I found that I had about a foot of extra warp left... I changed the big weft from 4 strands of mop cotton to one strand of mop cotton and came up with a much finer fabric.  I made the fabric into a bag, then padded it with leftover rug padding, then it languished on a shelf while waiting for a strap.

Last month, Gudrun helped me get my Anglo Saxon band weaving going again! I'm getting better at unweaving when I make mistakes but still have issues making things work the first time. I had a few fits and starts but finally finished the band last week. The Anglo Saxon method, where you turn every other card every other pick, results in a very dense band that is the same on front and back, just offset by a half motif... Perfect for a bag strap.

Ready for two bottles of wine!

Today I lined the bag with fabric from my quilt stash and now I just need someplace to go with two bottles of wine! I need to pickup my wine club allotment at K&L, that might be it's inaugural journey.

What did I learn? Don't get me wrong, I love the bag. But in the interest of doing better next time:

• I didn't line up the sides carefully so the pattern matches better on one side than the other.
• I eyeballed the bottom so the triangular ears I sewed to make it squarish are not symmetrical.
• The above two points indicate that I need to slow down and measure more. 
• I tacked down the insert divider before attaching the straps which made it hard to attach the straps with the sewing machine.
• I didn't make the warp for the band long enough for two straps; I would have liked to have put one on each side.  Having said that, I think it's sturdy enough for two bottles anyways.  Ideally, I could have looped the strap all the way down around the bottom.
• I didn't finish the bag seams nicely so it's a little messy between the top of the bag and the lining. 
• I measured each section and added an inch for seams plus and for wiggle room on each lining insert; this apparently was the wrong measurement. I could have used another inch, though I made it work.

It's the end of Q2 '19 (5)

I spent way too much time making this cute little mug bag.

Realistically I'm not going to finish anything else by the end of June four days from now so I might as well sum them up now.

• I finished the little cell phone bag to carry my phone about when I don't have pockets.
• I tried to weave a doublewidth blanket from stash yarn and ignored all the things I know about yarn and it failed. I'm still counting it as a project that is complete. And the scraps went into my mug bag
• Scraps from the above failed project above became mug bag, with the addition of a cardwoven band that I wove 2 or more years ago, a piece of marbled fabric I made YEARS ago, and a kumihimo braid I just made to coordinate with the band. It's just big enough to hold a coffee mug. I freely admit to having sewn the button on in July but will count it as Q2.
• I knitted a pair of socks that are warm and wonderful.
• I finished the rep placemats for the new kitchen but might relocate them to the lodge.



Awesome placemats, crappy photo.

• I'm not counting the 6 class samples from The Weavers School.

Q3? I'm still thinking about it, but I suspect it will include some mosaic work, Mystic River, and a card woven lanyard for the guild meetings. The rest is to be determined!

Life Before Fiber!

Just big enough for my cell phone!

Our kitchen remodel is in full swing, and I'm working a lot in the yard with or without helpers, so the blogging has languished; I have had some progress on a number of fiber projects.

I wove a hand for a little cell phone purse so I can carry my phone along when I go between here and the other house. It's super useful and I'm more than pleased with the kivrim card woven band but I definitely could have done a better job on the bag and on sewing the band to the bag. So I've learned a lot for next time.

I'm hosting the card weaving study group every other week through July and have started a card woven band using thrums (the unweavable yarn at the start and end of any woven piece) from an other project; I'm trying to conquer a few tablet weaving techniques; the latest is Egyptian Diagonals. I think I'm doing fine.

I think I mentioned starting an alpaca blanket... I suspected one of the yarns would be problematic and it was!!! I ended up having to cut it off the loom and throw most of it away. It would have been beautiful, too.

I was so discouraged by the blanket that I bought a rep weave placemat kit from Gist Yarns, swapping out one of the colors for one that I preferred. I'm in the process of warping the Gilmore loom with it, so expect a photo once I get started on it.  I'm hoping the colors of the placemats coordinate well with the new kitchen.

Part of one of the front panels for Mystic River

The "Mystic River" sweater I started is half done; I just started knitting the back side.  We travelled to Albuquerque for a family event and it was frankly too big for airplane knitting; so I started a Delavan (my third) for a baby due later this summer... I'm making it in the 18 month size so I've got plenty of time to finish. I brought everything on the plane... Then realized after I cast on that the needle had started coming loose from the cable, so the yarn caught with every stitch. I made my DH drive me to the closest LYS and announced to them that I had a knitting emergency!! Anyways, I got one of the front panels about 1/2 done on the plane flight home, and am looking forward to knitting on it.

The other exciting news for me is that I've become the Guild librarian; this means that I have all the Weaving Guild books at my house!!! I'm in heaven. I suspect I'll enjoy this resource immensely.