Designed
and woven by Barbara Stucke
Striped and Checked Towels
Designed and woven by Barbara Stucke
Eager for a travel-friendly loom, I put only the Flip loom on my Christmas
list. Despite having just five months of weaving experience, my lifelong
passion for crafting, sewing, and creating prepared me well. After completing
my first project, I ordered 15 spools of Maurice Brassard 8/2 cotton. Realizing
my yarn was too thin for my 10 dent heddle, I contacted Schacht for advice.
They quickly informed me a 15 dent reed was in development. Until it arrived, I
doubled my warp and continued weaving. The arrival of the new reed inspired me
to weave these towels, with each new warp teaching me something new. For these
towels, I progressed from using one pick-up stick to adding a second.
Project Specs
Finished size: two towels, each 18ʺ x
28ʺ
Weave structure: plain weave and pick-up
Number
of warp ends: 324
Warp length: 95ʺ
Width in reed: 21.5ʺ
EPI: 15
PPI: 15
What You'll Need
- Rigid Heddle loom with at least 22ʺ weaving width—I used my Flip Loom
- 15 dent heddle
- Hemstitching needle
-
650 yds for warp and 280 yds for weft in Wine
-
90 yds for warp and 110 yds for weft in Jaune Fonce (called yellow throughout this pattern)
-
130 yds for warp and 140 yds for weft in Orange Brule (called orange throughout this pattern)
Equipment
Materials
Warp and weft: Maurice Brassard 8/2 cotton
Directions
Warping
Direct warp following the warp color order table below to thread the slots. Beam the warp, move one thread from each of the slots over to the adjacent hole, and tie on at the front apron bar.
Weaving
- Weave a header with scrap yarn to spread the warp.
- Weave following the instructions for Towel 1.
- Weave following the instructions for Towel 2.
Place the Pick-Up Stick for Towel 1
- Place the rigid heddle in the down position.
- On the first block of solid wine on the border, skip 5 warp ends, then *1 up, 1 down, repeat from * 3 more times.
- On the second block of solid wine, skip 4 warp ends, then *1 up, 1 down, repeat from * 3 more times.
- Repeat step 3 across all
blocks of solid wine.
Towel 1 Pick-Up Pattern
- Balance: Up and pick-up stick
- Down
- Up
- Down
- Up and pick-up stick
- Repeat steps 2 through 5, 2 more times.
Weave Towel 1
- Leave a tail in wine 5 times the width of the weaving on your dominant side for hemstitching.
- Weave 12 weft picks in wine, then hemstitch in groups of 3 warps and 3 wefts.
- Weave the pick-up pattern in wine.
- Weave 9 more picks of plain weave in wine.
- Weave 4 picks of plain weave in yellow.
- Weave 4 picks of plain weave in wine.
- Repeat steps 5 and 6, 2 more times.
- Weave 4 picks of plain weave in yellow.
- Weave 9 picks of plain weave in wine.
- Weave the pick-up pattern in wine.
- Weave 9 more picks of plain weave in wine.
- Weave 4 picks of plain weave in orange.
- Weave 4 picks of plain weave in wine.
- Repeat steps 12 and 13, 2 more times.
- Weave 4 picks of plain weave in orange.
- Weave 9 picks of plain weave in wine.
- Weave the pick-up pattern in wine.
- Weave 9 more picks of plain weave in wine.
- Weave 4 picks of plain weave in yellow.
- Weave 4 picks of plain weave in wine.
- Repeat steps 19 and 20, 2 more times.
- Weave 4 picks of plain weave in yellow.
- Weave steps 9 through 22, 2 more times.
- Weave 9 picks of plain weave in wine.
- Weave the pick-up pattern in wine.
- Weave 12 more picks of plain weave in wine.
- Hemstitch in groups of 3
warps and 3 wefts.
Place the Pick-Up Sticks for Towel 2
- Leave the pick-up stick from Towel 1 in place—we’ll call this pick-up stick A.
- Place the rigid heddle in the down position. Get a second pick-up stick—it will be stick B.
- On the first block of solid wine on the border, skip 3 warp ends, then *1 up, 1 down, repeat from * 5 more times.
- On the second block of solid wine, skip 2 warp ends then *1 up, 1 down, repeat from * 5 more times.
- Repeat step 4 across all blocks of solid wine.
- Slide pick-up stick B to the back of the loom. It should slide right under pick-up stick A.
Pick-Up Pattern A
- Balance: Up and pick-up stick A
- Down
- Up
- Down
- Up and pick-up stick A
- Repeat steps 2 through 5, 2 more times.
Pick-Up Pattern B
- Balance: Up and pick-up stick B
- Down
- Up
- Down
- Up and pick-up stick B
- Repeat steps 2 through 5, 5 more times.
Weave Towel 2
- Leave a 3ʺ gap between Towel 1 and Towel 2.
- Leave a tail in wine 5 times the width of the weaving on your dominant side for hemstitching.
- Weave 12 weft picks in wine then hemstitch in groups of 3 warps and 3 wefts.
- Weave Pick-up Pattern A in wine.
- Weave 9 more picks of plain weave in wine.
- Weave 10 picks of plain weave in yellow.
- Weave 3 picks of plain weave in orange.
- Weave Pick-up Pattern B in orange.
- Weave 3 more picks of plain weave in orange.
- Weave 10 picks of plain weave in yellow.
- Weave 9 picks of plain weave in wine.
- Repeat steps 4 through 11, 5 more times ending the final repeat on step 9.
- Weave 3 more picks of orange.
- Hemstitch in groups of 3 warps and 3 wefts.
Finishing
- Cut the towels off the loom, leaving at least 1-1/2ʺ of fringe.
- Fix any unwanted floats.
- Machine or hand wash in warm water and dry in the dryer.
- Trim the fringe to your desired length. I trimmed mine to 1ʺ.
- Enjoy your new towels!
