Rosepath Handwoven Towels
A few weeks ago, I participated in the Redmond Arts Festival with my friend Maria of Black Birch Textiles. The festival was a bit slow as July tends to be hot in Seattle -- and it was HOT -- we broke temperature records. We made the best of it and had fun capitalizing on the opportunity to spend time talking about weaving with some great people who were really interested in the weaving process. (If we met there, thank you for checking out our booth and my website!). I suspected that it would be warm and opted to weave 100% cotton hand towels.
bleach warp and blue weft in 8/2 cotton
In addition to opting for something small and summer for the booth, I love weaving small towels because it is a great way to functionally sample new patterns. You may recall that I wove Landis Valley Linen and Swarthmore Twill towels last year and was pleased with how they turned out. For this project, I selected Rose Path No. 1 from the green version of A Handweavers Pattern Book on pages 16 and 17. There were so many great options for patterns on those two pages and I enjoyed weaving all of the combinations that I selected. For these towels, I used the same sett and same Maurice Brassard 8/2 cotton yarn for both the warp and weft as I did in the Landis Valley Linen and Swarthmore Twill towels. The warp is Maurice Brassard 8/2 cotton in "Bleach".
close up on a Queen's Cord in teal and bleach woven towel
What I didn't account for was that, after machine washing and drying, the towels would shrink a full two inches more than the patterns I wove last year. I did everything the same, so it was definitely a learning experience. While they were a bit shorter than I anticipated, they look great finished. I hemmed the towels by hand with an invisible seam for a nice handmade touch.
green weft and bleach warp rosepath towel
The photo at the top of the page shows the following combinations: top row left is a lime green weft in patter XII, middle towel is pattern IX in yellow and blue with plain weave white stripes, the towel on the top right is a dark green weft in pattern X; bottom row left is pattern IX in solid yellow, the next towel is plain weave color block, the orange towel is XIII, and the bottom right towel is blue weft in pattern VI.
Happy weaving!
DETAILS
Sett: 20 epi
Pattern: Rose Path Project No. 1 from A Handweavers Pattern Book (green version), pp. 16 - 17
Selvedge: floating selvedge on both sides
Total Ends: 370 (including floating selvedge)
Size: 15.5 inches wide x 21 inches long when finished (approximate due to the cotton shrinking in the wash)
Finish: Machine wash, tumble dry low
