"Double Weave Class- Day 2"

Juanita had one of her many looms dressed with this blue warp. She'd woven several other double weave bags on it, which had not been cut off, but wound onto the front cloth beam. While I finished up my sampler, she moved the warp forward from her last bag and then wove some thin rags into the blue warp as a spacer, shown here under the stick shuttle, so I could begin a double weave bag on it. By the way, Juanita customizes stick shuttles by wood burning or painting them. The ones she loaned me for the class were some of her "experiments", and not up to her standards. :) I thought this one rather nice, though.

Back to the weaving. Above the scrap rag area, is plain weave which I wove in so I could later hem the bottom of the back, rather than have any fringe. The rag area woven above that is the beginning of the bag. What you can't see in this photo, is the bag is already 3 dimensional. The small amount woven, actually creates a pocket. Remember, double weave is woven "in the round". ;)

More body of the bag woven. Would you have guessed, by looking at the woven area, that the cloth used for the weft was a Gingham print?

The bag is completed. Once again this is a misleading photo. The last several inches of woven area is actually just one layer of fabric, which will be the bags flap. When I wove what I wanted for the bags body length, I switched to the yarn that I originally started with, and wove more plain weave so that I would be able to hem it. That whole process took place on the "bottom layer" of the warp, while at the same time, I continued weaving the Gingham rags on the "top layer", to finish the bags flap. I actually wove 3 rows of plain weave on the underside of the warp, to 1 row of rag on top.

This photo shows the 2 layers of fabric. The top layer is the completed flap, and the bottom layer has masking tape holding the warp threads in place at the end of the plain weave. Each end of woven fabric will have masking tape laid across it so when the bag is cut off the loom, the masking tape will secure all of the warp threads in place until they are hemmed.

The final plain weave woven at the end of the bags flap. The warp with then be secured in place by masking tape before cutting it from the loom.

The bag being cut off the loom. The masking tape that is seen here is holding the inside of the bags plain weave hem.

This photo shows one of the several bags, plus mine, which were already on the cloth beam. The rest were draped on the back side of the shafts.

Juanita cuts my bag from the rest.

The completed double weave bag. Trimming and hemming will be done at home.

Yesterday, I hemmed each edge of the bag. I had some yardage of nylon strap that I'd bought for a sewing project (that I obviously never got to), which I used on the bag.

All of this has been pretty much "uncharted" territory for me. Don's sister, Heather, asked if there was to be a clasp on it, too. I hadn't thought about it, but I "guess" perhaps there should be? I'll have to check out what types are available at the sewing or craft store and make a decision based on what I find. Suggestions are welcome. ;)

This completes what I learned at my "Double Weave Class". ;)