Quimper Hittys

Coriander and I are really happy to get back to tapestry weaving after a winter  hiatus! Our first little tapestry sampler was still tensioned on the frame, and I added a few warps on either side to make the web a little wider.

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…it was a matter of tying on more linen warp and winding it around the little end nails – an even number on each side of the existing warp so the tension is evenly balanced!

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…that made the warp was a little wider…

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…and we could begin to weave our second little weaving!!! This one is wider on the frame than the first sampler, but is narrower from selvedge to selvedge .

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Coriander loves the colourful wefts on this weaving…

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…and she was patient and helpful with all the fiddly work…

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…right to the very end of the wool weft…

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…and finishing off the final linen selvedge!

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You can see the paper cartoon at the left and the weaving still on the frame on the right…we’ve made a funny little lady wearing a striped petticoat!

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Then we cut both the weavings off the frame, and tied off the warp ends. We attended the Flamskvävnad workshop in Sweden almost a year ago, and we didn’t remember how to do the tying off technique. Oh dear… so we watched a few videos until we found a similar method, and used the Damascus Edge technique. That worked pretty well on the Little Lady weaving…

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…see?!

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In my Swedish tapestry-weaving book I found instructions for the corded edge which is closer to what I remember from the workshop.  I think I worked out how to do the corded edge and did that to the sampler…

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…they both make a neat edge, the corded one has a harder feel, and more definition.

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The little tapestry lady tickles my funnybone – she makes me laugh with her wobbly fingers, surprised expression and sticky-uppy hair!

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…but we love her anyway! You can see I have to work on balance and details…for instance her orange and brown hair kind of blends into the red background, so more contrast would have been better, and also she’s not very symmetrical – I lost track of the shape of the cartoon (but hey – it’s only my second tapestry ever)! I learned so much!

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Ready to try the next tapestry kit – a parrot!

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