PURE LINEN FABRICS
Many of our readers have old linen yarns with their own stories. They can be yarns you have spun yourself or treasures cherished that haven’t found their use yet. Continue their story, make a warp and weave a fabric with memories. You can also purchase new yarn for the warp if you’re unsure of the strength of your own yarns.
| The warp | Different weights of linen yarns |
| Warp | width 43,5 cm the sett 8 ends/cm (+ 12 empty dents in the reed) number of yarn ends 328 langanmenekki 154 g |
| Length | 4,3 m |
| Reed | 2 per dent in a 40-dent reed (metric) = 40/2 At the edges of 8 ends stripes: Leave one empty dent at both edges of the stripe |
| Structure | Lace weave |
| Weft | Same yarns as in the warp |
Instructions for winding the warp
– 40 ends Linen 16/2 and Linen 8/1 in alternating order
– 8 ends Linen 8/2 (or Linen 16/4) and Linen 16/1 in alternating order = a stripe.
Repeat from the beginning 6 x (= 288 ends)
– 40 ends Linen 16/2 ja Linen 8 in alternating order
= 328 ends in total
Amount of warp yarn needed
All the yarns are unbleached.
128 g Linen 8/1, tex 206, 1 kg = approx. 5 000 m
127 g Linen 16/2, tex 103×2, 1 kg = approx. 4 900 m
47 g Linen 8/2 (Linvarp 8/2), 1 kg = approx. 2 400 m
12 g Linen 16/1, tex 103, 1 kg =approx. 11 200 m
= 314 g in total
Weave with the same yarn that was used in the warp. This will ensure the fabric reacts well to wet finishing.
Weaving instructions
Weave 1,5 cm tabby for the hem. Weave with the same yarn that was used in the warp, exept leave out Linen 16/2 and weave the space between the stripes with Linen 8/1 only. Wind the shuttle aroung the outermost warp end when there are two throws in the same shed in the treadling.
Leave a small empty place on both sides of the stripe as in the warp.
The warp ends in the stripes might loosen because the fabric is sparser in the stripes. Avoid tightening the looser warp ends and continue weaving as normal. Place an extra warp stick under the warp ends on the beam.
The sett is 8 picks/cm. The hight of the repeat is aroung 8 cm. The woven length is 61,5 cm + hem á 1,5 cm (measured under tension). The fabric was 42 x 59 cm off the loom. The borders have been sown before wet finishing. The size of the cloth after wet finishing was 40 x 51 cm. Wash in 40 – 60C.
Amount of weft yarn needed
for one cloth:
37 g Aivina 8/1, tex 206, 1 kg = n. 5 000 m
6 g Aivina 8/2, tex 210×2, 1 kg = n. 2 400 m tai aivina 16/4
2 g Aivina 16/1, tex 103, 1 kg = n. 11 200 m
All the yarns are unbleached.
This warp was a challenge for us:
There were more yarns in the stripes in the beginning. We noticed issues with these and chose to take out some of the yarns.
– Picture 1.
We wove the shorter cloths with the same yarns found in the warp.
– Picture 2.
We wove a white runner with 16/2 white line linen and the stripes with white yarns matchign the weight of the warp ends.
– Picture 3.
The white runner fabric woven with 16/2 linen didn’t react well to wet finishing. The tight yarns in the warp and the softer yarns in the weft reacted in different ways.
– Picture 4.
The small fabric in the left hand upper corner is the fabric that was woven before extracting some of the warp ends.
Woven fabrics before wet finishing.
A Rustic linen cloth before and after wet finishing. The Line linen table runner 3769 from another warp on the right.