Over the last several months I’ve been working toward making a jacket from handspun and handwoven yarn. I didn’t really know at the time that this particular fiber would be used, but things just came together.
First, I spun yarn from fiber given to me by a quilter. This was supposed to be quilt batting, but it didn’t work for her. I said I’d be glad to take it and make something with it.
The yarn I spun was a basic 2-ply, not too big, not too small.
Then, this summer my spinning group did a natural dyeing workshop at a member’s home. I took this yarn and thought I’d experiment with it since it was a gifted fiber. I didn’t have any investment but my time spinning it. I dyed it lots of different ways.
That was it. Nothing further was planned for this yarn.
Then I got to thinking about sewing a jacket using Sarah Howard’s Get Weaving pattern (she has an Etsy shop and lives in the UK). I bought the pattern and began to plan. Her patterns are designed to be woven with narrow-warp yarns (handspun or not). I planned my project and designed to use just the blue yarns that were made with either just indigo or over dyed Queen Anne’s lace and indigo.
I didn’t have enough plain natural yarn and didn’t want too “busy” a fabric using all the natural dyed yarns. So I used a 4-ply Navajo Rug Yarn for the weft. I sett the warp threads very far apart so I’d get a lightweight (not heavy) fabric that would insulate well.
Once off the loom and wet-finished to slightly full (not felt) the fabric I discovered that the warp and weft “shrunk” differently making for an interesting surface texture.
This would be fine in the finished jacket to give it some texture, but not so helpful in cutting out the fabric to get the proper size for sewing. So I decided to block the fabric a little by misting it as I rolled it onto a tube (my son’s yoga mat).
This worked surprisingly well.
Off to cutting out the pattern and preparing it for sewing. Handwoven fabric can ravel quite easily so it’s important to stabilize the raw (cut) edges.
Sewing went pretty well with only a couple of challenges in putting pockets and zipper in. But in the end, I’m really happy with with results. It fits like I was hoping and is very lightweight but warm
I would definitely make this pattern again (maybe with the rest of the natural-dyed yarns).
Big project but so worth it in the end.
Thanks for reading.
Summerhill Spinner 