Weavers’ Wearables

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Weavers’ Wearables: Cloth Design for Handweavers
by Jo Swallow, self-published

Do you find it difficult to look at computer-generated drawdowns, trying to imagine what the real cloth would look like? I often find myself uninspired by them, even when they are in color. They seem flat, mechanical, off-putting, meaningless, and unrelated to weaving. So I’m pleased to report that the swatch book is back.

Jo Swallow, a weaver from Vancouver Island, has produced a book with real hand woven samples that you can touch and imagine yourself actually making. Ms. Swallow has been weaving for most of her adult life. She was a long-time production weaver, and has had literally decades of experience producing cloth for clothing. Ms. Swallow makes most of her own clothes from her own woven cloth. Her weaving has won a number of awards and she exhibits regularly. 

Her book, Weavers’ Wearables, has recently been published. The impetus for the book, says Ms. Swallow, was to encourage hand weavers to produce their own fabric to make their own clothes. Thus, the book includes 24 swatches of hand woven cloth designed especially for clothing. Detailed instructions for replicating the cloth are included, and all samples are woven on four shafts. There are no complicated structures here, and almost all the samples are woven with one shuttle. Because of clear information and the simplicity of the weaves, this cloth is accessible to most weavers. Only one of the samples requires a supplementary warp.

The main quality makes this cloth so attractive and inspiring is the masterly use of color mixing and the judicious use of textured fibers. There are from two to thirteen colors in any of the warps. However, the weft is usually just one color. The result is an easy-to-weave cloth that is unique and looks much more complicated than it is, especially if you use a paddle for warping and have a sectional beam. 

The swatches cover a wide range of colors: one sample contains (among other colors) eight different blues. While the names of all the colors are provided, no brand names are given for the yarns, so the weaver must work with yarn samples from suppliers to exactly reproduce the swatch. But perhaps the author’s point is to encourage the
weaver to work imaginatively with color, rather than to copy the swatch to the last thread.

Every two-page spread contains four swatches, each three and a half inches square, along with the weaving information. Under the sample is the threading, tie-up (for a sinking shed loom) and treadling. Washing instructions and shrinkage rates are included. The most frequently used fiber is 2/16 cotton (mercerized and unmercerized). The book also includes also boucles, ribbons, rayons, bamboo, orlon, silk blends, and wool in the mix.  
     
These swatches illustrate that you do not have to have a multi-shaft loom or a multi-digit bank account to weave gorgeous cloth with which to make your own clothing. This book would be useful for both beginner and experienced weavers. It provides information that anyone who can read a draft can follow. Because Ms. Swallow is such an accomplished colorist, this book could be inspirational to any weaver.