How to make an ornament

My first few snowmen ornaments were not so great!  The snowman fabric stretched pretty badly, and I couldn't remember how I did it last year until I messed with it a bit.  So, here are my instructions to help you out and to help me out in December 2013!

First, cut all of the materials.  I measured out the snowman motif and decided a 2.5"x3.5" rectangle was perfect!

Next, make a sandwich with the whole deal by putting on the backing (right side facing out), the batting, and the snowman on top (also right side facing out).  Sew on the top edge (short edge) with a serger.

Next, sew down one side (long side) with the snowman motif facing up.

 

Sew down the other long side, this time the whole thing needs to be flipped upside-down while sewing.  This helps to flatten the snowman out.  The handwoven fabric tends to stretch much more than the store-bought backing does.

Make sure as you get to the end, the motif is laying flat and it's not all wrinkly as it goes through.

Last, sew up a short edge, also upside-down.  This helps the fabric not stretch out of control. Sometimes it helps to cut this edge straight before serging, but you don't have to.  Just be sure you capture all the layers of fabric in it!

This is what it should look like when you first take it off.  Notice it lays pretty flat!  Not bad!

Cut off the edges carefully.  Just stretch out the serged thread and snip it off.  

Find a helper to help thread the hangers!  This year, Brian helped with that!  He's such a good helper!

 And presto, all 102 were done in a matter a few hours!

I love making some handwoven thing to include in our Christmas letters.  My first year weaving (2010) I made these snowflake cards and glued the motif onto the front of the card:

Then people asked, "Why did you do that?  I would love it as an ornament!"  

So, last year (2011) I made these lace tree ornaments:

This year are the snowmen!  Next year, maybe the sheep?  Or Santa Claus?  Or a Reindeer?  We'll have to see!

Now, to write up the letter, pick out and update all the addresses, and send them off to their new homes!  Whew!  Christmas time is such a busy time of year!

Handtowel

 The snowmen are all washed up and the towel turned out so soft!!  It's actually really cute and cheerful!  Now I just need to decide if I want it in the bathroom...

 ... or the kitchen!

It occurred to me yesterday that during my boredom with this warp, I could have used some of the other designs in the same pattern.  However, I kind of want to save them for in the future.  I mean, it's at least 4 or 5 years worth of designs before I have to figure out a new Christmas ornament design!

These snowmen ended up turning out really cute, and I'm feeling refreshed now that they are done.  All I have to do now is sew them into ornaments and send them away for other families to enjoy!

Bonus dishtowel

Alas, I finally took a day to just power through the snowman warp by making a plain weave dishtowel.  I made one row of snowmen and the rest is plain weave.  If you remember, the back of this weave looks a little funny because it's all the opposites (since it's summer and winter) so I decided to put the snowmen on one side.  It makes it less likely to see the other not-as-pretty side!

My edges were so much better on this towel because I knew that I couldn't just sew them off and cut and hide my sloppiness!  So I definitely took my time to make them look gorgeous! 

Now that I think about it, I really did warp enough for 100 snowmen and a dishtowel, so I guess I just unintentionally followed my original plans!

But nothing beats having an empty loom right now!  I've felt so much more inspired by the looks of the empty loom than I have in a few weeks.  I'm glad the weaving of the snowmen is done, now I just need to sew them.  In fact, here is my order of projects, and only the first two are time-sensitive:

1.  Sew up snowmen ornaments.
2. Make 2 more houndstooth scarves for friends who purchased them as x-mas gifts.
3.  Start AND finish my cousin's scarf to match her hat.
4.   Weave off the remainder of my 4-shaft loom.  It is a twill pattern, so I'm just going to make some colorful dishtowels.
5.  Make some curtains for my front and back door windows so creepy tall people can't spy on us.
6.  Work on something from my own head.... I already have a pattern picked out!

102 is enough!

 I have 102 done, and it has definitely reached the point where it's not very much fun anymore!

 

Maybe it's the weather, maybe it's was too warm outside...

Maybe it's all the shuttles and steps.  Look at all these shuttles and the 120 steps to get the little snowman!  It's turning into a job and becoming very un-inspiring!  

102 is enough... there's just a little warp left, I think I might be able to turn it into a dishtowel with one snowman repeat at the bottom... I'll have to really focus on the sides and make it look decent. 

After these ornaments are woven, I need to finish them with little sewn sides and cotton batting, then I have 2 more acrylic scarves to make for people before Christmas, the hat for my cousin (with the yarn taken apart and spun back together...), and then FINALLY, I can let out my creative side and weave something that isn't a "need-to-do" item!

Shuttle Management

 I am finding that the snowman weave requires a lot of special shuttle management.  I am working with 4 shuttles total, but I have to only manipulate 3 at a time.  It works well if you get a system down.  Here is my system for an entire rotation (6 shots):

First set of 3 shots, which is 1 background and 2 weft floats:

 Second set of 3 shots, which is 1 background and 2 weft floats:

 

1. The background color blue is always balanced in that space between the trap and the weaving.  It wedges in there just perfectly!  

2. The color that is not being used sits at rest on the left side.  It never moves until you are ready to switch it out.  If you were doing towels, you could probably wrap it with the working colors to carry the tail up the side.  Since I am doing ornaments, I am not doing anything special with the sides of my weaving this time!

3.  The two working color shuttles are put in special spots. The first one is mostly kept towards the center of the trap because it makes it easy to grab.  You want to make sure to leave some of the shuttle popped out from underneath the 2nd color in order to grab the shuttle.  The 2nd color can rest on the very top on either the left or the right, depending on what part of the pattern you are working on.

So far my system of having the music stand with a magnetic cookie sheet to hold the pattern on it is working out great!  I just slide the magnet around to keep my place.  Also, the numbered treadles are just wonderful!  I feel like I am finally getting to the swing of things on this weave!  It's a bit slower than most, but I don't feel so uncoordinated anymore.  By the way, I have 11 rows woven!  That means 66 snowman are done!

6 rows done & a loom repair

I have 6 rows of 6 snowman, so 36 snowmen complete!  I am not worrying about the sides of the weaving, and if I have a knotted thread come through, I am just placing it in a space between snowmen since I will be cutting them apart anyway.  I made sure to leave a good amount of room on all the sides so I have room to cut and sew, even after washing!  So far, they are looking really good!

I had to do a loom repair last weekend.  I noticed that my loom was very hard to fold up on my own, and it would always catch on one side.  I also noticed that my weaving always seemed just a hair crooked.  I think I mentioned this a few months ago and I tried adjusting things but it never worked out.  Things were just always about 1/4" off.  I thought it was just me, but come to find out, it is not! Upon further investigation, I noticed that one side of the knobs had a nylon washer and the other side did not.

This was the side with the washer.  

With Brian's help, we removed the original washer and biked over to the local hardware store.  We picked out a nylon 1/4" washer and took it home.  It actually works great!!  (PS.  I actually stayed outside with the bikes so no one would steal them!  So I say "we" picked it out, but really, it was all Brian!)

 
The sides of my loom had a lot of oxidized metal and it was messy looking.  I wiped it off with a damp paper towel, but you can still see some of it.  Trust me, it looks so much better than it did!  I was thinking of maybe rubbing it down with some furniture polish when I take this warp off.  Honestly, the oxidized metal stuff doesn't really bother me much.  A loom is meant to be used and worn!

Best of all, my loom is so much easier to fold up by myself AND my weaving is all straight!  I have no idea if I lost the original washer along the way or if it's been like this the whole time because the loom was used... but that doesn't really matter now because it's all fixed!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Let it snow so we can make some real snowmen!!!

They're weaving up so evenly and nice!

 These are going to be so cute!!!

I had to move the numbers on the treadles down a little bit because I couldn't see them up higher, but I really like having them on there!

It almost feels like I'm cheating in some way by having the numbers there...

Comparing Snowmen

 The snowman experiments are all washed up, and here is what we have:

12/2 doubled, but not spun together

 

 

 12/2 pre-spun together on my spinning wheel

  8/2 for the pattern weft

I am definitely going with the 12/2 doubled up, not pre-spun on my wheel.  I like how the snowman shoes up really well!  I just finished warping and threading my loom with 4 yards long and 6 snowmen across.  I am not sure how many I will get out of the total warp, but I am predicting 96 snowmen.... hope I know 96 people!

Last of the Snowman Experiments

 I decided to try one last experiment with the snowman motif.  I decided to spin some of my 12/2 white cotton so it would be doubled.  It made a very coarse and thick thread.

 

While I was at it, I tried a few experiments for down the road!  Here is 4-ply with 12/2 cotton:

 

3-ply with 12/2 cotton:

And 2-ply with 12/2 cotton:

I have some ideas I want to use those other plies for!  I think it would make some great dishtowels, and having some different colors like that might be a fun experiment!

Anyway, here is the snowman with the re-spun cotton pattern weft:

Next to the one I did the other day with just the pattern weft doubled, I think it doesn't look quite as good.  I like the one with the pattern thread doubled because it lays flatter and shows more color. 

However, these samples have not been washed yet, so we'll wash them and see!  It would be much easier to do the one on the left because I wouldn't have to spin the thread first, but I'm willing to do it if it makes a better snowman!

Here are some up close pictures of both!

Pattern thread doubled, but not spun together:

2 strands of pattern thread spun together:

I love holiday weaving!  I keep thinking to myself about how if I do these as ornaments, I should put on some extra warp and make myself a dishtowel with a snowman row on the bottom.  It would be so cute and wintery! 

Doubled up

This current weaving project is very pattern heavy... I have 120 repeats that I just follow very closely.  It's somewhat enjoyable, but I like the other kind of weaving better where I just look at a pattern, memorize it, and carry on.  This one is so number heavy that I decided to mark my treadles because I'm constantly counting them out and pressing 2 down at a time.  This saves so much time!!  And energy!!
 
 

 
I just printed numbers off on the computer, cut them out and taped them on!  They are removable, as long as I don't leave the tape on for too long!

This is my make-shift magnetic board, that also helps with the 120 repeats!  My stamp magnet (in the middle) helps me keep my place, and it's just stuck on the back of a cookie sheet.  It's so much easier to slide the magnet as I go than to use a post-it note.  The post-it note looses it's stickiness by the time I get to the end!  And then it falls off sometimes and I lose my place altogether. This is a much better way to go:

Here are my latest snowman experiments.  This first one is 2 strands of the pattern yarn, which is the same size as the warp and tabby weft.  So theoretically the pattern weft is doubled in size.  Each yarn is 12/2 in size.

Here is the same pattern in 8/2 cotton.  I think I like the above one better because it is still easier to see.  And I like the colors better in the above one.  The pink works better with the blue.

I get a kick out of the back of the piece!  It's funny looking at the opposites!  

Now I just need to wash these samples.  I have one last experiment to run before I make my final decision.  I want to spin two strands of 12/2 cotton together on my spinning wheel to use as the pattern weft.  I'm eager to see what kind of snowman that makes.  So far, I like the doubled size, but I wonder if I spin it together if it will change it very much.  I love to experiment with my weaving!

Snow and Hot Cocoa

I put my snowman in the washer and dryer, and he didn't melt!

 I think the snowman looks a lot better after a good washing and drying, however, I still want to try doubling up on my pattern weft because I think I can do even better!  The size after washing was 2.5"x2.5", so because it's square, I might have to pack it a little tighter to keep the squareness. 

This is the before and after image:

 

These are the exact same pieces of cloth, and you can see that the washed one is puffier and the pattern does show up more.  These are going to be very cute ornaments!  (PS. the colors are different only because they are two different pictures, but really, the color didn't change!)

And it helps in the winter feelings here!  While I was working on my snowman, it was snowing here!  I laugh because it's like I unlocked the magic!

This was a great day for homemade hot cocoa!!

2 tablespoons sugar

2 -3 teaspoons Hershey's cocoa
1 dash salt
1 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1 Mix sugar, cocoa and salt in large mug.
2 Heat milk in microwave at HIGH(100%) for 1 to 1-1/2 minutes or until hot.
3 Gradually add hot milk to cocoa mixture in mug, stirring until well blended.
4 Stir in vanilla.

mmm mmm good!!!  And warm!!!