Hi there
My David III has finally arrived! I would like to make a pram blanket and I was thinking of doing it in a combination of 8/4 cotton and Bamboo. I'm not even sure Bamboo comes in 8/4... It needs to be machine washable as I have found that the younger generation know nothing about hand washing, and also it will need to be washable for obvious reasons! Do you think the silkiness of mercerised cotton would be better?
I only have a 10 dent reed at the moment but it should be all rights for 8/4 cotton shouldn't it?
Thank you very much
Jane
Congratulations, Jane! How exciting to have a new David living in your house - you'll enjoy many years of creating beautiful cloth together 😁 You could make a stunning pram blanket with 8/4 cotton that would be a nice weight for a baby. Look back at episode 2.4.1 - At the Table - Season 2 Episode 4 - The Colour & Weave Sample at the 32:49 minute mark and imagine the softness of this blanket in a pram size - it could be such a cozy and soft blanket - and machine washable!
Thanks, as ever for your speedy response Sandra.
Yes, I’m very excited about jumping in with my David. I plan to start again with the first sample for Assymetry with the correct size warp… I have two nephews whose wives are expecting babies in December and am hoping to get my head around doing a pram blanket. I have just found a UK stockist for Maurice Brassard cotton and they are sending me a sample card… they have just informed me that they are going to be getting in the cotton boucle as well. Up until now, they have only had the bamboo boucle, which I’m not so keen on for tea towels.
Watch this space! I’m going back to the beginning of season 1, making notes this time as I go!
Thanks again,
Jane
👍 👏👏👏 😄
Hi Sandram
May I please pick your brain. I love the Colour and Weave sample and would love to incorporate it into the pram blanket. As you know the David come with a 10 dent reed and I was thinking of doing this at 10EPI and 10PPI, which Jane says will give a soft drapes fabric. I think this mean that the blanket will start at a width of 34.8 inches before draw in. Do you think this sett will be too open, or would I be better using the reed chart which would give me 12.5 EPI? Also, regarding length; would you suggest repeating the sample, I'm not sure how long one gamp is. Thanks
What a wonderful idea, Jane. The Colour and Weave blanket that Jane shows in the episode has the 8/4 cotton sett at 12 epi and she loves its drape. At that sett, your resulting gamp would be 29" in your reed. What I would do is to get out some paper or a notebook and draw out a grid that represents the final shape of your blanket. That way you can design the final cloth. You could create columns of each sequence either repeating them to get your right length - or creating rectangles of each square to get the length of your blanket. Play with your design on paper to see what you can create that pleases you. Take your time to plan and weave the final cloth. If you wove a sample at 10 epi - cut it off and redented at 12.5 epi for another sample - washed and dried them in the dryer - you would have something to refer back to as you grow in your weaving confidence. Just make your warp long enough to play with before you start your precious blanket ;-) I look forward to seeing your results!