It's been a little while since I have posted here, but I have a monumental project that I am very excited about. I recently got back into spinning, and plan to weave fabric with my hands-spun yarn to make a coat with. Any suggestions or experience with this? I'd love to hear what you have made. :)

Hello Deb - I will be very interested to hear any replies to this thread myself. The whole area of weaving and using handwoven fabric to make sewn items of clothing really appeals to me! Let's hope you get lots of replies!! :-)

What a great idea Deb!

Thanks, so much. I plan to incorporate some Harrisville Shetland, as well, since I have loads of it. My preliminary calculations tell me that I need about 2900 yards of warp and 2500 yds of weft. Seems daunting, doesn’t it? 😳😂
I’m not too worried about the amount, because I LOVE spinning. It’s my drug of choice these days.

I’m trying to figure out whether to use the hand spun as warp (supplemented with HS) or as weft. I don’t want plaid though, or obvious stripes. It’s a bit of a mind bender. I’m going to try to do a tiny sample on a little portable loom, so I don’t waste a lot, and I can test for shrinkage. I’ve made many blankets, so I figure it will be similar. I’ve even thought about laying out the coat pattern on my biggest blanket to see how it works. I’m also not sure if I want to do double wide, or just the width of my David 3 (110cm) and weave longer. It’s all just tumbling around in my head at the moment, so I welcome ideas and suggestions. 😻

I wonder if Jane has ever thought of doing an episode on this subject 🤔

Good idea! Having conquered her fear of her sewing machine and become an expert in making cushion covers...the obvious next step for Jane is to tackle handwoven coats! :-)

And if not coats, just general information on weaving vast amounts of fabric! ;)

This is the pattern I will be using, though probably not the full length version>
https://ibb.co/HTBy4Gx4

Check out Youtube videos by Daryl Lancaster (weaver). She makes clothing with her handwoven fabrics and does lots of demos on her processes.

Hi Deb! I love the idea of making yardage for projects. I too have a coat in my brain and have planned to use the double sided technique for a fall coat that is casual, no lining, turned back sleeves, and hood. That is yet to be made. I found a pattern in an old weaving magazine from the 70's but it was shown online, and not in our weaving guilds library. I am linking the Daryl Lancaster YouTube video that I searched that sounds like foundational information on making fabric for wear.

Regarding the construction of your fabric, my guess would be to use the stronger yarn for the warp, and with my spinning, that would be the Harrisville, LOL. One of my local guild members made a beautiful blanket out of her handspun, but it fulled at different degrees and had a lot of pucker. I thought it was a shame. I don't know that much about the wool on one sheep, if there is a difference of fulling, depending on the location of the wool, but I would bet it does matter. I don't know what her wool source was. I have sheep at home ,3, and I'm going to take it to a local mill to have blended and spun in the hopes that it will be standardized over the multiple fleeces that I have. I am just guessing at that, but I think that makes sense.

Keep us posted.

Thanks everyone!I knew you guys would have guidance to offer. It’s all still rolling around in my head at the moment, but since I have made several blankets, some with mixes of different wools and alpaca, I’m hoping it will all even out I will make a small sample first before destroying my handspun! 😆

Coat fabric update!
I have started winding the warp for this monumental project. I’m so excited! I only have 72 more ends to go and then I can dress David III. Here’s a sneak peek…
https://ibb.co/Jj9zxktD
https://ibb.co/m7dRH65

Wow! I love your yarn. I can't wait to see this woven.

Thanks, everyone. Crossing my fingers that this turns out. It does help keep my mind off what a mess we are living in at the moment.

Coat update! Finally finished. I learned a lot making this. First, I shouldn’t have fulled the fabric as much as it was a little thicker than I’d planned, which made it difficult to muscle through my sewing machine. On the plus side, it did not unravel at all, and stitching disappeared. lol. Overall, I am happy with it and it will definitely be toasty warm this winter. But what a journey, from spinning the yarn, to weaving yards and yards of fabric, to tailoring this coat. At least I finished it!
https://ibb.co/21WVV4Qg
https://ibb.co/49Q6N80