Summer and Winter in the winter

Summer and winter is becoming one of my favorite weaving structures. It is a two shuttle weave (unless you turn your draft, but that is a topic for another day). I really like the sturdiness of the resulting fabric but especially love the fact that you end up with a reversible piece. Yes! It is a two-fer weaving structure! It is traditionally woven using light/”summer” and dark/”winter” yarns. See here!

I wove these using 5/2 cotton for the warp and ground cloth weft and 3/2 cotton for the pattern weft. The finished cloth has a nice hand; it is dense enough to stay flat, which I like for placemats and for runners. I did make a few tabletop runners using this warp. Here are some pictures:

 

These runners are centerpiece size and measure 13″ x 36.” The look is a little less formal than my overshot designs, and this suits me just fine. I also like the fact that the floats in the fabric are not long. Designing in summer and winter is not difficult; it is like playing with blocks! This is just a four shaft design, and it has plenty of visual interest, imho.

Now that the summer and winter warp is off of the loom I am weaving diamond twill kitchen towels. I plan to have a few of these available in my Etsy shop and a League of NH Gallery or two upon completion. Several of these kitchen towels will be headed to a home in Finland (!).

Thanks for reading. Do you design in summer and winter? Do share!

Be well and stay warm,

Kate K.