About a year ago, I became totally enamored with the Deflected Double Weave (DDW) structure. About five projects in, it occurred to me that this could be a rare — and ideal — weaving structure for felting.
I've done a lot of knitted felted work, mostly producing handbags and hats. Felted wool is dense, draft-proof and water resistant. One of the necessary elements for successful felting is a very loosely knitted piece. The "holes" in the open gauge knitting allow for even felting as the piece is sloshing around in hot soapy water.
Hey! (I reasoned), DDW has open spaces and can be loosely woven! Could it work as well as knitting? The answer to that is: even better. But it took awhile to find that out.
Sample, sample, sample
I made samples, lots of small samples. Different yarns, different setts, trying out different ways to felt the finished pieces — then "graduated" to using the full width of my Norwood 8 harness loom to weave a few prototype rugs to test the large scale felting process. I'll get back to that in another post, but this little side project of sampling led me to the idea of making felted coasters, table pads, table runners and hot pads and I'm finding them delightful to weave — and use in my home.
Curvv'd
I've published a pattern for felted DDW coasters that is available on Etsy, and have another pattern (and article) in the May/June 2023 Handwoven Magazine. Both of these patterns use inexpensive and readily available sport weight wool yarn and can be completed in a few days. My Curvv'd coaster pattern is written for advanced beginners with 8h floor or table looms, and includes comprehensive, tested instructions for preparing the yarn, weaving, finishing and felting, including that baffling subject, "shuttle diving".
The pattern has both treadling diagrams and a lift plan for table looms.
I hope you get the opportunity to try out this weave structure. Let me know what you think in the comments!
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