Thea Idea

@theaidea.bsky.social

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Enjoying photography 📷, fibre and textile related crafts 🧶🧵 slowly crafting my own website from scratch

A photo of me winding a bobbin with fuchsia-coloured cottolin yarn for my tabby shuttle on a simple wooden bobbin winder clamped to a wooden desk. In the blurred background, a lazy kate with three cottolin yarn cones for the project can be seen in burgundy, rose and fuchsia. Three woven swatches in the same colours are lying on the desk next to the lazy kate.
POV video of me weaving on a table loom. On the first pick, the tabby shuttle sinks and falls onto the floor. After retrieving it, I throw the tabby shuttle successfully, but on the next pick the pattern shuttle pops upwards out of the shed. I guide it back into the shed and continue weaving a few picks of a summer and winter pattern. The warp and tabby weft are fuchsia cottolin, and the pattern weft is rose-coloured cottolin of the same thickness. In the background, my toes are pointed upwards, suggesting the tension in my body as I struggle with throwing the shuttles.
A photo of the left front part of my weaving loom showing the woven fabric featuring a partially visible blossom motif and a temple (stretcher) at the fell line. The warp and tabby weft are fuchsia-coloured cottolin, while the pattern weft is rose-coloured cottolin. The burgundy-coloured floating selvedge has broken very close to the fell line. The other end of the broken floating selvedge is visible in the blurred background.
A close-up photo of a woven piece on the loom, with a metric ruler placed over it to measure the number of picks per centimetre. The warp and tabby weft are fuchsia-coloured cottolin, while the pattern weft is rose. There are six pattern and six tabby picks per centimetre, giving a total of twelve picks per centimetre.
A side view of my loom’s open shed with the fuchsia-coloured cottolin warp that I recently dressed the loom with. The photo was taken at the level of the selvedges and shows a nicely open shed at the beater, supported by the shuttle race. Although only part of the photo is in focus, it is still possible to see clearly through the shed across its entire width.
A front view of my eight-shaft table loom. The loom has just been dressed with a fuchsia-coloured cottolin warp with burgundy cottolin selvedges. All the shafts are lowered, and the warp is lashed to the front apron rod. An empty weaving shuttle rests on the warp in front of the beater.
A point-of-view (POV) video showing me sleying the reed with a red sley hook. First, I undo a knot that prevents the warp threads from slipping out of the heddle eyes. I take the next heddle to the right of the ones whose warp threads have already been sleyed and pull its thread through the next dent in the reed. I repeat this for the next four dents, placing two threads in the second dent instead of one. I then double-check the sleyed threads to make sure there are six threads in five dents: one thread in each of the first two dents, two threads in the next dent, and one thread in each of the last two dents. Finally, I tie a simple slip knot to prevent the newly sleyed threads from slipping out of the reed.
A wide shot of the table loom shafts during threading. The warp yarn is fuchsia-coloured cottolin. Some of the heddles on the right side have already been threaded. The photo captures a slightly motion-blurred moment of pulling a warp thread through a heddle eye using a threading hook.
A photo of part of the front of the loom. The remaining fuchsia-coloured warp hangs over the front beam, with two lease sticks inserted through the thread cross at the beginning of the warp. The upper lease stick, and therefore the warp, is weighted with two machine knitting weights. The lease sticks are not parallel to the floor or the front beam, suggesting a difference in either the warp length or the tension.
A photo of the back of the loom, showing a neatly spread fuchsia-coloured warp. The warp is guided through a raddle attached to the back beam. Between the back beam and the castle, four wooden rods act as a tensioning device: the front pair pass through the thread cross, while the back pair pass through the raddle cross.
A point-of-view (POV) video showing me putting the warp onto my weaving loom. First, I insert two lease sticks through the cross at the very end of the warp. Then I make sure the Texsolv cord runs along the same side of the warp for its entire length. Next, I insert two more pairs of lease sticks to secure the raddle cross and the thread cross at the back of the loom, between the warp beam and the castle, before redistributing the warp into the correct spaces in the raddle. Finally, I remove the Texsolv cord by unlooping it one loop at a time, working from back to front.
A point-of-view (POV) video showing me “tying” the warp using Texsolv cord and hair clips instead of yarn. As I dress my loom back to front, I start by making a loop around the starting peg and guide the Texsolv cord along the warp towards the end peg. At each cross, I form a loop by passing the cord through the cross on one side and back through it on the other, then pull the Texsolv cord through one of its own loops to secure it. At the end peg, I fasten the Texsolv cord with a safety pin through two of its loops. Finally, I imitate the choke ties by attaching four hair clips along the warp. I would have preferred to use binding rings instead of pulling the cord through its own loops, but I didn’t have any to hand. That would have made the process even quicker. Binding rings could also be used to join multiple lengths of Texsolv cord if one piece is too short.
A point-of-view (POV) video showing me counting and preparing the warp for my next weaving project using simple warping pegs attached to two adjacent sides of my desk. The warp is made from cassis-coloured cottolin yarn. I’m using a row counter to keep track of the number of warp threads and tying a simple knot every four threads to group those that belong to the same basic building block of the Summer & Winter weave.
A corner of a desk with six warping pegs along one edge and eight warping pegs along the other. The cassis-coloured warp is not ready yet and features six crosses along its length. The warp yarn is standing on a lazy kate on the desk. Next to it are a notebook with the warping plan and a row counter for counting the warp threads.
A close-up of the castle, levers and shafts of my eight-shaft table loom. Shaft 4 is the only shaft raised as I’m counting and grouping the Texsolv heddles on it. On the front shaft (shaft 1), two groups of heddles are held together with safety pins. My slightly blurred left hand shows movement as I slide the heddles to the left, one by one.
My notebook, lying open on a desk, with handwritten calculations checking how many motif repeats I can fit into a row of weaving. A pen and a woven sample are also lying on the notebook. My iPad, displaying a repeated flower motif, is visible in the top left corner. In the top right corner, two other woven samples can be seen. A tape measure lies next to the notebook. The samples and the weaving draft all feature the colours chosen for the project: rose, fuchsia and burgundy.
Me evaluating three woven samples. The samples were woven at different setts and used either doubled yarn, two-ply yarn or the same yarn as the tabby weft in a different colour. I’m lifting one corner of one sample with my left hand, while the other two lie flat on a notebook on a wooden table. My weaving loom appears blurred in the background.
The beginning of a narrow, rather weft-faced woven sample on a loom with some inconsistent spacing between the picks. It is woven using the yarns selected for the project: fuchsia, rose and burgundy cottolin. Below the loom are two shuttles wound with rose and burgundy yarn, as well as the blurred corner of a notebook containing sampling notes.
An open notebook on a desk showing very rough calculations for a woven sample. On the notebook are a retractable tape measure and a pen. Next to the notebook is a wooden wraps-per-inch measuring tool alongside cones of burgundy, fuchsia and rose weaving yarn.
Me sitting at a desk, sketching different layout ideas in a notebook. Next to the notebook, my iPad shows a blurred weaving draft. In the far corner of the desk are three cones of yarn in fuchsia, rose and burgundy, chosen for the project.
Three cones of cottolin slub weaving yarn lying on a wooden desk. Three cones of cottolin slub weaving yarn lying on a wooden desk. From left to right, the yarn colours are fuchsia, rose and burgundy. In the top right corner, my iPad shows part of a weaving draft. In the top left corner, part of a yarn sample card is visible.
A close-up photo of me sitting at a desk, holding an Apple Pencil and working on a weaving draft on my iPad. The draft features muted violet flowers arranged in a grid against a pale violet background.
Small dark grey dog wearing a black harness sits in a forest behind a fallen tree log, resting his front paws on the log and looking toward the camera.
A notebook with soft, out-of-focus pixel sketches in the foreground and a turquoise pen resting on it. In the background, two weaving books titled Next Steps in Weaving and 8-Shaft Patterns lie slightly overlapping on a table.
A yellow daffodil in a meadow full of white and yellow flowers. The daffodil in the foreground is sharp and the background is blurred.
Point-of-view video demonstrating how to tie a leader on a spinning wheel.
An off-white and indigo blue striped T-shirt hanging on a hanger. The neckband, armbands, and waistband are all in the same indigo colour.
A serger with a cut-off bin full of tiny fabric trimmings. On top are three sewing clips that were accidentally dropped in while serging. Next to the bin is a piece of serged fabric.
A top made from off-white and indigo striped rib jersey fabric, showing both shoulder seams: one from the right side and the other from the wrong side. The seams are topstitched with indigo thread using 3-needle coverstitch.
A top made from off-white and indigo striped rib jersey fabric, showing both shoulder seams: one from the right side and the other from the wrong side. A spool of thread in the same indigo color lies on the fabric.
A white cart with three levels. The top one is covered with a bamboo lid, while the bottom ones are filled with bags from the World of Wool fibre advent calendar.
Overhead view of 25 hanks of handspun yarn in various colours, from soft neutrals to brighter tones, arranged in a 5×5 half-drop grid on a wooden table.
A hank of marbled red, green, gold, and silver handspun yarn on a wooden table. Beside it is a lit scented candle in an opaque white glass jar with a golden rim, decorated with gold stars and Christmas motifs, and labelled “EIN DUFTENDES WEIHNACHTEN erleben”.
A hank of natural brown-to-cream handspun yarn on a wooden table. Beside it is a lit, sky-blue scented candle in a glass jar labelled with the number 24 from another advent calendar. The rim of the jar is decorated with glitter.
A hank of minty green handspun yarn with glittery stellina on a wooden table. Beside it is a lit, teal scented candle in a glass jar labelled with the number 23 from another advent calendar.
A hank of red, white, and green marbled handspun yarn on a wooden table. Next to it is a lit white scented candle in a glass jar labelled with the number 22, from another advent calendar.
A hank of soft pink handspun yarn with orange undertones and chunks of white fiber on a wooden table. Next to it is a lit, light beige scented candle in a glass jar labeled with the number 21, from another advent calendar.
A hank of purple handspun yarn with bursts of blue and white on a wooden table. Beside it is a lit dark purple scented candle in a glass jar labeled with the number 20, from another advent calendar.
A hank of natural brown-to-cream handspun yarn on a wooden table. Next to it is a lit dark purple scented candle in a glass jar labeled with the number 19 from another advent calendar.
A hank of gray handspun yarn with a violet undertone on a wooden table. Next to it is a lit teal scented candle in a glass jar labeled with the number 18, from another advent calendar.
A hank of violet handspun yarn with bits of blue, magenta, and white fibers on a wooden table. Next to it is a lit beige scented candle in a glass jar labeled with the number 17, from another advent calendar.
A hank of rustic handspun yarn in its natural brown-and-cream fiber color on a wooden table. Next to it is a lit white scented candle in a glass jar labeled with the number 16, from another advent calendar.
A purple hank of handspun yarn on a wooden table. Next to it is a lit dark-purple scented candle in a glass jar labeled with the number 15, from another advent calendar.
A light-gray hank of handspun yarn on a wooden table. Next to it is a lit blue scented candle in a glass jar labeled with the number 14, from another advent calendar.
An orange hank of handspun yarn on a wooden table. Next to it is a lit, ecru-colored scented candle in a glass jar labeled with the number 13, from another advent calendar.
A hank of cream-to-camel-brown cabled handspun yarn on a wooden table. Behind it is a lit, muted turquoise scented candle in a glass jar labeled with the number 12, from another advent calendar.
A hank of deep raspberry-red handspun yarn on a wooden table. Next to it is a scented, white lit candle in a glass jar labeled with the number 11.
A hank of mostly black handspun yarn with bursts of golden color lies on a wooden table. Next to it is a lit white scented candle in a glass jar labeled with the number 10; the back of the glass is broken.
Two hanks of handspun yarn in the same brown-and-cream color. A larger hank sits in front, with a smaller one behind it. Behind both is a lit marine-blue scented candle in a glass jar labeled with the number 9.
A turquoise hank of handspun yarn on a table. Next to it is a lit, marine blue, scented candle in a glass jar with a number 8 on it.
A very pale yellow hank of handspun yarn on a table. Next to it is a lit offwhite scented candle in a glass with the number 7 on it.
A hank of deep green handspun yarn on a table. Next to it is a lit scented white candle in a glass with a number 6 written on it, indicating the sixth day of a candle advent calendar.
Dark brown hank of handspun yarn next to a lit, turquoise scented candle in a glass with the number 5 on it.
A cute little, almost black dog lying on an egg-shaped cushion. The dog is looking straight into the camera with his button-like dark brown eyes. The cushion is on the floor and has a beige-creme middle part and a taupe edge.
An egg-shaped cushion cover made out of quilted fabric. The middle part is made of plush beige quilted fabric, whereas the edge is made out of taupe cord fabric. The cushion cover is on a green cutting mat. In the background are some patternmaking paper and fabric used to make the cushion cover.
An elliptically shaped piece of fabric with an invisible zipper on a green cutting mat. The fabric is sewn together from two pieces: a black inner ellipse with wide taupe edge. The middle part of the black fabric is full of lint. There are also some bits of threads next to the sewn piece and a rotary cutter, a seam ripper and embroidery scissors lying on the piece itself. In the background, there is more fabric that was used for sewing the edge. The fabric is quilted and has a plush beige top and taupe wide cord backing.
A pink-red-orange-yellow skein of handspun yarn on a table. Behind it is a lit very dark candle in a glas with number 4 on it. The yarn color is not homogeneous and it mostly looks red-pink.
A slightly rosa skein of handspun yarn lying on a wooden table. There is a lit bluish scented candle next to it.
Brown skein of handspun yarn with bright colorful bits. Next to it on a table it’s a lit bluish scented candle in a jar with number 2 on it.
Redviolet handspun yarn with bursts of blue color next to a lit scented candle with number one on it.