Christmas presents

I wove 3 textiles for my friends and family for Christmas. I weave a lot, so and I try to make luxurious and functional items. I always try to consider the taste of the person who receives the gift. Usually it means that I try to choose the colours that the person likes. I also try to estimate if the person needs the item. 

 

This year I made three towels. First one is a kitchen/hand towel. The material is 25% linen, 75% cotton. I wove it with damask loom, which has 16 pattern shafts. The weave is satin, and the pattern is composed by altering the weft- and warp-faced satin pixel by pixel. It is done by pulling little wooden buttons. 

Designing the pattern was nice. I used typing software for achieving the decorative letters with the font Old English. The letter I used is K, which is the first letter of the receivers surname. I draw the decorative letter in the square pattern paper by placing it to the surface of the computer screen. I used WeavePoint software to make pattern designs. There is nice helpful tools in the software, for example the possibility to make easily mirrors or negatives from the pattern, and the copy – paste works as well. I have learnt to use that software well, because I find pattern designing really fascinating.

The two other towels were bathtowels, so they were quite large. The material is 75% linen and 25% cotton. It is common to use cotton or cotton mix for warp, because linen warp gets broken easier, because it is not elastic at all. If your shuttle scratches accidentaly a warp thread, it breaks easily. Also the safts and reed are wearing out the threads. 

The pattern

These two towels are woven to the same warp, which had 3 different greenish color sections and a 5 shaft waffle weave. I dyed weft yarns at home for achieving vivid and rich colors. For my female friend I dyed different kinds of reds, because that seems to be her favourite color. I also used thinner yarn for her. For my brother, I dyed the yarns with different army colours. It is surprising, how contrast colours fit often together in woven products. I tried different kinds of straps for the towel, and finally ended up making it a small decorative detail.  

Giving chrtistmas presents is a bit controversial. If you have to get something for everyone, you might end up giving something, that the person doesn’t want or need. People have too much meaningless stuff, and that’s often a  problem in their individual lives. Getting rid of unnecessary and unpleasant stuff is hard, due to our deep psychological reasons. Collecting is our natural urge, which has developped through evolution. I know few families, who have decided not to give any Chrismas presents. They want to focus on the good company and food. I like to give presents, so I try to five funcional or disappearing presents, like food and basic cosmetics, or unmaterial presents, like tickets to concerts or gift cards. Very often I repair my mom’s clothes and then give them as a present. This Christmas I repaired her wool jacket, mangle cloth and wool socks.