I have been threatening to make placemats for some time but had too many other projects to work through first ! However, at last I decided they had to be done. These particular placemats appeared in Handwoven back in November/December 2009, page 60. The article was written by Suzie Liles. That issue of Handwoven has been lying out in my work room for months, open at the page as I was very taken with them when I first saw them.
In my stash I have a whole lot of 6/2 cotton in various colours. It is a bit thick for tea towels but was a bit thin for the last placemats I tried. This time I decided to try doubling it to get a thicker mat.
The draft is a four shaft huck and I have just recently become a big fan of huck ! The pattern allowed for three different treadlings and after sampling all three I chose the middle one called huck lace.
This is how it looked on the loom...............
It was very easy to weave and in no time I had five good sized, nice thick placemats. I hemstitched each one on the loom and then cut 1" fringes after I had washed them.
Here they are gracing the dining table at our holiday house at Crail.
This was such an easy project and I will repeat it to try and use up the cotton stash ! They would make ideal gifts for family and friends and I am even thinking Christmas !!!!!
I would recommend this pattern for anyone new to weaving who wants a satisfying project to give them some good experience with a positive outcome.
A short story from me this week but I hope it perhaps inspires you !
My next story will be in about three weeks so happy weaving to you all until them.
