This project has been, and will continue to be, a Work-In-Progress! Two Vancouver Island fibre artisans – Bobbie and Karla – have combined their talents to create something special – a rug woven entirely of fibre grown or harvested from the Vancouver Island Fibreshed.
I will start by introducing myself. My name is Bobbie, I live in Victoria, and I love to weave rugs, with wool as the weft and linen as the warp. My favorite weave structure is weft-faced/boundweave. It is great for using stronger wools, resulting in a durable rug that will last for years. I am lucky that there are farmers within Canada who have the perfect sheep for my projects, and I have been spinning this wool into a 2-ply yarn that works well in weft-faced rugs. During the last few years, I have sought out suitable fleeces from Vancouver Island and have created a stockpile of sturdy handspun yarns, just waiting for projects!
Typically, I use commercially spun linen (yarn spun from flax) for the warp. The warp in a weft-faced rug must withstand high tension and a lot of beating, be smooth enough to permit the packed weft to slide and be compressed over it, but not be so smooth that it won’t “grip” the weft. Flax for linen was grown and milled in North America for centuries, initially as a cottage industry. But by the 20th century, this knowledge and skill began to leave our shores, with most commercial linen now coming from Europe or Asia. (Within Canada, Taproot Fibre Mill in Nova Scotia continues to process flax into linen for weaving.)
Earlier in the year, I was approached by another fibre enthusiast (Karla) on the island. Karla happens to grow flax near Courteney and has become well known (within the fibre community) for spinning linen for her personal use. She casually asked if I wanted her to try spinning and plying linen from her flax that would work as warp for my rugs! I must admit I jumped at the opportunity! Karla and I started connecting through Zoom and email, developing a plan for determining the most suitable linen warp for the wool yarn that I had already spun.
Karla here! When I off-handedly offered to make a rug warp for Bobbie, I didn’t truly comprehend the commitment I had made. To be sure, I thought it would be quick and easy: ply together some of my earlier home-grown, hand-spun linen yarn to make it stronger, thicker, smoother, and uniform. Lovely as it is, though, I soon discovered the yarn I had available was just not suitable for the project. For instance, I couldn’t ask Bobbie to use her beautiful handspun wool yarn and exquisite rug skills on a second-rate rug warp. Even though the yarn would be mostly concealed by the weft-faced weave, it would contribute invisible but important characteristics that could enhance the rug, or drag it down. I realized I’d have to custom spin the singles (i.e., the individual lengths that would twist together to create the final yarn). In the process, I learned way more about spinning my tow flax (short fibres) and plying it into a suitable warp. I had a sample of commercial warp yarn to set my goal post, and got down to spinning. 1600m and a few trials later, I was ready to hunker down and make the final yarn.
I encountered challenges over the next few weeks, which became valuable lessons:
- Technique: The technique of holding five separate yarn ends together in one hand to ply them into a smooth, firm yarn with uniform tension had me flummoxed! The specialized nature of home-spun rug warps means there isn’t much information readily available in literature or online. I had to dig!
- Twist: The direction of twist of the warp, in contrast to the weft, meant there was an opportunity to customize the yarn so the weft could “pack in” tighter for a hard-wearing rug.
- Momentum: My home life became busy with other priorities, and the warp project lost momentum. This delay offered time to practice, research and sample which, in turn, helped Bobbie and me to make important decisions.
- Best is the enemy of good: I came to the fibre world late in life, and my skills are still developing. The yarn I eventually delivered to Bobbie isn’t perfect, but it’s still good enough to fulfill its role in this unique project.
Joint Comments here –
Using the small samples of sized and unsized 4-ply yarn that Karla initially provided, Bobbie warped up a mini-frame loom and then a table loom. It was quickly determined that the linen yarn would benefit from sizing (adding a smoothing/stiffening agent – in our case, a slurry of boiled cornstarch ).
The next step in this project is about to commence, with changes in spinning (4-ply to 5-ply) and weaving (table loom to floor loom). Karla has spun 300 metres of 5-ply linen yarn, and Bobbie will use it to warp her countermarche floor loom for a small weft-faced rug, and then apply the sizing. Our biggest challenge now is getting the linen yarn from Karla to Bobbie, given the uncertainties of the Canada Postal job action! The details of the final rug will be posted in the next newsletter.
As this rug project weaves together the intersecting paths of warp and weft threads, so it weaves a community. The invisible threads of shepherds, growers, and makers lace together into a cohesive unit that is as functional as it is beautiful. It is also small and labour intensive!!! Imagine what it would take to make it big!