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the line between yarn and cloth

10/25/2016

 
Picture
Weavers call it the 'fell'.
Picture
hand spun Polypay singles, 12 epi
My dictionary (The Oxford American)  
 has five definitions of fell:
-- v. past tense of Fall
-- v. to cut down, knock down or stitch down (i.e. flat fell seam)
--n. a hill, stretch of hills or moorland
--adj. fierce; ruthless; terrible; destructive
--n. animal hide or skin with hair

It says nothing of weaving, so​ I would add:
--n. the place where the cloth that has been woven
meets the waiting warp.
Picture
linen - 15 epi
Like time, the fell is never static.
Each pick (or  half pass if you're a tapestry weaver), moves it along.
Picture
wool, 11 epi
This requires little more than a few taps with the point of a bobbin,
Picture
hand spun 2-ply Polypay; 10 epi
or a controlled press with reed or rigid heddle.
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Hemp warp/ Linen weft - 10 epi
Sometimes, of course,
it takes a great WHACK.
Picture
Satisfying.
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It all depends on the cloth you are after.
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Hand Made Beaters: steel; wood; brass rivets
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I like 'em all 
and hope I get to stay 
with the yarn and the cloth
at the fell,
​wherever it is,
for a long, long time.
Picture
Julia link
10/26/2016 03:31:47 am

Such beauty and variety in the simple interlacement of warp and weft. May I ask? What is the purpose of the extra dowel clipped to your rigid heddle? (Love the stitching on your jeans)

Sarah
10/26/2016 11:55:42 am

Hello Julia -- thank you so much for your wonderful comments. As you say, the beauty and variety in that simple interlacement is pure delight. I keep waiting to get used to it, but then an delighted anew.
The rigid heddle I'm using in the photo is comprised of four individual 2 1/2" wide pieces of rigid heddle made by Schacht Spindle Co. I use rubber bands and binder clips to hold them together. It works wonderfully but is also slightly flexible so I can end up with a curved fell if I'm not careful. The extra dowel (actually a pice of metal tubing I had at hand thin enough to fit under the tiny binder clips), keeps it a touch straighter.

Juliann link
10/28/2016 11:36:50 am

Hi. My dictionary says, "a. the junction of the last filling thread with unwoven warp threads when a cloth is being woven b.the final yard or so in weaving out a warp."
Also feller: a worker who fells seams or binds the seams of knitted garments.

Sarah
10/29/2016 09:23:31 am

Hello Juliann, So glad to know that some dictionaries are more thorough than either of mine! I'd never heard the b. definition before, nor, indeed, the one for 'feller' other than as one who fells trees, and am thrilled to add both to my collection. Thanks!

Linda
11/3/2016 05:59:42 am

When I worked for a tentmaker, a feller was the sewing machine foot tool that bent the fabric before it went under the needle when sewing a flat felled seam.
Sarah I enjoy your posts so much!


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