I have been putting together scarves and shawls using rayon chenille as the pattern weft with traditional overshot patterns. Here are a couple of examples. I really like how they turn out and thought I would share with you all.

Scarf in a simple overshot pattern

Blooming Leaf of Mexico Shawl

Adam Mann

http://www.adamnweave.com

 

 

Comments

TinaHilton (not verified)

Those are really pretty!  How long are the floats?  I thought rayon chenille would worm with the float length normally found in overshot.

ttkjohn

I love these patterns.  Great job!

ammann58 (not verified)

I didn't know that I should expect any problems with that and as it turns out, I didn't. The longest floats are about 3/4". Everything turned out great and I am going to keep expanding the pattern variety. I really enjoy doing overshot.

Su Butler

Your pieces are wonderful ammann58, but don't rule out worming just because it has not happened yet. Worming happens over time, and Overshot is an "iffy" structure to keep chenille yarns tamed. What is your warp yarn? Did you throw a pick of tabby after every pattern pick? How many picks per inch, including tabby, were you able to achieve. If you wove with a small warp yarn closely sett and beat firmly, there is a *chance* the piece might not worm...depends on the state of elongation in the chenille before weaving, and whether the chenille is 100% viscose or not. Also, how much are these pieces to be used. Worming shows up a lot faster when pieces are being used. I hope that your pieces defy the odds and the worming does not happen, but it would be good to put them through some rigorous testing before giving/selling them to make sure the pattern weft yarns will not worm out of the structure. Good luck! Su :-)

ammann58 (not verified)

I am new with using the chenille in overshot. I want to understand more of what your concerns are about using it. What is this "worming" that you are all referring to? Will the chenille begin to "unravel"?

I did throw a tabby pick after every pattern pick. I find that there is no question of control that way. The warp is 24 epi and the tabby is about 16 ppi.

Sorry for the delay in responding to this. I have been very busy lately.

Adam

TinaHilton (not verified)

Su is the expert on chenille, but I'll try to explain worming.  The thread will work it's way out making loops that look like caterpillars (fuzzy worms) if the floats are too long.  I've never tried any floats longer than 2 ends with chenille.  I've only had a problem with worming on my fringe when it wasn't twisted tightly enough.  The fringe was fine until I washed the scarf and then it was a real mess.  Here is a link to my post about that problem with a picture of it.    

Have you washed them yet?  I think if it survives a washing without worming you might be okay.

ammann58 (not verified)

I greatly appreciate your explanation and I had a look at your picture. I'll do a few tests and see what happens.

sally orgren

When "weaving with chenille" was going around in our guild a few years back, we noticed that certain types of rayon chenille were more susceptible to worming problems, even with small floats. We had a lot of weavers working with mill ends and "stash" chenille, and those cones seemed to be the most troublesome. We also discovered knitting yarn chenille didn't work out the same as weaving yarn chenille. 

Also at the time, many weavers didn't realize that WEBS was selling a variety of grists, from 1450 to 2000 ypp. That means the sett would vary, depending on which one you used. (16 e.p.i. was probably too open for the 2,000 ypp variety.)

Just FYI for anyone who inherits a chenille stash from another weaver. (Sample, sample, sample!) 

P.S. Su would know chenille — she wrote the book!

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