Diversified Plain Weave Vest, Plan C

While I was eventually able to straighten out my tangled chenille warp and weave it, the resulting fabric was not what I'd hoped for. So, on to Plan B: I warped my loom again; different yarn, different colors, but after weaving four or five inches, my reaction was (as Snoopy would say), "Bleh!" It looked like mud. I cut that warp off and moved on to Plan C. Again, different colors, different yarn, but this time the result was just what I was looking for.

I love this weave structure-- a variation of diversified plain weave-- the same I used for the black and natural tote bag I wove a couple months ago, and it's fascinating to see how the yarns used impact the finished fabric. The tote bag fabric is woven of 8/4 cotton rug warp and produced a sturdy, durable cloth while the vest fabric yarns--primarily rayon-- resulted in a soft, silky, lustrous fabric.

Diversified plain weave is difficult to visualize when reading an explanation of how the threads interact, so I took some photos that, I hope, will make sense. Notice how the balance of colors raised in each shed shifts from less to more of the gold, allowing more or less of the rose-colored weft to show on the surface. The colors appear in opposite positions on the reverse of the fabric.

In the photo below, the colors are more accurate (not sure why I was getting such strong red and orange in the ones above).

And, finally, the finished vest!

Now...off to the loom to sample for my next project!