Iridescent fabric shimmers and glows, changing colors depending on how the light hits it. Different colors appear in the folds and pleats, adding surprising layers of color to fabric. To the uninformed it appears magical and difficult, but the truth is that weaving iridescent fabric is accessible to any handweaver who knows the tricks. Bobbie Irwin has been teaching the techniques for weaving iridescence in person and through articles for more than ten years. In this book, she delivers her most comprehensive course yet, covering the details from how to evaluate and choose yarn to achieve your desired effect to the ways weave structure affects iridescence to the best uses for your iridescent fabric. Hands-on project instructions will have you exploring what you've learned right away. If you have been looking to add some shimmer to your weaving, this is the only book you will ever need!

Thoughtful designs. Simple shapes. Create unique fabric and garments you'll want to wear again and again. In this garment-weaver's handbook, author Marilyn Murphy offers guidance for weaving scarves, wraps, and more. She also provides advice for designing garments, cutting and sewing fabric, adding edgings and closures, and combining woven fabrics with other techniques. In addition, nine contributing designers share their working philosophies. Garment designs in Woven to Wear are influenced by a global melting pot of traditional folkloric costume and ethnic fabric, in which silhouettes are roomy, layered, and flowing, and the cloth takes center stage.

A magnificent work of original research that unravels history through textiles and cloth—how we make it, use it, and what it means to us. How is a handmade fabric helping save an ancient forest? Why is a famous fabric pattern from India best known by the name of a Scottish town? How is a Chinese dragon robe a diagram of the whole universe? What is the difference between how the Greek Fates and the Viking Norns used threads to tell our destiny? In Fabric, bestselling author Victoria Finlay spins us round the globe, weaving stories of our relationship with cloth and asking how and why people through the ages have made it, worn it, invented it, and made symbols out of it. And sometimes why they have fought for it. She beats the inner bark of trees into cloth in Papua New Guinea, fails to handspin cotton in Guatemala, visits tweed weavers at their homes in Harris, and has lessons in patchwork-making in Gee's Bend, Alabama - where in the 1930s, deprived of almost everything they owned, a community of women turned quilting into an art form. She began her research just after the deaths of both her parents —and entwined in the threads she found her personal story too. Fabric is not just a material history of our world, but Finlay's own journey through grief and recovery.

Doubleweave is the art of weaving two layers of cloth at the same time, one above the other on the loom, creating beautiful cloth that is reversible yet unique on each side. Using pick-up techniques and clever color mixing, patterns emerge that are different but complementary on each side. The Weaver's Studio: Doubleweave begins with a brief history of doubleweave and how it has evolved into the contemporary weaving pieces seen today. Next, you will learn all the basics of doubleweave techniques, as well as tips and tricks of setting up the warp, and a variety of doubleweave specialty techniques all shown through detailed process photography and a wealth of swatches demonstrating different effects. Specialty techniques are shown for 4-shaft and 8-shaft looms. The weaving effects covered include lace, tubular weave, pick-up, color mixing, and more. And since doubleweave showcases color and pattern in unique ways, you will learn how to use these to great effect in your cloth designs. Throughout the book, you will find a wealth of inspiration with many examples of finished cloth and projects, from wall hangings and table runners to scarves and pillows.

Shows how to draft patterns for a multishaft loom, looks at twills, double weaves, and weave structures, and tells how to select a loom

Weaving: Structure and Substance looks at weave design from several different perspectives, showing how resources, ideas and practical experience can come together in a creative process of designing through making. Emphasizing the potential of woven textiles throughout, Ann Richards follows the success of her sister title Weaving Textiles that Shape Themselves and explores the tactile properties that emerge from the interaction of material and structure. The book is organized into four parts that look at the natural world as inspiration, the design resources of material and weave structure, the fabric qualities as starting points for design, and the practical issues of designing through making. With over 280 lavish photos, this book will be an invaluable resource for textile designers and enthusiasts looking for inspiration and practical advice.

This comprehensive guide to floor loom weaving begins with the basics—parts of the loom, how to wind your warp and dress your loom; how to read and weave drafts—but then goes so much farther, explaining the different types of weaves and how to read and weave from charts, and exploring a variety of weaves in depth. The author covers each topic in detail, with illustrations, photos, and charts to guide you. The first half of the book is devoted to the basics of weaving, and the second part teaches a variety of weave structures and how to use them and adapt them to whatever you want to make. The Art of Weaving is extensive in its scope, and a reference book appropriate for all skill levels. * Preparing your yarn and threading your floor loom * Understanding and working from drafts * Exploring weave structures * Finishing * Troubleshooting

From fabric strips to completed rugs - it's all in the twist! Traditional crafting and green crafting come together with impressive results in Twist & Twine. Author Bobbie Irwin guides you through the age-old art of rug twining to create beautiful, durable objects for your home, all with strips of new or recycled fabric. You'll begin with a twining sampler to learn the basic methods you'll need to make rugs, baskets, placemats, even a photo album. Clearly presented techniques and project instructions include color diagrams and photos. Learn to make your own twining frames, and discover nonframe projects that use boxes, cardboard tubes and bowls as forms for twining. In Twist & Twine you'll get: an illustrated guide to twining methods detailed instructions for 7 rugs and 11 home decor items created with a variety of techniques and looms thorough discussions of fabric - new or recycled - to use for warps and wefts a review of twining equipment, including instructions for constructing looms and frames lists of twining references and resources