I bought this as a kit in the Mountain Views color way.

The warp is 8 yards; it’s supposed to make 8 towels. But my first “towel” was a sample. As always, my warp seemed to go on a little wonky, and I tied up my two unused treadles so that I could weave both the huck lace and the warp spots, and it took me a couple of days to finally get everything adjusted. I cut off the sample and washed it, corrected a couple of threading errors, and tied the warp on the cloth rod again.

This is a very wide warp--25.5 inches in the reed--which taxes my Julia’s 26-inch weaving width. When weaving the first towel (not the sample) the three threads of the left selvedge broke. I ended up just weaving without them until I reached a point where I could just incorporate them back into the towel. I have also been having trouble with the selvedge edges, especially on the left, not so much on the right, being too loose, and it has been frustrating trying to correct that problem. But at least the pattern has been fun and easy to weave.

7-22-22
So far I have woven one towel using the huck lace pattern. It will definitely not be giftable since the left selvedge is a hot mess, but it is still functional and really pretty. And I have one pattern block using warp spots completed and the selvedges are doing better.

When I finished the second towel, I think I will cut the woven cloth off and adjust the sleying of the left selvedge to pack it in just a little more densely and then tie it back on. I want to do another towel using huck lace, and maybe one alternating huck lace and warp spots, and another one alternating warp spots and huck lace, and then one just plain weave. And if there is enough warp left, and if that warp is weavable, I will figure out how I want to weave it when the time comes.

7-23-22
I finished the second towel (warp spots) and then cut it and the huck towels #1 off the loom. I resleyed the 5 outer left selvedge threads and tied the warp back on. I wove the header for the next towel and the first turmeric stripe. So far, the left selvedge is much improved, but that’s just 8 picks of plain weave. We will see what happens when I weave the next part. Fingers crossed it will be better.

8-2-22
I finished the weaving tonight. My selvedges behaved much better after I cut off the first two towels and resleyed the outer left selvedge. These towels off the loom are quite large. I will be interested to see how much they shrink when I wet finish them.

They were a lot of fun to weave. I ended up doing 2 with huck lace, 2 with warp spots, and 1 with huck and warp spots alternating. After I finished the last towel, I wove the remaining warp in plain weave using the bits and bobs of the warp yarn left on the quills.

Next I will need to sew the edges and either hem, then wet finish, or maybe this time I will wet finish and then hem. I think I will sleep on it.

The kit is supposed to make 8 towels. I got 7, but had I not been having difficulty with my warp in the beginning and ended up weaving a “sample,” I would have gotten 8 towels easily.

8-7-22
These towels have been hemmed, wet finished, and hard pressed as of 10 minutes ago. The actually turned out much better than I was expecting, considering all the difficulty I had with the selvedges. They were a lot of fun to weave, and they are really pretty, if somewhat imperfect.

My hemming job isn’t my best ever, in large part because my beloved Singer Fashion Mate 288 (purchased new in 1980) broke down for the very first time since I have owned it. I hemmed a couple of them using my back-up machine--Janome 49018, which is okay but not anything to write home about--and I finished them using my new machine, a Bernette B05 Academy. First project on a new machine = not the best sewing. The hems aren’t great, but they aren’t terrible either.

I’d say these towels wouldn’t be sellable, but they are definitely giftable. Even the one I was weaving when the 2 left selvedge ends broke and I just kept on weaving instead of trying to do a repair don’t look bad. My only real disappointment with these towels, and it’s a minor disappointment, not a major one, is that although they are nice and wide, they aren’t as long as I would prefer. I forgot to measure them before I washed them, but I knew before I washed them that they were going to come out on the shorter side. I haven’t measured them yet since I finished them, but I will record the measurements here once I have them.

Finished measurements:
All the towels were between 24 ½ and 26 ¾ inches long, and 22-22 ½ inches wide