Designed and woven by Malynda Allen
Woven on the Flip Loom
“Napery” refers to “table linens woven with flax, usually used to wipe the fingers and mouth.” This set of six hemmed napkins, woven in plain weave on a rigid heddle loom, feature a solid color with a contrasting log cabin corner motif. For ease of weaving, 8/2 cotton doubled is used for the warp, while a linen weft adds a luxurious touch. The soft, crisp combination of linen and cotton will be a simple yet elegant addition to your table.
Equipment
- Rigid heddle or two-shaft loom with at least a 15″ weaving width. (I used my 25″ Flip loom and stand; the napkins could easily be woven on a 4-shaft table loom or a floor loom such as the Wolf Pup LT. You will need a longer warp to accommodate more loom waste.)
- 10 dent heddle or reed
- Two shuttles
- paper strip, cash register roll, ribbon, or other non-stretchy material for replicating napkin measurements
- sewing needle or sewing machine
Materials
- Warp yarn: 8/2 cotton (unmercerized), 1100 yards in your main color and 110 yards in your contrast color. I used Valley Yarns Elm Green and Georgia Yarn Company Natural.
- Weft yarn: 18/3 Linen, 600 yards to match your main color and 78 yards to match the contrast color. I used Gist Yarns in Fern Green (100 yards per napkin) and 78 yards Cream (13 yards per napkin)
- scrap weft in a different color for the header, cutting lines, etc.
- sewing thread to match your main color
Yarn substitution: 8/2 cotton may be substituted for the linen weft. Cotton draws in a bit more than linen, so the napkins will be a little narrower. 16/2 linen or 20/2 linen may also be substituted in the weft. If you make substitutions, measure the start and stop of the log cabin sequence so that you can make both ends of the napkins match. The total woven length of the napkins under tension is 18″.
Download the PDF for complete project instructions
Comments are closed.