Twill Gamp

Day 360: According to Webster's Third New International Dictionary, the word "gamp" was derived from a character' surname in Charles Dickens' "Martin Chuzzlewit," Sairy Gamp. I won't argue with Webster, although I have the feeling there is a deeper history there. How it also came to be applied to the weaver's equivalent of a sampler, I do not know (nor, apparently, does Webster, other than to suggest it was pilfered from Dickens). A gamp can be as simple as an all-over tabby weave of different colours, helpful to the weaver who wants to see how they interact with each other, or a gamp may be a sampling of different threadings and treadlings such as the one I am making here. Each of these designs is threaded through the heddles in a different fashion, for example 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4 for one pattern, then 4-3-2-1-2-3-4-1-2-1 for the next, and so on across the width of the fabric. The treadling remains the same throughout the blocks, but treadling shafts 1 and 3 raises every other thread as 1-3-1-3 in the first instance and 3-1-3-1-1 in the second, a different pattern emerges. I will change to a different treadling for the next set of squares. Thus, with careful planning, it is possible to weave multiple designs across a single width of cloth. During my years as a weaver, I had never woven a twill gamp (i.e., one based in variations of the twill pattern). I thought it would be an amusing experiment.

Pulled-Thread Sampler

Day 127: Yesterday, we examined hardanger, in which the threads of the foundation cloth are removed to form holes in the finished work. Pulled-thread embroidery is very similar, but for the most part, the threads of the even-weave fabric base are left intact. The working thread is pulled up tightly to create open areas in it. Here, several different stitches are displayed in a 48-count sampler. The three rows on the border have had threads removed, with the cut ends re-woven into the base cloth. However, the center has not and, in the execution of pulled-thread work, the route of the working thread must be planned with care to keep it from showing on the face of the needlework. More commonly seen than the lacework shown here, hemstitching is a very basic form of pulled-thread work.

Lace Maker's Rule

Day 332: For the last week or so, I have been developing a bobbin lace pattern (a sampler) to insert into the channel of an acrylic ruler designed with this type of display in mind. The lace is protected by a snap-in cover, removable if you want to change it out for another piece. Several factors went into planning the lace, width and length affecting the number of repeats possible in the alloted space, and weight of the threads (working thread and gimp). The pattern I created worked well with #60 cotton and #8 perle, but I decided I wanted to see what it would look like with a heavier thread carried along the sewing edges. I had worked one full motif using #12 perle before deciding it was too bulky.

About 35 years ago, I purchased a one-pound cone of white #60 cotton from a supplier in McMinnville Oregon, now long out of business. It proved to be my favourite thread, and now I find myself getting close to the end of the cone. Upon reaching the conclusion that I didn't like the look of the #12 in the edge, I was faced with a dilemma. Bobbin lace should have no knots. It is begun with the threads from pairs of bobbins hung around pins. If I cut my work and threw the completed section of lace away, I would not have enough left on a single bobbin to wind a new pair, i.e., I would be wasting all the thread I had originally wound on the bobbins. There was nothing for it but to unwork the piece, reversing my actions one by one until the entire lace was un-picked.

When a fiber artist is developing a new design, there are usually hitches in the process. I counted myself lucky that none of them had been in the way I'd drafted the work. Backing out of the lace stitch by stitch, I salvaged every inch of thread and completed the sampler this morning.