Rabbitbrush Studio: Supplementary Weft Bag With Bhutanese Motif

.bag with supplementary weft pattern, cross knit looping, and 4 strand braid.

This is one of two projects that came off the same warp. The colors are a bit on the light side for me, but the weaving process was pleasurable, and I learned how to do supplementary weft on a wider project.

So, here were my goals for this project:

1. Use Supplementary Weft patterning.

2. Weave my picks (rows) evenly to get even dimensions, and to weave neat selvedges (edges).

3. To make a bag use no electric devices.

4. Use hardware and attach a 4 Strand Braid.

5. Apply a 3 stitch wide Cross Knit Looping to the edges.

6. Use the bag to note the wear and tear and what I might do differently in the future.

The idea for some of the goals for this bag came from my friends. One friend in particular does ALOT of walking for exercise, and she wants a bag to keep her phone, license, and a key in. I made the yurt band motif bag as a sample, but it is not big enough for my iphone, or rather the case that my iphone is in. So I kept that in mind for this project.

.the practice sampler.

I used size 3 cotton that I had purchased from my local yarn store. It is different in texture than the size 3 crochet cotton yarn I normally use. The crochet cotton yarn has more twist, and well, I really like that. The cotton from the yarn store has less twist but a nice sheen. I am going to guess here as to refer to brand and I have seen it as Astra.

.weaving in progress.

I followed the online tutortial and used 2 strands of embroidery floss for the supplementary weft. I had two charts I wanted to use, one was a bhutanese motif, and the other was and adaptation from Laverne's blog. You can see my adapted chart in the photo, and about 10 rows in I decided I didn't like it. I will save it for another warp.

.both sides done!

I had no problems doing the supplementary weft and the weaving went quickly. After weaving, I hand-sewed a cotton/linen blend fabric to the top edges. I wanted to NOT use my sewing machine this time around.

.close up of cross knit loopin.

I practiced and practiced the cross knit looping on a sample piece until I completely could identify the stitches using the same color yarn and could reproduce consistency in the loops. I applied this to the side edges of the bag. I then hand-sewed hardware to the top to attach a 4 strand braid.

.bhutanese motif.

Not using electrical equipment, well I sorta cheated, I did use my iron on the fabric (because I didn't have my cast iron one handy, just kidding). I wanted to see if I could put something together without relying on modern technology, and now I know I can.

I'm happy with this project and using the bag to test it's structure. I'm pretty hard on my bags, so we'll see, and if it holds up, I will be making a few more!

Link love: Supplementary Weft Tutorial, Cross Knit Looping Tutorial, 4 Strand Braid Tutorial, Textile Designs of Bhutan - David Barker (you need to be signed into issuu to view this document).

This project is at my Ravelry page: Supplementary Weft Bag.