{"id":11106,"date":"2024-07-27T09:36:12","date_gmt":"2024-07-27T07:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/waltin.se\/josefinwaltinspinner\/?p=11106"},"modified":"2024-07-27T09:36:12","modified_gmt":"2024-07-27T07:36:12","slug":"fulled-pillow-cases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/waltin.se\/josefinwaltinspinner\/fulled-pillow-cases\/","title":{"rendered":"Fulled pillow cases"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I love weaving pillow cases. They are the perfect project for new techniques, especially for wobbly weavers like me. Today I share three new fulled pillow cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have made three pillow cases before, all of which keep our backs comfy in the sofa. All of them have been firsts in some way, and they have taught me a lot about weaving, spinning for weaving, making proper joins and mending broken warp threads. Lots of broken warp threads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The yarn in these three new ones, is commercial though. For no other reason than that I had the yarns. I bought a couple of kilos in different colours a few years ago at a final sale from a woman who was the first to import Shetland yarns to Sweden back in the 1980\u2019s. I stored the skeins in my yarn cabinet and they were honestly mostly in the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Test weaves<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When the idea of fulling weaves in a fulling mill<\/a> took shape, my mind brought me back to the skeins stuffed in the cabinet. They were the perfect practice yarns for fulling. If I failed at the fulling process it wouldn\u2019t be precious handspuns. I picked out three colours that contrasted enough against each other. To play with them I wove my three loose sett weaves with different dominating colours and different plaid patterns. The plan was to weave to full 50 x 50 centimeter pillow cases on my 60 centimeter rigid heddle loom, to match pillows we had in the sofa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Three<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Three<\/figure>\n
The three pillowcases unfulled to the left and fulled to the right.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

All three weaves fulled beautifully in the mill. I confess I was secretly bothered that these weaves in commercial yarns fulled better than my handspuns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A simple design<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The weaves fulled just a bit too much for the dimensions I had planned for, so I bought three 40 x 40 centimeter inner pillows instead, filled with wool of course. I decided on a simple envelope construction \u2013 I folded the weaves off-center and folded the remaining piece again to form a pocket to slide the pillow in and close around it. The unfinished edge had been fulled in the mill, and I kept it raw for a simple design element.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buttons!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Even if the envelope solution did its job to hold the pillow in the case, I wanted a closure that was a little more secure, so I started looking at buttons. After some browsing for buttons in natural materials like bone, horn and wood, I found Maud Enerman<\/a> who makes made-to-order wooden buttons. I sent her photos of my pillow cases and she was happy to make three sets of buttons, in juniper, plum and beech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Close-up<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Close-up<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Close-up<\/figure>\n
Wooden buttons in juniper left, beech center and plum right.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The buttons arrived this week and I read up on sewing buttonholes by hand and chose three different colours from my box of silk thread. To strengthen I tacked a small piece of cotton fabric to the back of both the buttonhole and the button. Cutting the hole was a bit scary, but neither buttonhole nor skin was injured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
My three pillowcases paired up with the bench I made for my husband a few years ago and the matching rya bench pad I wove to match it.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Not one of the nine buttonholes turned out without wonkiness, but I guess it\u2019s a learning curve. I do love the result, though, and want to dive into the sea of pillows every time I see them. When my husband and I meet in the sofa every evening at 9 pm sharp to watch a series (Ripley at the moment), I grab one for the back, one for the neck and one just to cuddle with while I hold his hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happy spinning!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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You can find me in several social media:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n