Morning Pick-Me-Up Towels ~ Weaving With Organic Cottons

Posted by Jodi Ybarra on March 31, 2024

Cotton Clouds Yarn Exploration

Weaving With Organic Cottons

Have you heard the term, The Fabric of Our Lives? Whether you have or not, I'm happy to report that this is referring to my beloved cotton!

I love weaving with cotton! Cotton is one of the most widely used fibers around the world and when I choose cotton, I know I'm not only making a good choice for myself, but also for the environment.

You all know how much we love cotton at Cotton Clouds, but if you haven't had the experience of weaving with organic cottons, you are in for a real treat!

Why choose cotton over acrylic or synthetic yarns?

Cotton has been grown for food, fiber, and even fuel for over 6,000 years. You can find cotton in your clothes, sheets, and towels, but cotton is also used to make things like rope, U.S. currency, paper, cooking oil, animal feed, packaging, and biofuels. The benefits and versatility of cotton are numerous!

Cotton is easier to wash and care for than other fabrics, so let your washing machine do your dirty work and enjoy the money and time you’ll save on dry cleaning or hand washing.

Cotton can help bring more ease, comfort, and simplicity to your life, so you can focus on being your best self.

Cotton is a natural fiber, grown from the earth and spun into a soft yarn. Cotton farming has made, and continues to make, huge strides toward sustainability and environmental responsibility.

What are the benefits of weaving with organic cotton?

In addition to its positive impact on the environment and farmers’ health, organic cotton has other important benefits:

It is softer and more comfortable than conventional cotton, making it ideal for people with sensitive skin or allergies.

Organic Cotton is more durable and can last longer than conventional cotton, which means it is a more profitable investment in the long run.

Organic Cotton is also a way to support local farmers and rural communities. By choosing organic cotton products, you are supporting farmers who work hard to produce healthy and sustainable products.

Organic Cottons are naturally grown in shades of browns and greens, no dyes needed!

Natural Colored Cotton can range from light to darker shades and does not fade after washing. As a matter of fact, they get darker!

To celebrate our much loved fiber, I want to share a new weaving pattern using 100% Organic Cottons!

Morning Pick-Me-Up Towels ~ Coffee Bean

Let's Get Started!

Gather your supplies ~ We've supplied a pattern in this blog to help you get started. The pattern will be a base that will give you the weaving width, suggested sett and finishing techniques. This pattern gives the amount of yarns needed to weave either two or four towels.

We make it easy! Our Morning Pick-Me-Up kit makes gathering your supplies easy. This kit includes all the Organic Cotton yarns needed. There are two color options to choose from! Choose from Matcha Tea, or Coffee Bean.

Join our Cotton Clouds Weaving Group on Facebook so that you can share your questions, pictures and accomplishments with fellow weavers.

Let's Weave together! I'm here for you every step of the way! You can contact me by email at jodi@cottonclouds.com if you have any questions about these Morning Pick-Me-Up Towels!

Morning Pick-Me-Up Towels ~ Matcha Tea

~ Weaving With Organic Cottons ~

Weave Structure: plain weave and texture weave

Equipment needed: rigid heddle or 4-shaft loom; 22” weaving width; 10 dent reed; 3 shuttles

Yarn Amounts for Two Towels:
Warp Yarns; Organic 5/3 Cotton Natural 460 yds, Organic 3/2 Cotton Brown or Green 180 yds
Weft Yarns; Organic 5/3 Cotton Natural 300 yds, Organic 3/2 Cotton Brown or Green 150 yds; Organic 10/2 Natural for hems 100 yds

Yarn Amounts for Four Towels:
Warp Yarns; Organic 5/3 Cotton Natural 730 yds, Organic 3/2 Cotton Brown or Green 290 yds
Weft Yarns; Organic 5/3 Cotton Natural 580 yds, Organic 3/2 Cotton Brown or Green 280 yds; Organic 10/2 Natural for hems 200 yds

(Note: extra yardage has been calculated in these amounts.)

Total warp ends: 218

Setts: 10 epi; 9 ppi in plain weave, 10 ppi in texture weave

Warp Length: 2 ¾ yds (99”) for two towels; 4 ½ yds (162”) for four towels

Other supplies: matching sewing thread for hems

Finished Dimensions: each towel approximately 18” x 27” hemmed

Warping the Loom
Set up your loom to direct warp a length of 2 ¾ yds (99”) for two towels; 4 ½ yds (162”) for four towels.

Measure out from the center of you reed half of your weaving width which will be 11” to start warping.

Warp two threads in each slot following the warp order chart.

Warp Order
The numbers in the chart represent how many threads you’ll be warping.
There are a total of 218 ends.
Warp two threads in each slot.

25 slots Organic 5/3 Cotton Natural. (50 threads)

Alternate two threads Organic 3/2 Color in a slot, then two threads Organic 5/3 Natural in a slot, 30 times. (120 threads)

24 slots Organic 5/3 Cotton Natural. (48 threads)

Sleying the Reed

Wind the warp onto the back beam and then transfer one thread from each slot into the holes. You will now have one thread in each slot and one in each hole.

Tie the yarns in small sections onto the front beam and tighten your warp to get a tight, even tension.

Preparing the Shuttles

Wind one shuttle with Organic 5/3 Cotton Natural, another shuttle with Organic 3/2 Colored Brown or Green and third shuttle with thinner 10/2 cotton Natural for hems.

Weaving

Weave with scrap yarn to spread the warp evenly.

With thinner 10/2 Cotton weave 1 ½” for hem.

With Organic 5/3 Natural, finish with 5" in plain weave.

Now you will start weaving in the 4-step pattern repeat AND at the same time alternate one pick Natural, then one pick Color until you’ve measured 20” of textured weaving.

With Organic 5/3 Natural, finish with 5" in plain weave.

With thinner 10/2 Cotton weave 1 ½” for hem.

Your finished towel will measure 30” not counting the hem areas.

Weave a few rows of a scrap yarn between each towel and continue the next towel the same as the first, or you can weave the next towel all in plain weave but still alternating the shuttles after weaving your 5” of natural.

When you have finished weaving your towels, weave a few rows with waste yarn before cutting yarns off loom.

Finishing & Hemming

Remove the fabric from the loom and sew a zig zag stitch across each end with sewing thread before cutting apart.

Using a hot iron, fold each hem over twice to get a nice flat edge.

Sew a straight stitch across securing each hem.

Machine wash and dry on normal.

We recommend using Arm & Hammer Washing Soda along with your laundry soap to darken the natural colored cottons even more.

4-Shaft Instructions revised from rigid heddle by Katie Strano

Winding the Warp:
Wind a warp 2 ¾ yds (99”) of 218 threads following the Warp Order Chart.

Warp order: Multi-Shaft instructions can follow the same warp order and layout as the rigid heddle draft.

Dressing the Loom:
Dress your loom using your preferred method (front to back or back to front).
Floating selvedges are not needed for this 3-shaft draft.

Weaving
Weave with scrap yarn to spread the warp evenly.
With thinner 10/2 Cotton weave 1 ½” for hem.

Change to shuttle with Organic 5/3 Natural and weave 5" in plain weave.

Now you will start weaving in the 4-step pattern repeat AND at the same time alternate one pick Natural, then one pick Color until you’ve measured 20” of texture weaving.

With Organic 5/3 Natural, weave another 5" in plain weave.

With thinner 10/2 Cotton weave 1 ½” for hem.
Your finished towel will measure 30” not counting the hem areas.
Follow finishing and hemming as shown in the rigid heddle instructions.

It's fun to see the differences between plain weave and texture weave. I like to weave each towel a little differently so that I still have a matching set, but they are a little different from one another. When you have finished weaving your towels, weave a few rows with waste yarn before cutting your towels off the loom.