Our good friend and weaver, Pat Kirkemo, is planning to weave a top. She wants to weave it in Euroflax 30/2 linen, as it is a wonderful fabric for wearing in the hot summer. She wants the fabric to be light, but not so sheer that she'd need to wear a layer underneath.
She decided that she wanted the light feel of a mostly plain weave structure, and chose to weave a small modification of the huck pattern #662 in the Strickler book by adding a little more plain weave spacing to the small lace "spots".
Pat decided to warp for sampling with the Periwinkle Grey color in 30/2 Euroflax. She first sleyed at 20 ends per inch. Once that was woven, she resleyed in the reed for 24 ends per inch, and finally made the 3rd sample at 27 ends per inch. I was so impressed that she hemstitched each sample! They are beautiful :-)
After weaving, she carefully measured before and after washing. Each sample was labeled with the front of the label showing the yarn, sett, and weave structure; the back of the labeled had the shrinkage in width and length.
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Now that she has the three samples, she can feel the hand of the fabric. She held the samples up against light to see how translucent they were.
Pat's three samples were measured and recorded for the picks per inch and shrinkage in width and length.
| Sample Sett Ends per Inch | Achieved Picks per Inch | Shrinkage | Shrinkage |
| 20 Ends per Inch | 20 picks per inch | 4.1% Width | 9% Length |
| 24 Ends per Inch | 23-24 picks per inch | 3.4% Width | 9% Length |
| 27 Ends per Inch | 25-27 picks per inch | 2.2% Width | 5% Length |
Pat decided to make her top using the 24 end per inch sett in Euroflax 30/2 linen! We can't wait to see the finished product.