January 2025
We begin the year with the boat-neck flat warp sprang shirt. This is the method used by the ancient textile artist who created the Arizona Openwork shirt.
You set up a warp, long enough to extend from the hemline at the back, up over the shoulder, and back down to the hemline at the front. You will make the front of the shirt at the same time as the back of the shirt, two rectangles, that you cut apart, and join at the shoulders and along the side seams. As you do this, there are several techniques that you might find interesting, that will come in handily for shaping and for finishing. |
The basic strategy this month is a flat warp.
Make the front of the shirt at the same time as you make the back of the shirt, cut apart, and assemble.
Make the front of the shirt at the same time as you make the back of the shirt, cut apart, and assemble.
Calculate the amount of yarn needed for your project. Make a small sample, taking note of the starting length and number of threads. Measure the piece widthwise and lengthwise after blocking.
Decide the size of your finished garment. Measure from shoulder to hemline for length. You will need at least twice this length, and add to it the length required for uptake and also for managing and tying knots.
Measure around the body for width. You only need to make cloth that is half the body circumference. Make a swatch and then block the swatch. Calculate width using the swatch measurements AFTER blocking.
Decide the size of your finished garment. Measure from shoulder to hemline for length. You will need at least twice this length, and add to it the length required for uptake and also for managing and tying knots.
Measure around the body for width. You only need to make cloth that is half the body circumference. Make a swatch and then block the swatch. Calculate width using the swatch measurements AFTER blocking.
This is a shirt I made in August 2024, specially for this Year of the Sprang Shirt. My neighbour photographed her grandchild wearing the shirt.
I photographed the process and made videos .... hoping it would be easier to understand and follow along. ![]()
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The stitch you choose for the body of the shirt will have an impact on the size, number of stitches per inch, and the finished length vs the starting length.
Early in my explorations of sprang, I created on a series of small shirts. Starting with the same number and length of threads, I made four shirts. Each of the four featured a different stitch. The results were shirts of widely differing size and shape. I encourage you to take your favourite sprang surface design, make a swatch sample, and then try a doll-size or child-size shirt. |
The various steps in finishing ... where you might want to watch a video .... #1 cut apart and tie those nice knots that hang straight down.
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Another idea for when you're cutting apart at the middle, and making fringes.
You might make tabs for the last several rows, and they will automatically curl into nicely twisted fringes. What are tabs you ask? Work right-edge stitch, 1 plain stitch, left-edge stitch all the way across the row on the plait row, all plain stitches on the overplait row. Do this for several rows, and you will have tabs. The interlinking stitch has a tendency to curl. This may mean that, creating the tabs, working from selvedge-to-selvedge, the individual tabs curl, complicating the work. My tip to you in that case is, to work tabs individually. That is, work a set of, say, a dozen threads, plait row, overplait row, plait row, overplait row, until that tab is long enough. Cut it, tie knots on either side, and then move to the next tab. |
#2 Firm up the loops at the ends of the cloth, so they make a more solid neckline and shoulder seam.
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#3 Secure the last loop of the chain, and sew the side seam
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#4 Create a button hole, and secure the side seam sewing thread in a knot.
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Returning to that replica of the Arizona Openwork Shirt, for those interested, here is the printed version of a presentation I made at a conference on Pre-Columbian textiles.
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Bonus idea
The Czech sprang artist Marie Kielbusova published an interesting approach in her book titled Krosienky plenti bez jehlic....
The Czech sprang artist Marie Kielbusova published an interesting approach in her book titled Krosienky plenti bez jehlic....
The book is well worth it ... if you can find it ... regardless of whether or not you are comfortable with the Czech language. The illustrations will give you ideas for hats, mittens, scarves, as well as a number of surface designs .... and this cheeky idea for a shirt:
Take a commercially made t-shirt. Cut vertical slits, and then "sprang" them, and finish with a chain stitch. Cut the last loop of the chain, to set it around the first chain, and sew back together again.
Take a commercially made t-shirt. Cut vertical slits, and then "sprang" them, and finish with a chain stitch. Cut the last loop of the chain, to set it around the first chain, and sew back together again.