Author Archives: leighdudenhoeffer

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About leighdudenhoeffer

I'm an accomplished fiber artist and mixed media artist who creates beautiful 3-dimensional pieces called, Trees of Diversity®. My work has been shown at Angel Orensanz Gallery in New York, Altered Aesthetics Gallery in Minneapolis, The Neville Public Museum - Studio 210 in Green Bay, Hazelwood House in Allouez, WI, and Xanadu Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ. I'm a loved wife, a loved mom, and a loved Nana! I enjoy finding new and creative ways to add more knowledge of what I do and so I may teach others who want to learn.

I wove these two dishtowels nearly 20 years ago!

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a handwoven cotton dishtowel
Handwoven cotton dishtowel
the different weaves in this dishtowel

The above dishtowel was woven from gray and white plyed, stranded, weaving cotton. While I don’t remember the grist, I remember enjoying sampling the structures in this towel and 18 years later, it dries dishes like a champ.

Handwoven cotton dishtowel

This dishtowel was woven using washed, spooled crochet cotton. It’s a bit heavier than most, and is sturdy and strong. It absorbs water 100% better than any commercial terry cloth dishtowel I’ve ever owned. It dries super fast as well!

The key to finishing dishtowels is to pre-wash them at least once in a washing machine, preferably a top loader. This pulls everything together.

spring fling dishtowel version number 2 being woven
Spring Fling Dishtowel #3

This is the third set of Spring Fling dishtowels is currently on the LeClerc Dorothy loom and is being woven in a true plaid. I think it could’ve been more square, but I’ll need to acquire an appropriate reed to do that.

Spring is nearly here! Get busy and create something or sort your garden seeds and test them for viability.

Last year’s spring and early summer flowers that we grow at our home. A lot of these colors are represented when I dye wool and wool yarn!

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Some of our flowering weigelias, forsythias, and crabapple trees!

Don’t just sit around doing nothing! Get your flowers and garden plants started now! Grow something new!!

I’ve nearly finished weaving the first two Spring Fling Dishtowels.

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I found an excellent weaving draft software that’s actually Free and it can be used offline!! It’s called QuickDraw and you can get it at QuickDrawWeaving.com

The above photo is what the the first 2 Spring Fling Dishtowels as depicted by the software.

I drafted the next 2 dishtowels using the software and I can tell you that it’s pretty neat to see. I’ve always kept a notebook of everything I draft and weave. I still do because I’m a contingency planner.

Part 2 of the Spring Fling Dishtowels

The above photo is what the next 2 Spring Fling Dishtowels will look like when I continue weaving.

The rest of these towels are woven on the fly, while being notated in a notebook. I prefer creating on the fly because it doesn’t require a computer or electricity.

Get busy! Learn something new or make something you’ve never made before! It will keep your brain healthy!!

The weaving progress of the first set of handwoven dishtowels!

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This was an interesting process for me as I’d mostly woven wool cloth and heavy rugs. I did these towels freestyle because I was fascinated by the patterns being created in the plaids. I love plaids, so this seemed most natural to me.

When the warp was all woven up, I cut off the weaving and finished up the dishtowels. I sewed all of the side ends in (weft) and hemmed the ends of each towel. The towels were shipped to the wonderful woman who gave me all of the cotton thread/yarn which led to the creation of these dishtowls.

I used my Singer 319 to hem these dishtowels.

Get busy and make something you love! If you don’t know how, get a book and learn (I do it all of the time!).

The first weaving of my own draft

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I cleaned up the loom after removing the first finished weaving. I removed one of the 4-harness blocks and used the warp board that our son and I built 15 years ago to start a new weaving. I decided on dishtowels using #5 and #3 cotton.

I chained the warp while trying to maintain the cross. This is of note because I’d not chained a warp in over 12 years, so it was a lot of virtual hair pulling. I ended up losing about 3 yards of the warp because the cotton didn’t want to play well.

I slowly sleyed the reed and secured the warp onto a shed stick.

Sleying the reed
The resting warp threads
I made my reed threader from a plastic milk jug
The warp is resting
The warp is being held by a shed stick.

Threading the heddles went fairly smoothly and I enjoyed relearning the process. The biggest difference for me was that this was not my Nana’s antique rug loom, so it was easier.

Threading the heddles
The warp resting on the shed stick
Threading the heddles progressing

The warp is ready to tie onto the back apron! This is a very interesting process when there’s a warp puddle waiting in a feed tub.

Tying the warp onto the back rear/back apron and beaming it onto the rear warp beam progressed fairly well. It’s slow and steady work and rushing isn’t necessary or desired.

It’s time to have a cup of tea and begin the weaving!!

That’s it for now.

Get busy with creating whatn you like, want, or need. Quit sitting on our brain and get busy!

A ‘new’ 8 harness table loom came home with me early last year (2024)!

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We went to an auction early last year and I had the winning bid on this 8 harness, LeClerc Dorothy, 8 harness weaving loom. I was tickled pink but was a bit scared because it came with a project in progress.

It took me a bit of experimental weaving to figure out the pattern, which I hope to be able to replicate from the notes I took of the draft and pictures taken. I won’t call it a scarf as the cloth is too sturdy to use it for that. In time, I’ll figure out what it should be and it’s certainly won’t be a pillow as I’m not fond of textured pillows.

Stay tuned for more and forgive me for not posting a lot.

Get busy creating anything that suits you!!