First Batch of Towels Finished

Yesterday I washed, pressed, and hemmed the first batch of towels. Here's the lineup:



From left, 2 green hemp/cotton blend wefts, 2 mercerized cotton wefts, and 3 unmercerized cotton wefts. To my surprise, the hemp/cotton shrank the least - because it's a very loosely plied yarn, I expected it to shrink more. The unmercerized cotton shrank more than the mercerized, as it usually does. Each piece was about 15.5 x 30 on the loom (not counting hem area), and the finished towels are all close to 14 x 27, so the average shrinkage was about 10% (give or take 1/4 inch here or there, as much due to the difference in float length among the various structures as the difference in fiber content and prep).

I love the hand of the finished cloth. And I'm pleased to report that the harsh, hairy hemp/cotton yarn did indeed soften nicely in the wet finishing. They feel just as good as the towels with the all-cotton wefts.

Here are some closeups taken after pressing:






The remaining 7 towels' worth of warp is now retied and the 8th towel is being woven, using the same sett and ppi.