Front & Back, Part Three

Things get even more complicated when one of the wefts doesn't go all the way from selvedge to selvedge. For example, in the Ballet Shoes weaving, I laid a sparkly thread into the weaving, but just where the pink yarn of the ballet shoes was on the face of the cloth.

First, I opened the shed for the pink yarn, threw the shuttle holding the pink yarn from selvedge to selvedge (because that's what the structure requires) and then while the shed was open, I laid in the sparkly yarn, just from the leftmost area of pink to the rightmost area of pink (or vice versa).

Here's the face of the cloth:



And the reverse:



If you click on the image to display the larger version, you'll see that on the reverse, the sparkly yarn only shows where the white of the ballet tights is on the face, thus the pink and tan wefts are on the reverse, along with the sparkly.

I'm really fond of this weaving. I never took ballet lessons, but I did take music lessons all the way from age 5 through college, and the level of discipline is similar between the two activities. I credit music for the fact that I'm not afraid to get up in front of a crowd and speak or perform - when you begin to perform in recitals at the age of 5, nothing about performing is frightening in adulthood! It has stood me in good stead throughout my professional life. I always tell friends with kids "Get that child involved in music or theater - they'll thank you later (though maybe not now)."